Great story and a good lesson for sure. I installed a dagger board case in my last sail boat. The first day out I soon found out it filled the boat with water while motoring. I used a couple of towels that first day....and then made a clamped down gasketed 'lid'. It worked great. My little 8' wrinkle boat is just a rower without a case. So that is not an issue thankfully. (That boat would be too silly to sail anyway) When I installed the new stern seat I designed it so one end of the oars could be placed under that and also fit within the full length of the interior of the dingy. The centre thwart is removable and kind of locks the oars in place. It seems to work well......even when imitating a chubby kite. Tim. ============================= Hi gang, May interject a note of warning? If you have a hard dinghy that has a centerboard (daggerboard) trunk, make certain that you have a cover with a good gasket for the trunk that can be firmly fastened in place (wing nuts at both ends is best). Otherwise you may experience - as we did - what a wonderful sea anchor a dinghy filled with water can be. In our case, we had a 9 foot sailing dinghy with a dagger board slot. We were towing it behind our Tripp-Lentsch 29 down the English Channel heading for Calais. It was a pleasant sailing day; the sails were nicely filled, and the boat was marching along. Then the speed kept decreasing, and finally hit zero. Huh? What's going on? We're not aground on a Channel sand bank; the depth finder said we had lots of water under the keel; ....what gives? Then we saw the problem. Our 9 foot dinghy was swamped. We pulled it alongside, and I started bailing; .... and bailing, ....and bailing. A 9 foot dinghy has a large internal volume, and I had to get all the water out.... The water had squirted in through the daggerboard trunk; squirt; ... squirt; ....squirt; until finally as the dinghy filled with more and more water, the squirt became a steady stream (we had been doing about 5.5 knots) When the job was finally done, and we were in Calais, I found that I had lost an oar to Neptune. The next day, with weather deteriorating, we went into through the lock into inner harbor, (the Channel has a 25 foot tidal range) and then I walked into town and looked for a ship chandlery where I could buy a new oar. You then learn that single oars aren't available: you have to buy a pair. When we departed Calais, I had my three oars fastened to the thwart with bungee cords, and I had rigged up a provisional seal for the dagger board trunk. Live and learn. Connie Tim Diebert wrote:
"When we go to sea, my wife and I, with a dinghy in tow, we always (Always? Well, nearly always) bring a long painter aboard from the stern of the dinghy, which is kept slack until it is required to be cast overboard to steady the little boat. On this occasion I had forgotten, and left the drag painter in the bottom of the dinghy"
What a great idea. Thanks for that David.
The inflatable kayak shaped units seem a great idea. From what I have seen it seems to work out really well. The part I like is being able to deflate and stow. For me personally it isn't really an option. I have tried kayaking a few times and it kills my back. Thing is though.... I can row all day long. Go figure.
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