PocketShip.net

Hi all PS sailors,

My own PS will launch next summer and spend some time on a mooring - which means I need a dinghy (and something to work on indoors during the colder winter months here in New Hampshire). I also intend to sail in coastal Maine waters which generally don't afford a good spot on which to beach my PS while I explore islands or camp.

I've read all the Forum posts I can find about dinghies including Pete McCrary's posts (and seen at least one photo of a dinghy being towed behind a PocketShip). But I'm wondering if there is any more experience among PS sailors with towing a dinghy. What did you use? How did it tow? Did you fasten it to one of the stern cleats on the PocketShip gunwales by the gallows post (and if so, did you do any reinforcing of the cleat for that load)?

I know that when I tow a dinghy my PS sailing performance will suffer a bit - and will lessen the likelihood I'll qualify during the next America's Cup trials - but we all must make sacrifices and if I don't want to swim to my boat every time I go sailing, I'll need a dinghy.

I'm considering a CLC Eastport Nesting Pram and welcome any comments. Maybe CLC plans a class for building this dinghy during the coming winter as they did in 2017...?

Thanks and all the best,
Mark

Kind of a side note on the above post... How do people get in/out of dinghies? I could see it being a real problem.

Bill

I launched my Pocketship in August (I intend to post pics soon). Last winter I built a CLC Eastport nesting pram (in my dining room). The Pocketship is now on my driveway as I prep it for winter storage. Today for the first time I loaded the pram into the cockpit of the Pocketship. It fits very nicely, just clearing the mainsheet block with a couple inches to spare at the transom. I used the peak halyard attached to a removable spar to load the dinghy into the mothership. It worked like a charm! Just raise it up, swing it over and lower away. It's more rigamarole than I'd care to do each time I sail, but for those times when I'll want a dinghy, it's nice to know I'll be able to do it...but, not until next summer for me.

So, I don't yet have experience towing anything with my P ship. I think that if the cleats are backed and installed as per the design they're plenty stout. I see no need for extra reinforcement.

A friend of mine says that losing a knot is the price of towing a dinghy. That'd be my guess with the P ship.

Bob

The American Sailing Association advises attaching a tow line to a bridle rather than directly to a cleat.
The following description is from The WoodenBoat forum:

Re: Setting up a pram for towing?
Having the eye on the towed dinghy down low will bring the bow up, which will dig the skeg in aft, which will act as a tail feather, keeping the towed dinghy in the middle of the wake. A bridle from the towing vessel leading to a long tow line that puts the towed boat on the aft side of the second stern wave of the towing vessel will make for a fairly slack tow line, a comfortable tow, and a slight chance of the dinghy overtaking the towing vessel if it has to go out of gear.
Of all the previous items, the towing eye down low is the most important.

Shudoman wrote:Kind of a side note on the above post... How do people get in/out of dinghies? I could see it being a real problem.

Bill

As the Welsh would say, Caerphilly