Tender Searching
Eight months into the custodianship of MATILDA, our 1978 S&S Swan 47, we are pretty happy with our choice. It’s been a steep learning curve, but we are slowly becoming more confident about what she can do, and where she can take us… and confidence leads to affection!
However there’s one little conundrum that I havnt resolved as yet. She came with a small Plastimo Inflatable Dinghy… which sort of did the job last summer but is not perfect for long term live aboard cruising.
Although almost all the nooks and crannies of the marine leisure industry are saturated with inventions and gadgets and gizmos, one area seems to be severely lacking in innovation. Small, lightweight, non-inflatable sailing tenders.
Non-inflatable because I have an intrinsic dislike of large lumps of plastic, with short lives, no sailing potential, and zero personality. They leak, they are wet to motor and they are horrible to row.
One more consideration… I hate davits! The designers didn’t go to all that effort to make a elegantly pleasing sheer line, for you to go and ruin it by hanging another whole boat off the transom!
So this is what I would hope for.
1. Maximum 10ft LOA to fit in the space between the inner forestay and the forward dorade boxes.
2. Hull only to be 50kgs or less so it can be launched/retrieved with a spinnaker halyard by one person.
3. Able to be sailed effectively up and down wind. Exploring remote anchorages under sail is one of the ultimate pleasures in life!
4. Must be able to be rowed comfortably by one person
5. Must tow nicely without sheering side to side
6. Must be able to be dragged up a beach by one person.
7. Must float if swamped
8. Must have a personality.
I know thats a demanding wish list, but surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to tick all those boxes? And if a dinghy could be build perhaps from ply, or even carbon, to meet these requirements I’ve little doubt it would sell well. A trawl of the internet found these three options. None of which are perfect.
This is as close as I can find to a funcional light weight sailing tender. Made in New Zealand, by Offshore Cruising Tenders.
It ticks a lot of the boxes with good sailing and motoring ability. the Carbon version comes in at 58 kgs,and can handle a 15hp engine. Not sure how much personality it has, but the real downer is the price. At $22,000AU plus delivery, I’m not convinced its the answer!
This is a folding boat that apparently only takes 5-10 minutes to set up. She looks for all the world like an old mirror dinghy with her red sails and gunter rig. She comes with oars with collars and rowlocks, an outboard bracket, a rudder and tiller, a daggerboard and the gunter rig consisting of mast, gaff, boom, 2 sails, mast stays, halyards and sheets. She’s bang on 3m long and weighs 60kg. A bit more X factor than the OC330 but I’m worried shes a bit of a gimmick. But for around $10,000AUD she has to be better value?
This pretty little boat made by Gig Harbour Boat Works in Washington State, is probably my front runner so far.
Its 10ft LOA and has a choice of two construction methods comes. either fibreglass or “Ultra light” which weighs only 35 kgs. It has a standard Main, of 45 sq. ft., and a Genoa of 28 sq ft.
It row, tows and sails well and looks pretty nice. The fully kitted out light weigh version comes in at around $10,000 so its not cheap, but looks like you get a lot for your money!
I’d love to hear any suggestion from the readership for more and better options. Or if there are any “back of an envelope” designers out there draw me a picture of what might work. You never know, we might start a business!