Lightest Tender/Dinghy/Dink to Carry 6 pax plus luggage?

[mydauphin]

I don't understand why people with catamarans just don't straddle a dingy between the two hulls with some kind of winch arrangement. Of course catamaran would have to be big enough to do it. But the bigger the catamaran the bigger the dingy.

[CatBuilder]

Thinking about these sled ideas, I'm all for them. Except... I can't see how you would keep the sled attached and from killing you when you are in extremely large, breaking, following seas.

Another issue is the outboard/prop on the dinghy. You want your dinghy to plane when you are using it as a dinghy. This means standard power boat outboard gearing and props.

However... when you are pushing the mothership, you would need a lower gear ratio and a much larger prop. How do you balance those issues?

[CatBuilder]

Thanks for the idea and diagrams. I'm not sure could go that route.

Just some little thoughts:

Originally Posted by WickedGood

Here is a Great idea that I bet we could market. Ill help you with the function and shake out bugs if you want to team up.


Build a set of three of these Sea Skiffs maybe 24 ft long each Windshields fold down like a Jeep. Each Sea Skiff Nestles and llocks into a docking bay on the hulls of the Catamaran and one in the middle between hulls.
So are you saying I'd carry 3 (qty) 24' boats around with me while I'm sailing? I'm building a high performance catamaran that weighs a little under 12,000lbs. I think the dinghies might come close to outweighing the mothership.

Each Sea Skiff has a little Diesil like a Cummins 5.9 TurboIntercooled which drives a Konard I/O drive. you would then have enough power about 1,500HP to drive the big Mother Cat.

My cat requires a little over 60HP to reach 14 knots or so. 1500 HP?? Really?

They are used to power the big Cat fly by wire and undock to do double duty as a lifeboat/Crewboat/Tender,Dive Boat, sportfisher, etc

So you are suggesting also some PLCs and other electronics along with cabling for them between the mother ship and all 3 boats?

Where in the Northeast are you?
I'm in FL building a boat right now, but I'm from your area. You're South of Portland? So am I.


Im in southern Maine.

Capt Walt

3 (qty) 24' boats around with me while I'm sailing? I'm building a high performance catamaran that weighs a little under 12,000lbs. I think the dinghies might come close to outweighing the mothership.

Yes. Each Dingy would come in at roughly 4,000 pounds and could be independantly operated



Each Sea Skiff has a little Diesil like a Cummins 5.9 TurboIntercooled which drives a Konard I/O drive. you would then have enough power about 1,500HP to drive the big Mother Cat.

My cat requires a little over 60HP to reach 14 knots or so. 1500 HP?? Really?



I think 1,500HP is a bit on the shy side and would really like more. As they say: There no replacement for Displacement. and besides. who are we going to be marketing these boats to? Americans and Americans want and need HORSEPOWER. I guess your Catamarn will just need to get larger. Maybe 2 Staterooms, A Salon , Gally & 2 Heads along with sundeck



They are used to power the big Cat fly by wire and undock to do double duty as a lifeboat/Crewboat/Tender,Dive Boat, sportfisher, etc

So you are suggesting also some PLCs and other electronics along with cabling for them between the mother ship and all 3 boats?

PLCs are good. I have an even better idea if we network it all together with NEMA 2000 and even put radio trandmitter/recievers on each skiff. Rather nice to be able to send the skiff back by itself to the mothership and call it by cellphone when you need it. Never know where youll end up after a hearthy night in port on Liberty?


Where in the Northeast are you?
I'm in FL building a boat right now, but I'm from your area. You're South of Portland? So am I.



Are you the guy who built the Catamarn in a Blue Poly Tarp "Tempory Tent" that has been behind your resturaunt the last 10 years?


Capt Walt
http://WickedGooOutdoors.com

[CatBuilder]

Ok, a bit more... in a fancy PURPLE color... ha ha

Originally Posted by WickedGood

3 (qty) 24' boats around with me while I'm sailing? I'm building a high performance catamaran that weighs a little under 12,000lbs. I think the dinghies might come close to outweighing the mothership.

Yes. Each Dingy would come in at roughly 4,000 pounds and could be independantly operated

Ok, so how would I sail the boat? I'm not sure a 12,000lbs high performance catamaran would make good headway with a 12,000lbs set of drogues on the stern. How would that work?


Each Sea Skiff has a little Diesil like a Cummins 5.9 TurboIntercooled which drives a Konard I/O drive. you would then have enough power about 1,500HP to drive the big Mother Cat.

My cat requires a little over 60HP to reach 14 knots or so. 1500 HP?? Really?



I think 1,500HP is a bit on the shy side and would really like more. As they say: There no replacement for Displacement. and besides. who are we going to be marketing these boats to? Americans and Americans want and need HORSEPOWER. I guess your Catamarn will just need to get larger. Maybe 2 Staterooms, A Salon , Gally & 2 Heads along with sundeck

My catamaran already has 4 staterooms with queen berths (and a single berth in addition to the queen in the crew stateroom), a 18ft x 12ft salon, a full professional galley for cooking for charters and 2 heads along with 45' x 25' of deck space. I'm not sure she can be much bigger and still be used as we plan. The cat is already under construction and she'll have to stay 45' x 25'.

