Towing a 13' whaler or 10 RIB

[SirJohn]

Good morning,
I am seeking input on towing a 13' whaler as our dinghy. I have a 10' rib we lift on the stern davits but wanted to tow a 13 whaler. I am concerned about towing it. Do any fellow trawlers tow a 13' whaler or similar?
I do not have a crane on my trawler and just have a concern about foul weather and having it towed astern.
I appreciate all feedback
John

 

[Cigatoo]

Watching

 

[k9medic]

I pull(ed) a 16' Wahoo which is similar to the Whaler. It's been all over with me and across the gulf stream. The boat bobs right along at 8kts even in bad weather. I have taken blue water over the bow of my big boat and the little one is just back there 100' away just floating along.

My set up is simple but I will tell you it's a pain when getting into and out of a marina or a lock.

 

[FF]

I have seen a whaler towed with a hard pin bolted to the towing vessels stern , with a bracket bolted into the whaler bow.

The owner had it built and claimed it towed great.

 

[Group9]

We've towed an 11 foot Whaler to the Bahamas and back twice. No real problems except once off Chub Cay, and getting caught in some unexpected steep waves that it surfed down, narrowly missing us, until we could adjust the towing bridle.

Pick your weather windows wisely, have the right tow rig, and it's easy, from our experience. We used the factory tow eye, and it held fine. Pulled the drain plug so it's self bailing, and Bob's your uncle.

We now have a 13 foot Dell Quay Dory (English Whaler knock off) that we plan to tow there on our next trip.

I will agree with the above post, that the biggest problems are when tying up in a marina, or fueling up. We often pull ours up close to the stern when doing that, but it has got in the way before (I remember fueling up at Staniel Cay in some strong current, and it managed to back itself under the pier (where it just stayed until we were done fueling and ready to go).

 

[psneeld]

the right equipment and techniques are more important than what is being towed.


being careful and getting practice in ever worsening conditions is very helpful.


anybody can tow when its nice, the trick is to avoid bad times and if caught, what are your options to minimize the weather/wave impacts.

 

[k9medic]

If you search here, there are quite a few responses on tow set ups.


I myself towed from the bow eye using a 10 mm diameter dyneema rope that was attached to a 5/8 nylon bridle via a shackle.

These were all simply cleated to the stern cleats on my boat. I could adjust it using those cleat turns.

Just a hint, Dyneema rope for marine use is the same as synthetic winch line for off-road applications. I picked mine up off of Amazon and it has served me well for the past couple of years.

 

[GFC]

I have a 13' Whaler that I've towed a few times; not as extensively as others though.


I have a pair of tow lines (50' and 75') as well as a bridle for the tow boat. I have good luck with both lines.. 'For the Whaler, I mounted cleats on both sides on the "top deck" and made up a 3-point bridle using those two cleats and the bow eye. I used a company called Top Knot for the tow lines and the tow boat bridle. They do good work using good materials and made the lines to my specs.


I have not towed in any severe water conditions, the largest waves being about 2'. The boat tows like a dream at about 9-11 knots.

 

[caltexflanc]

We towed our 2005 Whaler 13 quite a bit, for a variety of reasons, including in some pretty rough ocean conditions. Mothership was a Hatteras 56MY. The Whaler towed beautifully at 9 or 10 knots (never had occasion to go faster, as I recall), once we got the right positioning behind the boat, which didn't need to be very exact. We towed it using the eye on the bow, NOT the cleats. Worked great.

The hassle comes up when it's time to moor, anchor or dock it, as with any other tow. As others have mentioned, there is a lot in the forum archives on the whole subject.

 

[GFC]

We towed it using the eye on the bow, NOT the cleats. Worked great. .

OK, I'm curious about your comment about not using the cleats?


Why not?

 

[k9medic]

Not sure of his specific reasons but I would guess that a the very least there are two reasons -

Cleats are normally on top of the boat, which can create a downward pull. That would cause the bow to push into a wave versus a bow eye which would be lower to the waterline.

Cleats on smaller boats would typically not have much of a backing plate. A lot more stress on the cleat that from a bow eye.

