Dinghy Project

The new/old dinghy on it's new mount.

For those of you have cruised on the SEA WEASEL you are probably familiar with my tender SPARKLES. SPARKLES is a 10' Zeppelin inflatable dinghy I bought off craigslist for $50. It was a steal and after two and a half year's use SPARKLES doesn't owe me a thing. Two leaks have made it almost unusable. Repairing it would cost between $150 - $300 I don't have. Enter fate. Viggo, the previous owner of my boat, let me know that he did not need his dinghy anymore as he bought a new inflatable. He told me I could have the old dinghy for free! What a nice guy!

The dinghy is about 7' x 4' fibreglass boat with a glassed in foam centre for buoyancy. There is a padded rub rail around the side. The dinghy fits nicely on the bow and will track well when towed. All in all it is a nice little dinghy with one problem: Where do I put it? The dinghy dock at my marina is a graveyard and I would be foolish to leave it there. Leaving it in the water will result in it being instantly fouled. Putting it on the bow would be a pain in the rear or bow rather. The solution was to create a dinghy rack.

The rough plan involved mounting it horizontally.

I went around the marina and looked at what designs people came up with. Most were 4"x4" pressure treated posts mounted to the the 6" of wood that runs on the side of the cement docks. I did see one that I liked. Rather than mounting the upright pole on the horizontal surface it was mounted on the vertical surface giving it more support. Now it was time to go to Home Depot to see what I can come up with. I am lucky to have had a Dad that was a very hands on kind of guy who could solve problems himself. While I was never much of a hands on kid growing up I did learn from him and this has helped me in everything to do with maintaining my boat.

A detailed shot of the base for the dinghy rack. The wood "feet" are visible and the three "shrouds" can be clearly seen.

Basically I went with 1"x 10' metal conduit pipe for the "mast". I found two metal hooks for a base. Since the mast was hollow I could use the hooks as a great base. To provide horizontal stabilization I used a "U" bracket mounted vertically and a "L" bracket with a hose clamp to hold it from a horizontal base. Now this would not be enough. I opted to use "shrouds" at the top of the mast running back to two cleats on either side of the mast and a third one to an eye bolt I mounted into the dock. To mount the shrouds to the top of the mast I used a hose clamp and amsteel rope.

The 4:1 purchase is tangled in this photo but was very easy to hoist. This was easily handled by one person.

I now had a supported mast to work from. At the same hose clamp at the top of the mast I attached a Ronstan double block with a additional tie off point. At the other end I rigged a double block and a SS caribeaner. This would give me a 4:1 purchase. I also mounted two "feet" which were 1.5' pine planks mounted from the dock out so that they would take most of the load of the dinghy. To wrap up the project I used a hose clamp to mount a nylon mid-duty cleat. In the end the solution worked beautifully. I now have a all metal solution that can be worked easily by one person or very easily two people.

The only thing left to do is protecting the dinghy rack. The dinghy rack is made up of steel for the most part and much of it not stainless so I need to protect it from corrosion. For this I bought trimclad rust paint. I will apply this shortly.

Looking good and smellin fine. The whole affair cost me $80.

In conclusion I can say this was a really rewarding project. It took 4 hours and was fun. The real test will be to see how it holds up in a year but I have confidence in it.