Sailing with DinghyDogs

Many of you ask about sailing with DinghyDogs.  I just got this from a DinghyDogs user and thought I'd share it with you.

"You have a great product,  I love sailing my fatty knees in about 15 to 20 knots of wind with the Dinghy Dogs! When the the dinghy heals over and the dog hits the water it feels so stable , like I got a bigger boat!,"   Marc Roman, Palm Beach Garden, FL

Thanks Marc.

Design Changes

We've made some change in the design of DinghyDogs tubes.  The valves are now sealed to the covers which will help to prevent debris from getting into the tubes and keeps the valve where it belongs when deflated/inflated.

Any suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

Enjoy the summer.  

Improved rowing for DinghyDogs

Thanks to the problems one owner had rowing with DinghyDogs I've made some modifications to the installation of DinghyDogs.

The aft cleats should be installed on the outside edges of the transom 2" below the rail. The forward cleat should be placed as before, 84" forward.

When installed in this manner, the tubes will be approximately 2" lower than the rail near the oarlock and give significantly more room for the oars when rowing.

The track should be located 10" from the rail midway between the cleats.

You can try to modify your present installation: must remove the old tracks and either reposition them or get new ones.  Also you will need to move two aft cleats or add new ones.  The length of the tie downs might also need to be longer.

Be sure to reseal any screw holes.

Contact me with any questions. .

An idea for you to try.

Pumping up DinghyDogs takes time with a foot pump and it isn't exactly easy.  You might try this.

Press the yellow button in and turn clockwise to keep the valve open. It will be much faster and easier to pump up the tubes. When they're pumped up, remove the pump from the valve and QUICKLY shut the valve - turn counter clockwise so it pops up.  You'll lose a little air but not much. Now you can finish the pumping the regular way but with much less overall effort.  

I lied

Well not exactly lied but I might have exaggerated a bit.  On our website we say Dinghy Dogs make "it as stable as an inflatable". The fact is that an inflatable has its tubes in the water all the time.  That's what keeps inflatables afloat and give them stability, but that's what makes them such poor rowing boats and such poor tow behinds.

The Dinghy Dogs tubes ride out of the water in an empty boat as seen in this side by side comparison.  

Dinghy Dogs  v  Inflatable

As passengers enter the dinghy, the tubes will drop but should still be out of the water. That's how boats with Dinghy Dogs can perform like a hard dinghy.  

Only if and when the boat tips too much, the tubes become active providing the buoyancy needed to prevent serious problems or even a capsize. 

So I guess they're not quite as stable as an inflatable but we believe the tradeoff is more than justified.

An ounce of prevention

I recently received a note from a customer telling me that a bladder in one tube apparently burst.  When I received the culprit I found that the bladder had indeed burst and had a huge hole adjacent to the valve.  The bladder material had clearly been subjected high heat since the material surrounding the valve was very thin and transparent.

Apparently the collar was not centered in the opening and the bladder material found its way out around the collar.  I suspect the hot sun increased the pressure on the tubes but since the bladder was not contained by the cover, it kept expanding until it burst.

I urge you to be sure the valve is centered whenever you inflate but especially if the dinghy will be unattended for any time and you might not notice a problem.  Since this is the first time we have encountered this it's probably an outlier but an ounce of prevention....

Our new Dinghy Dogs design has an improved valve arrangement making this problem nearly impossible as seen here:

Wishing us all a great New Year and sailing season.

Protect your Dinghy Dogs

There is an excellent article "RIB wrap",  in the September/October issue of Good Old Boat  that tells how someone made an inflatable boat cover for under $100. (A pdf will open and you need to scroll about half way down.) It should be easy to adapt to Dinghy Dogs, especially that spend lots of time under the tropical sun.

And won't you please "Like" us on Facebook?  It will really help us. Click the "Like" button below.  

Thanks.