 

[Flybull]

I made a telescoping aluminum/fiberglass bridle that is 22' long and I tow from the stern cleats. The tow strain is taken up by 5/8 nylon braid that was actually a 4-person tube tow rope. The line passes through the telescoping pieces (one off each stern cleat) with a stainless clasp to the bow eye of the 12' dingy with 20 hp 4 stroke.

I can back up, twist, manuever any way I want in port or in and out of anchorages without worrying about disconnecting or wrapping the screws with line.

I normally run 8 knots with this rig behind my 44 Trojan, but have been to 14 knots in testing... rides absolutely beautifully back there.

I can give more details if interested... The pic docked at the floating cafe has the dink still attached. This docking is tight between two long covered docks, and upon departing, I easily backed straight without worrying about the tow, as the dink pivots and the very front of the bow rides along one of the telescoping sides or the other as you back up. Once I backed far enough, I started a twist and pivoted 180 degrees and pulled out forward.

 

[Group9]

I made a telescoping aluminum/fiberglass bridle that is 22' long and I tow from the stern cleats. The tow strain is taken up by 5/8 nylon braid that was actually a 4-person tube tow rope. The line passes through the telescoping pieces (one off each stern cleat) with a stainless clasp to the bow eye of the 12' dingy with 20 hp 4 stroke.

I can back up, twist, manuever any way I want in port or in and out of anchorages without worrying about disconnecting or wrapping the screws with line.

I normally run 8 knots with this rig behind my 44 Trojan, but have been to 14 knots in testing... rides absolutely beautifully back there.

I can give more details if interested... The pic docked at the floating cafe has the dink still attached. This docking is tight between two long covered docks, and upon departing, I easily backed straight without worrying about the tow, as the dink pivots and the very front of the bow rides along one of the telescoping sides or the other as you back up. Once I backed far enough, I started a twist and pivoted 180 degrees and pulled out forward.

Nice boat! That's the thing. Once you get out there and start towing it, you figure out ways to make it work!

 

[Camasonian]

I used a 32 ft Nordic Tug to tow a 16’ heavy aluminum Workskiff that had a 50 hp outboard on it all over SE Alaska. We were using the skiff as a dive tender and usually had a few scuba tanks lashed inside. So it wasn’t light, several thousand pounds at least. Had no trouble at all. As I recall we shackled the tow line to the bow eye of the skiff (where you attach the winch cable when trailering) and lashed the other end to a cleat on the tug. Just used the lines and hardware we had on hand and didn’t buy anything special or do any special mods. We did some fussing around adjusting the tow line length until it settled nicely into the boat’s wake. Of course a tender that heavy you have to tow, no way too get it onboard unless you have a massive yacht.

I don’t think there is anything unique about a small Whaler that would make it difficult to tow. They are bulletproof boats. Just don’t leave anything in it that isn’t lashed down.

 

[fgarriso]

Good morning,
I am seeking input on towing a 13' whaler as our dinghy. I have a 10' rib we lift on the stern davits but wanted to tow a 13 whaler. I am concerned about towing it. Do any fellow trawlers tow a 13' whaler or similar?
I do not have a crane on my trawler and just have a concern about foul weather and having it towed astern.
I appreciate all feedback
John

How far are you going to tow it, and how fast. I also have a whaler.

 

[caltexflanc]

OK, I'm curious about your comment about not using the cleats?


Why not?

The cleats on the Whaler are screwed into a starboard-like material. No through bolting. They are definitely not designed for towing shock loads.

Just don’t leave anything in it that isn’t lashed down.

True for any towed small boat.

 

[k9medic]

Here are a few pictures of my setups. One boat is a 16' Whaler and the other is a 19' Sea Boss dual console. I used the same setup for each. Towing from the bow eye and cleated to the rear of my big boat. Note that most large boats have reinforced cleats so this is not an issue.

 

[Redhook98]

Any benefit to towing over using the mast/boom/davit to lift it onto the roof? My 11-ft Gloucester Yachts sailboat is on the aft roof of my 49-ft MT. Using the boom and mast to lift on/off. Or that is the intention. I have not yet done it.

 

[psneeld]

If you are going from anchorage to anchorage and plan on using the dingy...towing sure is a lot easier once you get the hang of it...especially if the anchorages are rolly and crane operations of high mounted dinghies can be difficult.

