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most stable dinghy
- Thread starter Phil
- Start date Mar 30, 2007
- Forums for All Owners
- Ask All Sailors
Our boat is on a mooring and we have to use a dinghy. We have a small 8'plastic type that you have to board whith great care or you end up wet. I want to get a larger one 10'- 12' max. Now for my Question. which Is more stable? A flat boat (jon boat)type or "v" hull (fishing boat)type. I don't want the inflatable kind because it sits out all season. Large waves aren't usually a problem as we are on a large inland lake. I enjoy reading this forum every day. As always thanks for your opinions!
jon boat for stability, in fresh water... get a 16' jon boat. you can ring it with fenders and swim noodles for saftey.
Porta-Bote Since I bought mine I've never looked back www.porta-bote.com
Walker Bay... While I don't care for the standard Walker Bay Dingies because of similiar reasons you mentioned..if you look at thier model with the Infatable Hull Surround ( and for fun add a Sail Kit ) you'll be amazed at how stable it is..you can actually STAND ON THE RAIL and not topple the thing.Take a look at these and see what you think. David
Steve Braverman
Dinghy I have an 8' fiberglass dinghy called a cathederal hull, kinda like a tri-hull. It's much more stable than a regular V hull, but harder to row. It has all the advantages of a hard dinghy. Not as stable as an inflatable, but much better than a Walker Bay. They seem very popular around here.
Walker Bay We have the 8ft Walker Bay with the rib kit. It tows without resistance and I at 205 lbs can step from my transom onto the rib with both feet without tipping the dinghy or losing my balance. It is very stable and I am well satisified with it. I had a sunbrella cover made for it to use while towing or storage. In addition you can purchase a sail kit for it for further entertainment.
Boat stability A dingy (any boat actually) will be stable if the amount of water you displace when you load it is displaced underneath you and not somewhere else. Consider the round bottom boat. When you step in amidships and not directly in the center the boat has to displace water and it has to roll under your foot to do that. This makes the boat "tippy". A square bottomed or inflatable can't even preform this maneuver as the water has to be displace by the premeter of the boat. The same argument can be made for entering the stern which, BTW, is the prefered way to board a small boat. Sooo If you don't want a tippy boat go for a more "boxy" configuration. I personally did not like the price on anything I saw as I wanted it all, sail-row-motor. I found a plans web site that offered everything from surf boards to 40' ketches. On it where plans for an 8' sailing pram that I absolutely love. Cost me about $250 for everything except the motor, which I have never needed since it rows so well. It is called the "8-Ball" and took me about a month of evenings to build. This was my first experience with boat building and I found it to be quite easy and of course you get bragging rights when you raft up.
Robert Gainer
it’s a case of how the center of buoyancy moves Bill, I think it’s more a case of how the center of buoyancy moves as the boat tips. Righting moment is the boats weight times the distance from the center of buoyancy to the center of gravity. In a flat bottom boat the center of buoyancy moves outboard as you move outboard so she will tip but not flip. In a round bottom boat the center of buoyancy stays fixed because the hull rotates around it (it's round) and as you move outboard the boat doesn’t gain anything from the shape of the hull and becomes unstable. This is the way it works for all boats. Sailboats with a keel can be round bottomed while centerboard boats need harder bilges or flat bottoms to stay upright. In the first case the ballast moves outboard relative to the center of gravity as the boat tips and that makes the righting moment and in the second case the center of buoyancy moves outboard compared to the center of gravity to make the righting moment. In both cases its weight times distance to get the foot pounds of righting moment. All the best, Robert Gainer
for stability I would suggest you look at a Carolina skiff, they make a 12' version. These are flat bottoms and very stable are durable as they are fiberglass type construction (see web site)seating can be configured how every you want and they are available with both bow and stern platform's. Can stay out year round. The flat bottom will be more stable then a v type or rounded bottom designs. Pull the drain plug and they are "self bailing" When I leave the boat for the week I pull the drain plug and never have to worry about bailing out the dinghy when I come back or have to worry about it getting swamped from a major rain storm. Pop the plug back in and less then two gallons of water in boat. I have one and think it is great. Just my opinion. Good Luck with your decision.
Porta-Bote Alan, Thanks for your post on the porta-bote. Never heard of this before. Seems to be almost to good to be true...light weight, easy to stow, sturdy, stable, minimal maintenance. What's an approximate price on the 10'? I did send off for a brochure and pricing information. Any others have comments?
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