New CP 27 owner

[ewosbor]

Just bught an 1986 CP 27.  I can't believe how great of boat she is.. We also own a San Juan 23.  Couple of questions. One does anyone have recommendations on stearn seats and what type of dinghy should I buy.  We will be sailing primarily in the Chesapeake and next year the ICW to Florida.

[HeaveToo]

I have been sailing the Chesapeake Bay my whole life.  I have a lot of cruising time on it and a ton of single handed cruising time on it.

My current boat is a Catalina 30.  I tow an 8' rigid fiberglass dingy.  It works well and doesn't slow me down too much.  There are advantages to inflatable dinghies, but for the expense you can't beat a rigid dingy (I bought mine used for $200).  Also consider that if your dingy rubs up against a pile on that has barnacles it can be very harmful. 

I just realized that you can see my dingy in my avatar.  That picture was taken in 25 knots of wind and large waves (you can't tell).  I didn't have any problems with it.

As far as stern rail seats, you may want to google it and see what you come up with.

[curtisv]

Towing a dinghy at 25 knots risks having it flipped by waves.  Waves can quickly (hours) build to 5-6 feet at 25 knots and that is plenty to flip the dinghy.  Been there.  Having an outboard mounted when the dinghy flips would be real bad.  Have not been there.

Hard dinghies have advantages besides being inexpensive.  They row well so you may not need an outboard if you have a mooring near shore and/or protected from wind.  Hard dinghies and oars are not the theft target that inflatables and outboards are.  Beat up hard dinghies and beat up oars are almost immune to theft, except in places where people steal anything not bolted down, regardless of lack of value.

In some places (BVI and more so USVI are know for this) inflatables and outboards have to be locked or they may be stolen even from a boat on a mooring or at anchor.  Hard dinghies are usually untouched because they have too little resale value.

Regardless, inflatables are more popular with larger boats in most places.  A common outboard size is 15 hp.

Here (Outer Cape Cod) hard dinghies with oars greatly outnumber inflatables with outboards or oars.  My hard dinghy sits on a beach all summer with many others and might be the last to be stolen if there were a spree of theft.  So far there has been no dinghy thefts, but I've heard that kayaks have been stolen from beaches near public boat ramps so this area may soon be infected by the breed of tourist/renter who steals things (all too common elsewhere).

Curtis

[deisher6]

Hey Curtisv: 
When we had a C27, we also had three young daughters.  Our dingy was a Boston Whaler with oars.  It was bulletproof and we could trust the daughters in it on their own (with lifejackets) when anchored.  They also enjoyed riding in it when we were motoring like in the ICW.  We mostly towed it, but I did stow it on the deck behind the mast a couple of times using tackle off of the main halyard.  It was pretty expensive at the time especially buying it new, but it you have kids or grand kids in my opinion it is worth it.
regards charlie

[curtisv]

Charlie,

What size Whaler?  Do they make anything smaller than 13'?  If not, yours would be both the largest oars only dinghy I've heard of and the smallest boat to tow a 13' Whaler as a tender.

We have a son and daughter and in all but the (rare) very light air days our small (8') dinghy required two trips.  The kids and I have used small touring kayaks as tenders, but being narrow are quite a challenge to board and leave the boat.  Both kids are in about mid 20s now and I am most often boarding our CP23 alone.  The 8' dinghy has a potential to swamp with three adults so when my wife and guests come for a sail it can end up being a lot of trips back and forth.

To me, the ideal tender would be a two part or three part nesting dinghy, large enough to be useful, but small enough when nested to fit neatly on the bow.  For a CP27, maybe even fit on the cabintop somewhere.  For a CP23, the bow seems to be the best (maybe only) option.  These are expensive, even as kits.  Maybe someday...

Curtis

[HeaveToo]

Towing a dingy is something that can cause issues, but there are a lot of tricks to keep things right.

First of all look at your dingy's design.  Mine is about 100 pounds, maybe slightly less.  It has a liner in it that traps air.  It will not sink.  It also keeps a little weight in the lower in the dingy.  Also, if you are in rough water you can put some water in the floor of your dingy for weight.  He helps keep it slightly lower, adds a little pull to it, and makes it harder to flip.

Another major part to towing a dingy is getting the tow distance exactly right.  This seems to vary from boat to boat, but the idea is that you want it long enough to not be right up on your butt but close enough to keep it towing right.

I picked up another tactic from an old salt that has towed a dingy for over 30 years around the Chesapeake Bay.  You put another rope on your dingy.  This line has some knots in it.  In rough water on the stern this line is towed behind the dingy.  It keeps it from surfing the waves and keeps the stern of the dingy in line.

I single handed a lot in my Catalina 30.  I always towed the dingy because I didn't have to ability to get the dingy on the foredeck.  Knock on wood, I never flipped my dingy or had any issues, other than it bumping the back of my boat (fixed by putting a small bumper on the bow of the dingy).