 

[Group9]

If you are going from anchorage to anchorage and plan on using the dingy...towing sure is a lot easier once you get the hang of it...especially if the anchorages are rolly and crane operations of high mounted dinghies can be difficult.

Yep. We've done more damage to our boat lifting the dinghy off the deck in high winds than we ever did while towing it.

That was on our previous boat. We don't even have a way to lift the dinghy onto the deck of our present boat and I'm just fine with that.

 

[caltexflanc]

Any benefit to towing over using the mast/boom/davit to lift it onto the roof? My 11-ft Gloucester Yachts sailboat is on the aft roof of my 49-ft MT. Using the boom and mast to lift on/off. Or that is the intention. I have not yet done it.

We really liked the option of doing either. We got into towing the boat more when settled down from full time cruising, and the slip we wanted was a starboard tie; that being the side the davit operated on. Our favorite activity was virtually weekly trips out to Cape Lookout Bight, in our opinion the greatest anchorage on the east coast, about an hour's trip from our slip in Morehead City NC. There is lots to do with a good dinghy there in the MHC/Beaufort area so we wanted readily at hand. So much so, we didn't include the Whaler in the sale of the Hatteras and still have it out there in Morehead at a dry stack.

Backing the big boat out past the finger pier and lowering or raising the Whaler was kind of a PITA; plus we were in a very active marina and sticking 15 feet or so out in the fairway while we were putzing with the Whaler was not popular. But again, entering and leaving the slip with the dink in the water was also it's own type of PITA... we just got to prefer that routine over the other. YMMV.

For longer voyages we absolutely preferred having the Whaler up on the boat deck. When transients, we always requested a port side tie because the odds were high that we'd want to launch the Whaler and explore the area.

 

[rgano]

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am NOT a fan of voluntarily putting thousands of my dollars worth of assets on a towline astern. And before I go further, I was the commanding officer of a 205-foot oceangoing tug, and I have tran-oceanic towing experience. But yes, I owned a 13-foot BW with a fifty HP OB which I towed behind my twin Ford-Lehman 120 equipped trawler only in the ICW for the 8-hour run from here to Apalachicola and back at the loss of about a half to three quarters of a knot to my normal cruise speed of 8. As delivery captain on a 60-foot Chris Roamer up the California coast, I was once forced to jettison a loose and dangling 13-ft BW (owner was aboard and it was his fault for not following my pre-departure recommendations) with attached 40 HP OB and tow it for several days in 14-foot seas. The wrangling in of this item for towing in those seas is sea story worthy of Jack London, but I digress. In those seas at a reasonable safe speed the darned thing made it, but it was an unwelcome worry while fighting all the other elements. Aboard a friend's 65-footer, we towed a 23-foot fishing across the Gulf Stream to and the Bahama Bank to Walker's Cay AFTER the smaller boat was delivered by trailer to us at Stuart before we began the crossing because we did not want the bother all the way down there from Panama City. Again, it was a PITA to keep track of it all the way across at night. When we saw a freighter coming at us, we'd worry even more about having to slow or mill about if something went wrong with our tow, but it made it OK too. The advice you have been given is all fine, and I am NOT advising one way or another, just passing on some experiences.

 

[BrianSmith]

We towed our 13' Whaler all around the Bahamas for about 3 months last summer, while waiting for new O-rings for the crane. We don't like going in seas bigger than 3', and the Whaler towed fine in that. Rather than a bridle, we used two separate tow lines, one from each stern cleat to the towing eye on the Whaler. We started out towing it way back - 75' or so. Then we experimented with towing it in close - about 15' feet. Close works really well for us - just have to make sure it's not trying to climb the natural wave that comes off the stern of the trawler. If you can get it to ride on top or front of that wave, even better. (We go 7 - 7.5 kts.)

