Towing a Dinghy behind boat

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thetimsons
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Towing a Dinghy behind boat

Post by thetimsons »

Hi all i am looking at towing my dinghy behind my 7.4meter platey. i dont know how i should go about to do this and how to do it???? The boat is a planing hull and i have seen this method performed before with great succees. :grin: :grin:. any info would be greatly appreciated :bow: :bow:
:captain: Eddie :captain:


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flicker
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towing

Post by flicker »

Hook your tow line onto the lowest tow point on your dingy,ie the winch piont so as to get the nose up, if you tie on up on your anchor cleat it will pull the nose down and make it a lot harder to tow. Have a rope long enough to get back out of your wake into the smooth water.
How fast you can go, you will have to work out on the water but shouldn't be too much of a drama.
Oh and lift the motor up out of the water too.

Cheers flicker.
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slug
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Re: towing

Post by slug »

flicker wrote:Oh and lift the motor up out of the water too.
Another school of thought is to leave the motor fully down (but STRAIGHT).

Acts as a 'rudder' & keeps the towed boat running on line :naughty:
noundz

Post by noundz »

Slug's right :mrgreen:

Keep the motor down and locked in a straight line, this stops it from "zig zaging" :mrgreen:
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Daisy
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Post by Daisy »

Also tie a looser line or bridle to the nose down to your main towline so if the dinghy rides up your wake or whatever (nose in the air) it takes control and pulls the nose back down to the point where the main towline takes over again. The distance behind the boat is also critical how far back you set the dinghy and this varies on sea conditions, towing speed etc
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pagey
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Post by pagey »

I have just come back from a week down the west coast of QLD and towed a 12ft dingy behind the 6m plate boat. my method is the same however i used a bridle ie from both tow cleats on the stern of the boat to a single line back to the tinny. the lenght back was about 20-25mtrs towed like a dream. one thing i did notice though thru trial and error was that it towed better wih the motor up out of the water as it created less drag. The zig-zagging created was minimal. Managed to cruise on around 20-25kn

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Post by Blinky »

pagey wrote:I have just come back from a week down the west coast of QLD and towed a 12ft dingy behind the 6m plate boat. my method is the same however i used a bridle ie from both tow cleats on the stern of the boat to a single line back to the tinny. the lenght back was about 20-25mtrs towed like a dream. one thing i did notice though thru trial and error was that it towed better wih the motor up out of the water as it created less drag. The zig-zagging created was minimal. Managed to cruise on around 20-25kn

Pagey
You hit the nail on the head Pagey........tow with a bridle assembly with the motor up. That way the distance is not critical, it will not zig-zag and you won't chew thru a shiteload of extra gas (which you would if you have the motor down)
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Buckaneer2
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Post by Buckaneer2 »

If it still zigs around leave a 10m length of rope out the back of the dingy, this acts as a rudder without as much drag. :cheers:
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Post by slug »

Yep, I agree motor up on a bridle probably better economy.

Don't really need to keep him straight unless your towing more than one - then u gotta have him running straight. :P
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thetimsons
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Post by thetimsons »

Thanks for all the advice boys. i will be looking forward to some good fishing for barra, jewie, snapper, red emperor and the rest. with the 7.4 meter and the 4.5 meter for the run offs. im all set. 8-) 8-)
:captain: Eddie :captain:
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