Dinghy question - cover on or off when cruising?

sandydlc

sandydlc

Active Member
Feb 24, 2016
605
Seattle, WA
Boat Info
Swift Trawler 50
Engines
Volve IPS D6
For those of you who cruise with a dinghy on a submersible swim platform, do you cruise with your dinghy cover on or off?

We've been cruising with ours on but often will have water pooling into the dinghy cover when in rough water which worries me because of the extra weight that it's adding to the dinghy.

If we were to cruise without the cover, we do have a bilge pump in our dinghy but to my knowledge it doesn't have an automatic float switch so if water were to get in, it would just sit in the bilge until we arrive at our destination but at least the center console wouldn't be getting strained by the dinghy cover and several gallons of water.

Advice? Suggestions?

Thank you!!
 
We remove it for another reason, if we're cruising off shore it's our escape boat if the s**t hits the fan. We can cut the straps (hopefully there's time) and jump in.
 
Thanks everyone! We'll give the cover off/drain plug out a try the next time we're out. Now I'm going to have to locate the drain plug and buy a spare, just in case!

This is what I love about this forum. You think that you've got things figured out and then you ask a question and then you realize that there was a practical answer staring you in the face all along!

Sandy
 
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My friend helped a guy cruise up the coast from Mexico and the were caught in rough seas. He wanted the cover on, the owner wanted it off (owner wins). Even with the plug pulled it filled with sea water and ruined the platform, almost pulling it off of the transom. That surely would have sucked. I can't remember how much the damage repair bill was but it was a substantial insurance claim. Just sayin'...
 
HUMPH said:
My friend helped a guy cruise up the coast from Mexico and the were caught in rough seas. He wanted the cover on, the owner wanted it off (owner wins). Even with the plug pulled it filled with sea water and ruined the platform, almost pulling it off of the transom. That surely would have sucked. I can't remember how much the damage repair bill was but it was a substantial insurance claim. Just sayin'...
Click to expand...

That's what worries me. Last Friday morning we were caught in rough water on our way to the San Juan islands though only for a short time and the dinghy cover came off the back of the dinghy and allowed the cover to fill up with sea water. There was enough there that once we arrived we had to bail some out before we could lift the cover and pour the rest out. I won't have time to go down to the boat until tomorrow at the earliest but I'm not sure what the drain plug looks like in the Apex dinghy. In our last dinghy (which wasn't a RIB) it was kind of strange and didn't allow water to flow out much at all which I suppose was a safety feature. Because of the davit system we used to have we couldn't put a cover on the dinghy and always ran with the drain plug out - it just didn't seem to make any difference.

In the Sea Ray, when we're on our way to getting up on plane, we've noticed that water shoots out between the transom and the swim platform and goes right on the dinghy cover. When we were in rough water the other day we were having to go on and off plane which allowed more water to spray on the dinghy. I would be comfortable with the cover off as long as the drain plug on the dinghy actually drains.

Sandy
 
Our dinghy sits up a little higher but it does catch some spray in certain waters. I run with the cover on and the drain plug pulled. The plug is attached with a string to one of the aft u-bolts so I don't misplace it.... My experience is the cover helps keep water out of the dinghy. 2016-04-30 16.27.13-1.jpg
 
Here is what we found upon arriving in Friday Harbor:



I'm worried about how much that water weighed and glad that we weren't in that rough water any longer than we were.
 
That looks a problem waiting to happen...... Either frame work under cover to help deflect water runoff or cover off and drain plug pulled.
 
The Bill Collector said:
That looks a problem waiting to happen...... Either frame work under cover to help deflect water runoff or cover off and drain plug pulled.
Click to expand...

The center console is actually tall enough to deflect the water but what happened is that the cover got loose from the back of the dinghy and that allowed the water to pool. We have bungees on the cover but when we were in Edmonds we were on the guest dock and had no access to the back of the dinghy to adjust the cover before we left. We tried to fix it but if I had reached any further I would have ended up in the water.

