Dinghy Towing and Carrying
Dinghy Towing and Carrying
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Carrying for Blue Water Sailing
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Yacht tender mounted on swim platform. |
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It is not an exaggeration to say that the Portland Pudgy dinghy tows beautifully. This is true for a few reasons: ● The dinghy has a long skeg, which makes it track well. ● Instead of a single tow eye, this tender has two, one on either side of the bow. The bridle (which comes with the basic boat) attaches to the two tow eyes, and to the tow line. This triangle configuration adds stability and minimizes yaw when towing. ● The Pudgy seems to have the perfect balance between weight and buoyancy: it doesn't float like an "eggshell" and flip over as many dinghies do, or drag and blow around like an inflatable. It stays in the water, but at the same time it floats high and therefore has minimal transom drag when towing. ● You can tow the dinghy (empty) with the drain plug out, and if any water gets in the dinghy, it drains out immediately. The Portland Pudgy yacht tender tows so well that many Pudgy owners have told us they forget their dinghy is therel! Here's what one Pudgy owner has to say about towing the Portland Pudgy dinghy: "Towing characteristics are important, because even if you have dingy davits you still end up towing your dingy. Our first three dingy's were awful for towing. We had an eight foot inflatable dingy that was essentially like towing a suction cup, and if the wind was over 15kts it would flip over... We also had...a [popular, inexpensive injection-molded 8-foot dinghy...name deleted] that towed like a little eggshell with no drag, but would also flip over at the first gust of wind... The Portland Pudgy is none of these things. It tows with minimal drag...much less than our plywood or our inflatable dingy. It doesn't ship water when you tow it, and if it did, it is a self bailing boat when it is empty...This single thing makes the Pudgy 1/10 the chore of owning compared to any other dingy we have had. " Rolland T., MI (To read more about this on Rolland's blog, go to SV Precipice.) |
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The Portland Pudgy safety dinghy can be strapped on top of the deck or cabin. The Pudgy is designed to be of manageable weight and to fit on the foredeck of many sailing and motor boats. If your boat has lifelines, we recommend installing pelican clips at the points where the lifeboat would be launched. You can preset the Portland Pudgy lifeboat with exposure canopy and other survival gear before fastening it to the deck or cabin top. It must be strapped down with heavy line or strong webbing. Use the four through-holes near the gunwales. The attachment points on the mother boat for the line or webbing should be through-bolted in place. See Lifeboat FAQs for more information. Top of page |
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You can lift the Portland Pudgy safety dinghy into a davit harness using the optional lifting eyes. The eyes are set low in the interior of the cockpit (they also serve as as fastening points for safety harnesses). Once the boat is in position, ease the load off the lifting eyes and let the davit harness bear the weight of the boat. Top of page |
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Swim Platform-Mounted Davits (Weaver Davits) |
If your boat has a swim platform, you can use the Weaver davits designed expressly for the Portland Pudgy safety dinghy by Bob Weaver of Weaver Industries. Excerpt from Weaver Industries catalog |
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Many Pudgy owners install cradles for carrying their dinghy. Here are a few photos.
Pudgy yacht tender, mounted on cradle. |
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Fred Ferber's Lady M, with Portland Pudgy yacht tender atop cabin
(Click for closeup.)
"We use an 18ft teeter-totter custom
made of stainless tubular steel and a small pulley system to slide the pudgy up
and down from the roof." Greg L. WA |
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The Pudgy fits inside many station wagons and vans or on the roof of your car. It's easy to transport on a light trailer or in a pickup truck. Top of page
At approximately 128 lb, the Portland Pudgy is easy to carry. It has a wheel in the keel for rolling the dinghy on docks or pavement. The grab-lines along the gunwales and the bow mounted bridle, make for easy lifting. |
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Portland Pudgy, Inc., 200 Anderson St., Portland, ME 04101 207.761.2428 or 207.712.4027 info@portlandpudgy.com
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