 

[caltexflanc]

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am NOT a fan of voluntarily putting thousands of my dollars worth of assets on a towline astern. And before I go further, I was the commanding officer of a 205-foot oceangoing tug, and I have tran-oceanic towing experience. But yes, I owned a 13-foot BW with a fifty HP OB which I towed behind my twin Ford-Lehman 120 equipped trawler only in the ICW for the 8-hour run from here to Apalachicola and back at the loss of about a half to three quarters of a knot to my normal cruise speed of 8. As delivery captain on a 60-foot Chris Roamer up the California coast, I was once forced to jettison a loose and dangling 13-ft BW (owner was aboard and it was his fault for not following my pre-departure recommendations) with attached 40 HP OB and tow it for several days in 14-foot seas. The wrangling in of this item for towing in those seas is sea story worthy of Jack London, but I digress. In those seas at a reasonable safe speed the darned thing made it, but it was an unwelcome worry while fighting all the other elements. Aboard a friend's 65-footer, we towed a 23-foot fishing across the Gulf Stream to and the Bahama Bank to Walker's Cay AFTER the smaller boat was delivered by trailer to us at Stuart before we began the crossing because we did not want the bother all the way down there from Panama City. Again, it was a PITA to keep track of it all the way across at night. When we saw a freighter coming at us, we'd worry even more about having to slow or mill about if something went wrong with our tow, but it made it OK too. The advice you have been given is all fine, and I am NOT advising one way or another, just passing on some experiences.

Rich, it just sounds like you don't like towing boats... is that the bottom line?

 

[AlanT]

Yep. We've done more damage to our boat lifting the dinghy off the deck in high winds than we ever did while towing it.

The only damage I ever did to a tender was while towing it and it took a week to figure it out! I towed our 11' Rendova RIB across the Georgia strait in rolly conditions from our Bayliner 4788 at 9-10kts. After this the dinghy was sluggish and then I noticed that it sat lower in the water. The pontoons however were as hard (inflated) as ever so I laboriously partially raised it to drain what I thought would be water between the inner and outer hulls, only a dribble came out - that was not the issue. It turned out that a forward facing seam had opened in a pontoon and the pressure of water from towing pushed water into the pontoon while maintaining pressure of air in that pontoon, so I had a pontoon 1/3 full of water and fully inflated. When the dinghy was not being towed of course the seam closed up and gave no evidence of any problem. It took me days to figure this out!!

~Alan

 

[jjorgenson3]

We have been towing our 11’ whaler for the last two seasons. Our routine is simple while towing. As others have stated weather and departure and arrival protocols need to be adhered to. We love having the little boat at the ready when ever we want.

 

[syjos]

In the PNW some boaters tow fairly large tenders.

A friend tows a 20' Whaler outboard center console behind his 37' Tolly. Another a 18' Seaswirl center console outboard behind his 37' Bayliner. Both with T tops. Both cross Georgia, Johnstone and other straits with their tows.

I think they are nuts but they are experienced boaters and have experienced no problems.

We see many 45 to 60 foot boats towing 16 to 25 foot tenders.

We hear of many lost on the VHF.

It takes them considerable time to pull in the tender and secure it in preparation for docking or anchoring.

We choose to carry our tender on the boat deck, even for a short distance.

 

[psneeld]

Towing is like a or of things in life.


Either you do it or not...sometimes because of your own or others experiences, whether you THINK it's worth it or not, whatever.


But one person's experience or feeling should not guide one when there is ample reality that some tow and some don't for personal reasons, not absolute facts.

 

[tdomenech]

Good morning,
I am seeking input on towing a 13' whaler as our dinghy. I have a 10' rib we lift on the stern davits but wanted to tow a 13 whaler. I am concerned about towing it. Do any fellow trawlers tow a 13' whaler or similar?
I do not have a crane on my trawler and just have a concern about foul weather and having it towed astern.
I appreciate all feedback
John

I have pulled my 16.5' Egret (behind 46' GB CL) from Jax to the Bahamas and the Keys more than a few times. Have used a bridle and never had any problems at all. Also have pulled my son-in- law's 20 Hurricane to the Bahamas and the Keys as well as to Tortugas. No problems and I've even pulled from the existing bow ring (for trailer).

 

[rgano]

Friends who ventured off into the South Pacific aboard their ketch were towing their inflatable one time and one day found an inch or two perfectly circular hole in it.

Give up?

Cookie cutter shark. True story.