I am wondering if this is doable when cruising long term?
What are the pros and cons?

Depends what you mean
not ocean passages i take it
funny thing is can be cultural for instance in tas people tow everywhere and lots of boats don't have davits but the dinghy are really heavy but good shapes for towing
also lots on places in the south inflatables don't work at all
beaches have oysters and mussels and when it gets windy the inflatable end up twenty feet in the air before landing upside down
so lot depends on dinghy design

bity will be along shortly

Cons - slows the boat down, tender can capsize, in following seas tender can surf up to boat and ram the yacht's stern, tender gets jerked around a lot and can snap painters, etc etc etc. Oh, and needs anti-fouling and gets filled with spray and rainwater.

Pros - you save a bit of deck space.

If you are going to tow a tender you need to be prepared to loose it.
The time it capsizes and fills with water or the painter breaks is not going to be in ideal conditions. Trying to save or rescue the tender could easily lead to a catastrophic situation.

I asked this question a few years ago and the general response turned me away from towing.
That said, I did tow the dingy on short hops (maybe 20 to 30 nm) if it was reasonably flat and never on a night passage.

But my dink is fairly heavy with a FG hull and tows well. The previous one was light and danced around a bit. It caused the odd issue..

Hi brainstrust without wanting to hijack the thread - this is how I carry my tender (3.1m). Ive done so in both moderate wind and swell without any issues yet. I tie the dingy at 3 points (reinforced) and lash to davits that are purpose designed (curved) to suit
It's very convenient ... but I haven't seen many others do so - upside down. My question is doing so on a longer blue-water trip?

Unless the sea is like a mirror FORGET IT!

And if you are silly enough to tow it, at least take all your gear and outboard off.

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lydia said..
Depends what you mean
not ocean passages i take it
funny thing is can be cultural for instance in tas people tow everywhere and lots of boats don't have davits but the dinghy are really heavy but good shapes for towing
also lots on places in the south inflatables don't work at all
beaches have oysters and mussels and when it gets windy the inflatable end up twenty feet in the air before landing upside down
so lot depends on dinghy design

bity will be along shortly

Son had a similar experience with a flying inflatable a few yrs ago in 25-30 kts, eventually taking part of the timber handrail/ hasp with it in a stronger gust off Mayfield,
Didn't notice it had tangled around it while keeping the boat facing the "proper" direction in the dark,

Ben looking for that type of catch ever since,
LOL

I never tow. The new boat has this system and at 17tonnes you dont notice it for lil trips. Offshore she,ll be on deck.
I now have wind vane on back and would be concerned about ruining it towing.

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twodogs1969 said..
If you are going to tow a tender you need to be prepared to loose it.
The time it capsizes and fills with water or the painter breaks is not going to be in ideal conditions. Trying to save or rescue the tender could easily lead to a catastrophic situation.

Yep, I was one of those numpties a few years ago. Flipped it in 30kn on a 10nm beat home when a little unexpected cell came through .
The worst part was as TwoDogs said and that's trying to recover it. It's not that easy when its blowing like stink, the hard part was doing neat turns to line up the retrieval, and not losing a finger in a rope every time a swell pulls you apart.
Now I just leave it deflated till we get there.
I also regret buying a bigger rib at 3.3m. It is good when I need to ferry a ton of people to shore, but it is just that little bit too big to stow uninflated and also inflating in the cockpit. Even a 3m would have been better.

Small inflatable and small fibreglass and I only tow them when popping up river. Never sailing. Along with the above there's risk of prop entanglement and that's the last thing I need anywhere.

I got caught out crossing from pearl
Beach over to pittwater in a 50kn squall while towing a nice new inflatable with a nice new paddle board lashed to dinghy. Id just started sailing and on the 22footer we moved around pittwater like this with no issue til this day.
The dinghy started flying all over the place with the paddleboard on it which was coming loose. We were under motor, o.b motor, and the painter started wrapping around it. Started to lose control of the boat as this squall whipped up waves. I made a decision to let it go. $2500 of new stuff in the wind...
Prior to this squall it was a beautiful day with no wind at all. Nothing in the forecast but this black nasty cloud moved upon us quick.
This is why i never ever tow. Everything comes on deck since then and these squalls have happened again a few times in jervis bay and weve been ready with everything stowed on deck.
Currently sitting out a blow in opua.
In my view, towing is risky.

Around the harbour on a nice day.

Never, ever, ever at sea.

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nswsailor said..
Unless the sea is like a mirror FORGET IT!