They are used to power the big Cat fly by wire and undock to do double duty as a lifeboat/Crewboat/Tender,Dive Boat, sportfisher, etc

So you are suggesting also some PLCs and other electronics along with cabling for them between the mother ship and all 3 boats?

PLCs are good. I have an even better idea if we network it all together with NEMA 2000 and even put radio trandmitter/recievers on each skiff. Rather nice to be able to send the skiff back by itself to the mothership and call it by cellphone when you need it. Never know where youll end up after a hearthy night in port on Liberty?

So you need batteries and radio transmitters to be operational to control the boat?


Where in the Northeast are you?
I'm in FL building a boat right now, but I'm from your area. You're South of Portland? So am I.



Are you the guy who built the Catamarn in a Blue Poly Tarp "Tempory Tent" that has been behind your resturaunt the last 10 years?

Nope. I'm the guy who, about 6 months ago decided to build a new charter boat. I am building in a tent - a 60' x 30' Farmtek fabric building anchored to a concrete pad. After finding no economical solution in New England, I packed it up to Florida and I'm building down here full time. I figure on taking about 1/3 of the time that blue tarp guy took to complete this boat. I have a crew coming tomorrow at 4AM to layup the first 1/2 hull. Different built schedule than the guy with the restaurant. What's the name of the restaurant?? Maybe I know of it...

Capt Walt
http://WickedGooOutdoors.com

[cavalier mk2]

Why do you need the sled/dink to plane? If it is linked correctly it won't matter if there is a large following sea... The idea won't work on my tri but I'd go that route on a cat. I'd have to have a canoe sled with a detachable outrigger. Start sketching ideas and see what develops. And of course if a 1500 HP route is pursued one could always sink the dink for a new mooring.......

[cavalier mk2]

Hi Catbuilder, a neat way of managing the solutuion for charter might be to use a variation of the boarding ramp to dock and carry the dinghy/sled. Made out of aluminum it could be strong and light with the ability to rigidly secure the dink to it for your perfect storm conditions. (I like modern fiber lashings.) The lowering end could have attach points to the mothership hulls in different positions to avoid the catapult effect. With the dinghy in use for the guests the ramp can be used to embark/disembark passengers and serve as a swim/dive platform. Of course the engines overhang the ramp a bit. It could be made as strong as you need and also work as a boarding ramp if you dry out.

[cavalier mk2]

Most outboards have a shallow water tilt feature that could be set to match the angle when using the ramp-powersled feature.

[CatBuilder]

I'm having trouble envisioning this ramp/attachment. I like your idea, in general and would like to explore it.

I'm still not seeing how anything hanging off the stern of a boat could be considered safe offshore.

Say you have a breaking wave from astern that washes over the boat and slams the deckhouse, going basically over the roof of the deckhouse...

What happens to the attachment point when the dinghy rides up on that wave?


Common practice when offshore is to take your dingy off the davits and get it up on the deck somewhere, where it can't be torn loose or come flying through the door to the deckhouse. When I say "perfect storm" conditions, I mean the real deal. Personally, I don't go to marinas. I anchor out. I live aboard and actively travel, including offshore. While I can imagine this setup working well in a protected harbor and at a mooring or at anchor, how would it work offshore?

I think I have a lot of conflicting "wants" to work out. I want a dinghy that:

*carries 6 people and luggage
*is safely stowed for crossing oceans
*is a reasonable price
*planes for entertaining guests and not eating up my entire day ferrying them to/from shore
*is good on fuel

Maybe it's not attainable.

[cavalier mk2]

The way to make it work is to have the ramp as far forward as you can NOT going past the sterns. The whole ramp/dinghy combo is made strong enough so that when secured it acts like part of the wing deck in breaking wave conditions. Maybe the forward part could be under the cockpit to reduce apparent length? While each component might be a little heavier than stand alone features it surely will be lighter and more economical than main engines/separate dink. How would you move that big dink off davits easily and safely in a running sea ? The planing feature is harder to accommodate without getting gadgety. Inboard dink with hydraulic drive to different props? Retracting prop with jet drives for planing etc.... Think about making it self bailing and provide a hard cover to prevent swamping when docked in storm conditions.

[CatBuilder]

Random follow up drag question:

If I wear a purple dress, do I need to have purple high heel shoes with that or a purple handbag?

Seriously, here's the question:

I still need to sail. What would be less drag? Putting a 300lbs tender up on davits and increasing immersion of the main hulls, or towing a 300lbs tender?

[hoytedow]

I think towing would create more drag, but what do I know? It just seems to make sense because of presenting yet another bow to water friction.

[cavalier mk2]

It comes down to what are you towing? Long thin hulls for a cat will have very little drag while a mono dink will have more. Seems sensible to size the sterns for the load if you use davits but too wide creates its own problems in a following sea. How about a light launch/whale boat to store on deck and make the guests row to save weight and gas?

[Alex.A]

Have you seen the tender that Boatsmith has on his Tiki30?

[waikikin]

I vote for the Davits.