Learning about Dinghy-Tow – an option to towing or davits
Posted By RichC on September 17, 2014
A small Canadian company called Davron Marine Products has an innovative stainless steel, block and line option for half lifting and half towing an inflatable dinghy for boating. Their Dinghy-Tow system looks simple and do-able.
I’ve been pondering adding davits that would work with our Cape Horn self-steering gear for Encore since 2012. What ever is added needs to be able to conveniently keep our roll-up Zodiac (or perhaps a new inflatable) available for use. The Dinghy-Tow system is ingenious in that it raise the stern of the inflatable out of the water while trailing the bow all with very little drag or risk of losing the dinghy. I’ve heard several stories where a sudden squall flips a dinghy being towed or swamping it.
According to David Foster, the components that are fastened to the stern would “need to be 15-18” above the waterline and would fit around our current Cape Horn steering gear.” I’m unsure how much space there is to the “port” of the centerline, but his “absolute minimum would be 20” between the 2”x2” stern brackets. It looks like it might work.
I’ll include a sketch above adding the Dinghy-Tow to estimate how it might work. I’m still waiting on a price quote … might be worth a trip to Annapolis for the United States Sailboat Show October 9-13, 2014!
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