[deisher6]

Curtis:
The Boston Whaler must have been around 8 ft.  It fit between the mast and the bulkhead at the end of the cabin.  I recall that the main sheet traveler was at the front of the cockpit.  It was not easy to find one and we wound up buying it new (this was around 1986 or 7)  The only thing that I did not like about the dingy was that the bottom was thick, with about 3-4 inches of flotation, and it was uncomfortable to row. However, at around 185 lbs at that time I could stand on the gunnel without swamping the dink.  It was really bullet proof.  With the drain plug out rainwater would drain out....the deck was higher than the waterline. It would haul the five of us at once.   It was really a bulletproof dink for the family at that time.  We drug it out to eastern MT with us, but fiberglass was not satisfactory to use on the lower Yellowstone.  Sold it to a man in SanFrancisco who was going to put a large (35 hp) engine on it and hot rod it around.

regards charlie

[Koinonia]

I use about an 8ft west marine inflatable with the high presure floor.  Im able to roll it up and I had it tied down on the foredeck for the trip down to fl on the trailer, and there is stayed untill we were in the Tortugas where I inflated it on the foredeck and launched.  I like to avoid towing for anything that may involve  an overnight.  Also with the high presure floor inflatables you need to remove the outboard whenever towing period!  The boat is so light that while towing with an outboard the bow lifts way up and caused alot of drag. 
   
    There is a small 8ft boston whaler dingy out there, someone at a marina here has one and its a cool little boat.  Id say a search on craigfind would yeild one from time to time.

[brackish]

I couldn't figure out what I wanted for a dink.  Investigated mid range inflatables, but too heavy, didn't tow that well and most would not fit on a 23 foredeck without partially deflating. I cruise mostly on the upper Gulf of Mexico when not on my home lake.  The Gulf is typically very mild grades so you anchor in water that is normally not much more than waist deep and you can jump off and walk in.  But wanted something for those times when it was too cold or deep for that.  Ended up getting a Sevylor 260 with couple of pumps and oars for less than a hundred bucks.  Remarkably tough, but wouldn't use it in rocky areas.  Made a motor mount for trolling motor but have never used it (has a wooden mount on the copper frame now).  Rows OK but not nearly as efficiently as a hard dink.  Fits in the compartment under the v-berth far forward where I always try to get some weight, but it only weighs about 35 lbs as I recall.  Simple and inexpensive for light duty use, I expected it to be temporary, but have never needed more.

Curtis, I'm currently building a 14' stich and glue, epoxy composite skiff, not for a dink but for a scalloping/fishing skiff.  If you are looking for a hard dink that is very light, you should consider that.  The 14' has a finished design weight of 185 lbs.  I imagine you could build an 8 or 9 foot dink and it would weigh far less than half that if you use Okoume 1088 ply.

[curtisv]

Brack,

Building a dink is way down on the to-do-list.  I've looked for plans and there are a few three part nesting tbat could be scaled to fit on a CP23 bow, which to me seems like work but a good outcome.

For now I'll keep fixing what I've got.  An 8 foot Maine Salty with all the wood gunnels rotted out and gone.  When the was nothing left to hold the oarlocks I did a short term fix.  The dink is structurally OK but definitely not pretty.

Curtis

[Bob23]

   My dink is a Walker Bay 8 which, remarkably, I found abandoned. Named "Little Fellow" by member Billy, it is stable, tows well and it holds 3 full grown and mature men. Sort of. It was the center of attention at the 2012 Barnegat Bay Bash but that's another story.
   It's not a fast rower of course but considering it's length to beam ratio of 1:2, it's not bad. It's got no wood, no fancy doo-dads and it's all plastic. Nothing to damage or scratch the mother ship when it bumps into her. I use it to row out to "Koinoina" who is moored in about 5 feet of water. In the fall, it's nice to stay out of the cold water. It's sort of the VW beetle of dinks! And, it almost won the virtual Dingy Challenge at this years CLR 2013!
Bob23

[brackish]

 And, it almost won the virtual Dingy Challenge at this years CLR 2013!

Definitely not the story as reported by Greene.  However, there have been many conflicting stories about various races occurring at CLR 2013, so you have the benefit of doubt.

[Salty19]

First let me congratulate the original poster for the CP27! Welcome to the Com-pac family.

Boy you guys sure do know how to hijack posts. Chesapeake, dinghy's with tips (good ones too), boat building, races...

Speaking of the race...

Conflicting stories??      

I don't know what you're talking about!

According to the Carlyle Gazette, Greene spanked Bob23 in the dinghy race for the second year in a row, and true to Bob's form, conveniently procrastinated to award the bottle of Drambuie that was agreed upon as the prize if Greene won, thinking somehow it would blow over like a passing storm (they didn't report about the procrastination, but we all know it's true).

The Gazette went on to report for the third year in a row, a CP19-a different one each time, took first in the sailing race. No race rules were broken and no champagne corks were lost at sea.  

Since this is all in print, well, it must be true, right??

That's the story and I'm stickin' to it!

[Bob23]

No doubt no one noticed that I mentioned the "Virtual" Dingy Race as reported on page one here:
http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=6601.0
Ewos:
   A delayed welcome is in order as you join in this group of shananginizing Compac-o-nauts! Are you sure you want to throw in with this lot? Looking forward to hearing of your adventures!
Bob23 in NJ and "Koinonia" 1985 23/2