The dinghy problem again
 

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghy problem again
 

On Mar 24, 12:55*pm, Frogwatch wrote:
Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. *I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. *She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. *She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. *It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. *So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. *On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. *I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

Until the end of March, you can buy a 2 hp Honda (long or short shaft)
for $999.00 + tax up here.
Might be enough for a small dinghy.

The dinghy problem again
 

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

===

Most hard core cruisers usually end up with a rigid bottom inflatable
about 12 ft long with a 15 horse outboard. As an alternative you
could consider a roll up inflatable with rigid slats in the
floorboards. I've used both and prefer the rigid bottom, now on my
second one. Your issue is stowage space so you'll have to tow it
everywhere. Towing is not that big a problem except in big seas but
you'll want to bring the outboard up and mount it on your stern pulpit
somehow. A 15 hp ouboard is a hefty 100+ pounds but with a sailboat
you can lift it up with a halyard winch and a bit of cranking. West
Marine sells generic hoisting straps for outboards which makes the job
easier.

The dinghy problem again
 

In article ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

The dinghy problem again
 

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:15:32 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:25:08 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

===

Most hard core cruisers usually end up with a rigid bottom inflatable
about 12 ft long with a 15 horse outboard. As an alternative you
could consider a roll up inflatable with rigid slats in the
floorboards. I've used both and prefer the rigid bottom, now on my
second one. Your issue is stowage space so you'll have to tow it
everywhere. Towing is not that big a problem except in big seas but
you'll want to bring the outboard up and mount it on your stern pulpit
somehow. A 15 hp ouboard is a hefty 100+ pounds but with a sailboat
you can lift it up with a halyard winch and a bit of cranking. West
Marine sells generic hoisting straps for outboards which makes the job
easier.

I don't think Frog is a hard core cruiser. ;-)
You should be able to water ski behind his dinghy with a 15 if you
could find a 25" pitch prop for it..
A 7.5 will get my 12' jon boat up around 15 MPH and that can be a
scary ride if it is choppy.
Don and I were thinking about something in the 2-4 HP range. Enough to
get from the mooring field to the dock in a reasonable time. It is
probably a no wake zone anyway..

I know you hard core guys think a 27' Sea ray is a runabout.

===

Jon boats are much easier to get on plane than an inflatable because
of their flat bottom. Also because of their flat bottom, they will
beat the heck out of you and loosen your fillings when running in any
kind of chop. The biggest advantage of inflatables is that they are
very seaworthy and difficult to capsize. I've been in some big seas
with ours and only once felt like I was seriously at risk (big
breaking wake from a large sportfish). There's something about the
steep curl of a breaking wave that wants to flip you.

In addition, inflatable are self fendering which is an advantage if
you are trying to keep the mother ship from getting scratched up.

Small, low powered inflatables have very little freeboard and offer a
*very* wet ride in a chop. Been there, done that. It's better to be
able to get the bow up a bit, even if not on plane.

PS, our SeaRay is definitely a runabout. You have to see it, more
like an overgrown bow rider, aka, deck boat.

The dinghy problem again
 

On 3/25/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:51:32 -0400, wrote:

In ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

I have seen those but you are not really supposed to refill those
tanks. From my experience, the seals are not that good if you connect
and disconnect them very often.
I usually take the torch head off of mine when I put it away and I
have had more than a couple tanks that leaked.

You are absolutely not supposed to refill those things. I admit, some
rules like that I don't always follow, but that one I do... I won't
refill the small torch tanks.

The dinghy problem again
 

In article , says...

On 3/25/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:51:32 -0400, wrote:

In ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

I have seen those but you are not really supposed to refill those
tanks. From my experience, the seals are not that good if you connect
and disconnect them very often.
I usually take the torch head off of mine when I put it away and I
have had more than a couple tanks that leaked.

You are absolutely not supposed to refill those things. I admit, some
rules like that I don't always follow, but that one I do... I won't
refill the small torch tanks.

Why not? The pressure in the 20# tank is the same as the one pound tank.

The dinghy problem again
 

On 3/27/2012 8:51 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In , says...

On 3/25/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:51:32 -0400, wrote:

In ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

I have seen those but you are not really supposed to refill those
tanks. From my experience, the seals are not that good if you connect
and disconnect them very often.
I usually take the torch head off of mine when I put it away and I
have had more than a couple tanks that leaked.

You are absolutely not supposed to refill those things. I admit, some
rules like that I don't always follow, but that one I do... I won't
refill the small torch tanks.

Why not? The pressure in the 20# tank is the same as the one pound tank.
Federal law forbids it. Are you willing to risk a $500,000.00 fine
and/or 5 years in jail?

--
http://tinyurl.com/75bq9db

The dinghy problem again
 

On 3/27/2012 8:51 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In , says...

On 3/25/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:51:32 -0400, wrote:

In ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

I have seen those but you are not really supposed to refill those
tanks. From my experience, the seals are not that good if you connect
and disconnect them very often.
I usually take the torch head off of mine when I put it away and I
have had more than a couple tanks that leaked.

You are absolutely not supposed to refill those things. I admit, some
rules like that I don't always follow, but that one I do... I won't
refill the small torch tanks.

Why not? The pressure in the 20# tank is the same as the one pound tank.

Hey, you can carry your gas around in a balloon too if you want but it's
never gonna' be the right tool... But go ahead, use balloons to store
your flammables, keep them right in your kids bedrooms if you want...

The dinghy problem again
 

In article , says...

On 3/27/2012 8:51 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In , says...

On 3/25/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:51:32 -0400, wrote:

In ,
says...

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

The dinghies I see around here have a little kicker on them. The
nicest seem to be small 4 strokes, good on gas, quiet running, no
smoke and still not to heavy to horse around.

There is a company selling a little propane powered kicker but it is
not going to be cheap to run if you are using those coleman cylinders.
That still might be worth it if you don't really use it much and you
don't want to be trying to store gasoline safely and for any period of
time..

Interesting. You could always get an adapter to charge the Coleman tanks
from your 20# tank.

I have seen those but you are not really supposed to refill those
tanks. From my experience, the seals are not that good if you connect
and disconnect them very often.
I usually take the torch head off of mine when I put it away and I
have had more than a couple tanks that leaked.

You are absolutely not supposed to refill those things. I admit, some
rules like that I don't always follow, but that one I do... I won't
refill the small torch tanks.

Why not? The pressure in the 20# tank is the same as the one pound tank.

Hey, you can carry your gas around in a balloon too if you want but it's
never gonna' be the right tool... But go ahead, use balloons to store
your flammables, keep them right in your kids bedrooms if you want...

Who said anything about a vessel that is not meant to be filled with
propane? The one pound tank IS designed to carry propane. There is the
difference between your delightful analogy, a balloon is NOT made to
carry propane.