Dink Launching and Retrieval From Bridge

[Bajarat]

Pursuing a trawler purchase and will be doing a lot of trolling while underway. Dink storage on swim platform or similar does not lend itself well for trolling.

What is your experience with dinks that are stored on the bridge? I have seen a couple owners say it is a PITA and they don't utilize their dinks much. Please take a moment to share your experience with this setup. And, if you have any videos it would be great.

Thanks

 

[menzies]

Do you have a boat deck behind the bridge and is there a davit, or boom already in place for the dinghy?

 

[MYTraveler]

My dinghy is stored aft of the flybridge in an area called the boat deck. On a prior boat, the dinghy was stored on the bow. I can't see that launching / retrieval is any more difficult or significantly more time consuming (admittedly, it does have to go up and down an additional 8 feet or so) from the boat deck than from the bow. Either way, having a crane with power rotation helps a lot. It takes less than 10 minutes (literally) to launch / retrieve, and a good part of that is spent getting the cover on and off.

 

[ctjstr]

its definitely not as convenient as having it on the swim step. but as you know, there are some advantages as well.

I've always had it on the step, until this 4788 we have now, where its stored up on top of the cabin like most of this model.

Here are some pros and cons:

Pro: up out of the way when not using it. It does take some space, but not space we'd be using. Makes it easy to work on or fuss with as needed. Because its sitting level, rather than tilted on edge, storing stuff is a bit easier. At least on our setup, visibility is better not having the dink on the back step. It also helps move some weight forward, which on many boats, ours included, is a good thing.

The cons may be somewhat unique to our setup, but....
We have four attachment points on the dink, with chains from each up to a common bar. That bar then has a single mounting point for the winch cable. So you can imagine that you're lifting the 700 lb or so of dink/motor/stuff from one attachment point. Keeping the dink level can be a challenge. If you're fuel tank if more or less full, it will affect the balance point. If you've taken on some water, even a couple gallons, it will affect the balance point. Wind can affect the attitude of the dink as its coming up. In the worst case scenario, the balance point can be so affected that the dink actually wants to hang by one end or the other, which makes for an interesting launch/retrieval. You gradually get used to it and how to avoid problems, but it takes a bit of time and at least in my case, one trip into the drink and a lot of laughter from the crowd.

Overall, its a bit of a pain, and yes, we use it a little less, but so far, it seems to be worth the effort.

 

[Martin J]

On my last boat I stored mine on the boat deck. I had a mast on boom on the trawler so mounted a 3500lb ATV winch below the gooseneck and fitted a upgraded wooden boom (made it myself). Real easy launch and recovery with 2 people. But no real problem on my own. Must a bit happier with it on the boat deck than the transom. We cruised the Eastern Caribbean for 7 years like that. I would not have liked the RIB on the transom in some of the weather / seas as we cruised between the various islands and we had stabilzers.