towing another boat

[BenDover]

Hey fisho's. I have a 4.7 metre inflaitable with a 40hp outboard. Im going to be buying a much bigger boat soon and want to know if mine is too big to tow behind it. If not. How fast can i go? Should i tilt the motor out of the water or will it roll (like a biscuit). How far behind the boat etc. Any help is much appreciated.
BD

[gofishin]

BD, is your duck an RIB, or inflatable keel? how fast are you planning to tow? how big is/will the 'tower' be? and what type of boat - mono, cat?

How far back will depend on the above questions and hence wake (shape, size & type) of 'tower'. Make sure the cleats/'strong points' are very solid. Use a bridle on the 'tower'. Motor down(ish) should not be necessary, but again, depends on above.
cheers

[BenDover]

Its an inflaitable keel with not much v at all. I would like to tow as fast as i can :). The new boat will be a 9 metre searay sundancer (mono hull) with 2/ 4.8 mercruisers. Will leave my engine on the zodiac down and prop spinning cause problems? Thanks BD

[Spaniard_King]

No problem towing the duck. Just have to make sure the towing setup is right..i.e length of tow rope tow points etc.

Tow the duck with the engine tilted up! not down.

[sowden1942]

Hi Bendover. Make sure you tow the rubber ducky by the the winch eye on the r/d as this keeps the nose up and stops the r/d from burying the nose. John

[ThePinkPanther]

Towed lots 'n lots of boats after eight years with VMR so a few hints:

1. Use good quality nylon silver rope minimum diameter 15 cms though you might
get away with 10 but more chance of it breaking.

2. Make sure you can "drop" the tow line real fast. Best to do a few turns
around a staunchon or cleat and have someone hold the end loosely so they
can get rid of it fast if things go bad! Don't make the tow point inaccessable
or difficult to reach and never knot it tightly.

3. Do NOT use a closed type hook or shackle to attach to the vessel being
towed. You don't want to be attached to a sinking boat or find you have
trouble getting the hook off in a hurry.

4. Keep a very sharp knife close to the tow point on your boat. Slash the line if
things go to #hit!

5. Never use full power on your own boat. Even a RIB can place considerable
load on your motor and possibly cause unnecessary overheating or loading.

6. Tow ONLY at the speed that gets the RIB up and planing. Never ever tow
flat out or at high speed. I reckon 15 knots is more than enough. The faster
you go the faster things go wrong!

7. Leave the motor down as with the skeg out of the water when raised, it will
go mad due no rudder control and slip 'n slide all over the place. Make sure
the gear selector is in NEUTRAL.

8. Watch for the first sign of it turning side on to your own wash, waves or the
wash from other boats. A RIB can be very unstable and very easy to flip over
if it starts to tip on the sides of waves/wash etc.

9. Ideally you should put a licenced person on the RIB as steering assistance is
a huge help. If you do this and have radio contact on both boats you can
easily check how things are going. If you can't put a driver in the boat, lash
the wheel to keep it steady!

10. An unnamed VMR unit in Moreton Bay some years back tipped a RIB in a
fifteen knot wind when being towed - so it can happen!

11. More rope is better as it allows the RIB to plane well away from your own
wash. The closer you tow to your own boat, the more it will become
unstable due motor/boat wash. The shorter the rope the more chance of it
snapping if you get a sudden lull between waves and it suddenly snaps tight.

12. Again, AVOID HIGH SPEED - not a good way to go even in smooth seas.
Remember you are towing a somewhat unstable and under controlled boat.

13. When docking remember to control YOUR boat first and not get too
concerned over the RIB. Too many Boaties try to position the vessel being
towed smack on the ramp and finish up damaging their own vessel in the
process. Slow down well out from the ramp, jetty whatever and get
someone to pull the rope in fairly short so the towed boat doesn't swing all
over the place and get wrapped about "things" in the docking area.

Hope this helps!

[BenDover]

Thanks heap pink panther.
I was just wondering if leaving the motor tilted down and in neutral causes any trouble to it. I couldnt possibly leave it up. As the inflaitable keel only draws about 30cm at the front, and almost nothing at the rear. And if i turned fast for any reason it would be sliding sideways on the water and possibly roll.
ps. I think you mean 15mm nto cm. THATS 1 THICK ROPE!!

[on-one]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet but make sure the boat being towed is empty, if you hit some wash from another boat you'll lose the oars fuel tank and anything else in the dinghy long before you have trouble with the dinghy. I've always towed with the outboard up but they've been much smaller dinghys

[northernblue]

Thanks heap pink panther.
I was just wondering if leaving the motor tilted down and in neutral causes any trouble to it. I couldnt possibly leave it up. As the inflaitable keel only draws about 30cm at the front, and almost nothing at the rear. And if i turned fast for any reason it would be sliding sideways on the water and possibly roll.
ps. I think you mean 15mm nto cm. THATS 1 THICK ROPE!!


I agree totally with you on the rope diameter :P

I would disagree on the motor being left in the down position though.
I have nowhere near the experience of PP, but I would of thought that motor out would be the preffered option.
I ran out of fuel once and was towed [river] motor out, weight to stern, and away we went [boat was 4.2m barra punt]

[BenDover]

Hmm its a tuff 1. Motor up or motor down???
My boat is 75 kilo's and motor 50 kilo's. So whole thing wieghs about 150 kg with fuel tank. And draws ankle deep water with motor up. If im plaining in my big boat while towing and turn fairly sharply, the zodiac will spin out sideways with motor up. Id like to keep it down solong as there are no problems to the engine by doing so.

[goldfish]

.Ok i have always towed with the motor down it gives the towed boat something to grip with when turning other wise it acts like a tube & slides out wide. it also helps the boat/tender to track straight. as mentioned lock the steering up so motor is pointing straight with it in nutural. i was shown this by vmr raby bay years ago & by doing this i have never had a problem.

[FNQCairns]

What speed are we really talking about here? If up to 10kn then motor up possibly, 8kn should be OK depending on conditions, if it is fast then motor down in neutral. Will not hurt it. I also would rather keep the prop on for that little extra drag to keep it all in line.

Never towed fast so it's just a big guess on my behalf.

There is not much forcing a planing hull travel straight if the motor is not in the water, just look at the 360s a jet boat can do.

Just a thought but if I was going to travel fast a trace of lower breaking strain rope could be included in the tether, would hate to think what a towed boat taking a dunk on thick rope could do to the tow boat before it stopped......??

cheers fnq

[BenDover]

Thanks for your help guys. I have a while to figure it all out.