instead of a dingy

Hey im curious. Has anyone ever sailed a 35+ ft sailboat and trailed an island behind them instead of a dingy? Doable?

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"Not everyone who wanders is lost." - Tolkien

Thats weird because I was JUST wondering the same exact thing last night. Hope somebody has tried this before and replies.

Having been towed behind a large fishing trawler in my TI, my own view is that you would be better off hauling the Island out of the water and lashing it to the deck. In fact the trawler skipper wanted to do that very thing with mine (he was "rescuing" me from 7nm out to sea after my rudder broke internally, and I couldn't steer with the paddle on starboard tack).

I think it could work if you used a very short tow line, so you could actually keep the bow up out of the water, but thst would put a lot of stress on the bow fitting, which normally only has to cope with the handle.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Thats what I was afraid of. I figured the Island would be awkward to tow. Id like to find a way. On a lot of the bareboat charters you get a dingy with the boat or pay extra for one. Id much much rather have an island with us. I think a TI would just take up too much space on deck even in a multi hull. hmmm.

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"Not everyone who wanders is lost." - Tolkien

Actually, if you are talking about a 35+ foot >multihull<, I would actually differ, and say that carrying a TI on the foredeck would be relatively easy. A typical 35+ footer cat will have a beam of around 20 feet or more. It would be a bit of a fiddle getting the TI up from the water, but if you protected the front crossbeam on the cat with carpet etc, you could probably use a spinnaker halyard to do the heavy lifting while a second person guides the TI through the safety lines (I suspect you could fit the TI under the lower safety line if the mast had been taken out first).

I am assuming the cat is a charter one, so you cannot do things like adding rollers and/or fitting releases to the safety lines to make the job easier. Using a charter cat, you probably wouldn't want to be launching the TI too often.

However, I tend to think that most cats could "swallow" a TI on the foredeck without compromising sail handling to any great extent, as most cats tend to have high-cut headsails rather than deck-sweepers.

What model cat are you thinking of?

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

I see a lot of big boats with a davit crane on the rear deck where they have a dingy, just replace the dingy with a TI, I'm sure it is no heavier, might stick out the sides a little on a motor yacht or mono sail boat but I don't think that would be a deal breaker.
Most boats have a mooring turnbuckle in the rear corner on each side, I still think you would do ok with a short line from each turnbuckle to the bow of the TI. If you run the lines thru PVC tubing this will prevent the TI from crashing into the back of the boat.
When I was growing up my parents had a big cabin cruiser on the Mississippi where we spent most summers, that's the way I would tow my sunfish and my 3 point hydroplanes behind the cruiser. The 3 point hydroplane sat very low in the water (like the TI) and there was a great risk of the boat diving, keeping the lines short and running them in PVC tubing prevented that and kept the boats centered behind the cruiser. The PVC pipe prevented the towed boat from crashing into the back of the cruiser.
We tried running a single line 20 ft long and that didn't work well at all, I swamped one of my hydroplanes trying that as I am assuming the same would happen with a TI.
Might be worth trying, but don't blame me if you lose your boat (lol)
Hope this helps
Bob
PS: as a 15-16 yr old kid we would go out sometimes a week at a time, having my own little boat made it worthwhile for me, doing all my huck fin adventures in the backwaters away from the parents. Turned out that sunfish was a chick magnet ( lol).

LOL. I think I'm going to give this a shot and will let you know how it goes. Thanks Bob

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"Not everyone who wanders is lost." - Tolkien

This may have worked well because of the extra drag of the two kayaks..

http://analogengineering.com/sail/powel ... l2010.html

Dragging a rope behind a solid dinghy is a recognised way to correct a skittery hull when towing and it stops it overtaking you in a following sea. Would work with an Island. Tow rope at mast step or through the drive hole for strength.

And if you are leaving the tender behind, my top chartering tip - Make sure the liferaft is on the deck and not in the locker...and you can get it out the locker in the first place.