I do think that cover off and drain plug pulled will be a better way to go. Our next trip is to Victoria and that's some big water. This is why I want to be prepared.
 
Here is a better picture of the dinghy without the cover (oh - that's me and my husband Will btw)...

 
I run it both ways, cover on and cover off. It all depends on number of variables. For example, anytime we're on the boat for a weekend, for a week or whatever, the cover is always off simply for convenience. We always use the dinghy and since my cover is rather on the larger size (it goes over the tubes), it's kind of a PITA to put it on or off. During colder months when we only boat on the weekends and don't always use the dinghy, then the cover is on.

IMO, cover on or off has nothing to do with safety or prevention. FWIW, I actually think that it's safer (at least in my setup) to travel with the cover on. My lift keeps the dinghy high out of the water, so there's no impact whether I'm on plane or off plane or in between. Heavy rain is not an issue, b/c I have additional pole in the middle of the cover to ensure that the water runs off quick.

If caught in heavy seas, the cover won't matter. In my setup it's not an issue (at least it wasn't in 7'-8'ers short chop), but I totally see it with most other setups where the dinghy sits lower to the water and there's a good chance to get it filled with sea water. In this case, the cover is useless and you better have working bilge pump in the dink.

Cover off/bilge plug out - if you treat your tender as a "life raft", in the heat of the moment I don't think you'll remember or will have time to put the plug in "correctly/securely", for this reason mine is always in. Cover makes no difference. If you going to cut dinghy straps, all you need is to cut one more strap to get the cover open, this is a 15 seconds task. For offshore (I mean hours offshore) it's actually better to have a cover, as it can keep you protected from rain and sun, if you end up stranded in the dinghy.

Just my $0.2 cents.
 
My drain plug always stays in and my dinghy has 2 bilge pumps. Imo if the sea is filling my dinghy i have no business out there. So far the worst ive seen on this boat was prob 6'ers and the dinghy wasnt even wet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Havana Shamrock said:
My drain plug always stays in and my dinghy has 2 bilge pumps. Imo if the sea is filling my dinghy i have no business out there. So far the worst ive seen on this boat was prob 6'ers and the dinghy wasnt even wet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Water only gets into our dinghy when we're coming on and off plane. On the return trip home on Sunday it barely got splashed because we only had to get up on plane once.
 
sandydlc said:
Water only gets into our dinghy when we're coming on and off plane....
Click to expand...

This would be unacceptable to me. You have a beautiful yacht and with dinghy on, planing or coming off plane, should be ZERO concern to you (as a captain and the owner). I suggest either contact SR or 3rd party (specializing in platforms). It sounds like your chucks need to be re-positioned and/or elevated. Based on your description, leaving the current setup sounds like a real hazard. If you get caught in rougher water than you have been exposed to so far, my understanding is that r dinghy has a great chance to get filled with sea water. Bouncing in rough seas and dinghy filled with water is a recipe for disaster.

Also, see how other 450DA (2010+) owners handled this.
 
Alex F said:
This would be unacceptable to me. You have a beautiful yacht and with dinghy on, planing or coming off plane, should be ZERO concern to you (as a captain and the owner). I suggest either contact SR or 3rd party (specializing in platforms). It sounds like your chucks need to be re-positioned and/or elevated. Based on your description, leaving the current setup sounds like a real hazard. If you get caught in rougher water than you have been exposed to so far, my understanding is that r dinghy has a great chance to get filled with sea water. Bouncing in rough seas and dinghy filled with water is a recipe for disaster.

Also, see how other 450DA (2010+) owners handled this.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. I think we might have a solution for preventing the water from coming into the boat in the first place. If you see this video that I took last Friday morning, you can see where the water is shooting up from between the swim platform and the transom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBsWVABhYTA

By the time we're fully up on plane there is no water coming into the dinghy and it's pretty safe back there. We still need to get a couple of additional pad-eyes installed that are positioned directly below the transom of the dinghy to prevent bouncing but even in rough seas, we get no water coming into the dinghy - just between the swim platform and the transom as you can see in the video.
 
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