And if you are silly enough to tow it, at least take all your gear and outboard off.

Also remove any names or numbers and any identification. When that boat comes loose and is discovered there wont be any time wasted looking for lost souls!

I build a yacht tender designed to stow on deck row sail and tow the stern shape is extremely important when towing for if the dingy is to flat aft she will plane hard into the back of your boat when sailing downwind at speed inflatables should never be towed as they are so dragy they nearly stop the boat and kiting is often a problem .If storing on deck weight is the biggest problem with lifting on deck, my belief is anything over 20 kg is to heavy this means advanced composite construction or lightweight ply are the only options we have chosen carbon as infusion with a4 mm foam core to achieve minimum weight to stiffness and cedar huon gunnels also for strength to weight

that is the most beautiful dinghy ive ever seen Boty!

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Sectorsteve said..
that is the most beautiful dinghy ive ever seen Boty!

thanks mate the hull mould was flopped off a1920s cedar yacht tender the first one was built at the tafe college in the 50s as the first composite hull in qld our mould was flopped off a refaired version of that one with mods to keel and layout to optimize towing and sailing

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boty said..
I build a yacht tender designed to stow on deck row sail and tow the stern shape is extremely important when towing for if the dingy is to flat aft she will plane hard into the back of your boat when sailing downwind at speed inflatables should never be towed as they are so dragy they nearly stop the boat and kiting is often a problem .If storing on deck weight is the biggest problem with lifting on deck, my belief is anything over 20 kg is to heavy this means advanced composite construction or lightweight ply are the only options we have chosen carbon as infusion with a4 mm foam core to achieve minimum weight to stiffness and cedar huon gunnels also for strength to weight

Ah, boat porn, love it.

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boty said..
I build a yacht tender designed to stow on deck row sail and tow the stern shape is extremely important when towing for if the dingy is to flat aft she will plane hard into the back of your boat when sailing downwind at speed inflatables should never be towed as they are so dragy they nearly stop the boat and kiting is often a problem .If storing on deck weight is the biggest problem with lifting on deck, my belief is anything over 20 kg is to heavy this means advanced composite construction or lightweight ply are the only options we have chosen carbon as infusion with a4 mm foam core to achieve minimum weight to stiffness and cedar huon gunnels also for strength to weight

i recon steve is right !! that is a beautiful thing !!!!! and the shed is as wonderful !!!!

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Ramona said..Also remove any names or numbers and any identification. When that boat comes loose and is discovered there wont be any time wasted looking for lost souls!

in Qld they require 'tender to [boat name]' so that won't work

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nswsailor said..

Ramona said..Also remove any names or numbers and any identification. When that boat comes loose and is discovered there wont be any time wasted looking for lost souls!

in Qld they require 'tender to [boat name]' so that won't work

in nz you dont even need to register your boat...its weird being over here with its lack of maritime laws. Ole mick from maritime jervis bay would be homeless. or a cop.

As boty will also tell you there is art in the height of the tow ring
o good dinghy can be crap to tow until you get the tow point right

tge good design also has sufficient drag so it never out runs the tow boat
then it is an issue of the right length painter

if you have ever done a long open ocean rescue tow you will get this part in a different way

nowdays we just seem to pick up by air and leave the boat
I will try to find some old pics of an ocean rescue we did years ago of a yacht with no rudder from up near breakaway to Noosa bar In Really adverse conditions
average speed was under three knots

Hi, I'm a Tasmanian and I'm a puller (stop that giggling up the back). Seriously though, I wouldn't do it offshore. I have to retreive the flipped tender semi regularly when a 30+ knot bomb hits. That's fairly often in the channel when there's a lively westerly due to all the turbulence rolling off the nearby hills. I've considered installing "snap davits" as an alternative to the full blown davits many cruising boats use. There are a bunch of different ones out there and while they seem to be primarily designed for inflatables, I don't see why you couldn't adapt them to fiberglass tenders as well as long as the weight isn't outrageous: www.google.com/search?q=snap+davits+australia&rlz=1C1CHBF_enAU832AU832&oq=snap+davits&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6510j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Just tie it off on a halyard.

www.facebook.com/groups/372927779742354/permalink/892518301116630?sfns=mo

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FreeRadical said..
Just tie it off on a halyard.

www.facebook.com/groups/372927779742354/permalink/892518301116630?sfns=mo

Ha!

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FreeRadical said..
Just tie it off on a halyard.

www.facebook.com/groups/372927779742354/permalink/892518301116630?sfns=mo

Use a good swivel!