Sailing with dingy and outboard: weight distribution

I am looking for experience and advice from other IP owners re. weight distribution. Otter, Our IP 31, is a great little boat and also our home. We are currently "in training" for the coastal and Bahamas cruising life. We sail the local islands of south Ga and work on the boat. Since we like to take dingy rides out to nearby beaches, fishing holes, and exploring the salt marsh, we decided to upgrade our nearly one year old 4 hp Tohatsu with a new Honda 9.9. The 4-6 hp 4stoke engines are single cylinder making them as loud as a 2stroke and sometimes difficult to start. Also slow and underpowered. The Tohatsu weighed 59 lbs. by going to 8-9.9 hp you get two cylinders, and a much quieter engine. But it weighs a lot more.

The 9.9 brings the dingy up on plane and greatly extends the range of areas we can explore. It starts easy and is quiet. But the problem I am concerned with is weight. It is 93lbs. That seems a little much for storing on the rails, and certainly the davits. Also, I have been concerned with how stern heavy Otter is. In addition to the motor and dingy we have two solar panes. Also of course the cockpit lockers etc. then a little further coward are all those batteries, and the quarter birth has lots of stuff also. I've tried to move as many things forward as possible, but she still sits below waterline in the stern, and well above in the bow. It seems like sailing with all that weight back there will affect the boat handling and speed.

I am hoping to gets some advice and experience from other IP owners who have have faced the same issue.

Emergpa1 wrote: I am looking for experience and advice from other IP owners re. weight distribution. Otter, Our IP 31, is a great little boat and also our home. We are currently "in training" for the coastal and Bahamas cruising life. We sail the local islands of south Ga and work on the boat. Since we like to take dingy rides out to nearby beaches, fishing holes, and exploring the salt marsh, we decided to upgrade our nearly one year old 4 hp Tohatsu with a new Honda 9.9. The 4-6 hp 4stoke engines are single cylinder making them as loud as a 2stroke and sometimes difficult to start. Also slow and underpowered. The Tohatsu weighed 59 lbs. by going to 8-9.9 hp you get two cylinders, and a much quieter engine. But it weighs a lot more.

The 9.9 brings the dingy up on plane and greatly extends the range of areas we can explore. It starts easy and is quiet. But the problem I am concerned with is weight. It is 93lbs. That seems a little much for storing on the rails, and certainly the davits. Also, I have been concerned with how stern heavy Otter is. In addition to the motor and dingy we have two solar panes. Also of course the cockpit lockers etc. then a little further coward are all those batteries, and the quarter birth has lots of stuff also. I've tried to move as many things forward as possible, but she still sits below waterline in the stern, and well above in the bow. It seems like sailing with all that weight back there will affect the sailing characteristics

I am hoping to gets some advice and experience from other IP owners who have have faced the same issue.

Have you dealt with this Hayden?

Here are some thoughts, Based on our experience in 9 winters in the Bahamas,- mostly conflicting.

1. No dink is big enough or has too much power, when in use. In the Bahamas, keys, and in the out islands you will want to be able to go on plane for several miles in open ocean conditions. The bigger the dink the dryer the ride.
2. All dinks are a pain to deal with when not in use.
3. We have settled on a light RIB with a 15hp 2 stroke.
4. The stern rails on the IP are very strong and I would not worry about the weight of the motor on the rail. A motor hoist is mandatory. Davits are a different issue.
5. I would worry about the weight of the dink on the davits (ours are Kato, and very nice) - but some inflatables are heavy, over 160#. Our dink is an Achilles 10.3 which weighs about 110# + 24# for fuel and 10# more for misc stuff. This is what we carried on our 350 (about the size of an IP 31). This is what we carry on the IP 40.
6. My real concerns are associated with foul weather sea keeping rather than handling. In the ICW and in coastal day sailing none of this is an issue. At the risk of inflaming everyone on this site - cruising IP's handle and sail poorly - because they are big and we all over load them. They do sail much better than fin keel boats because they are far more tolerant to being over loaded. So...
7. Some suggestions: Consider putting the dink on the deck for crossings. Get the fuel and other junk out of the dink and lash to the rail on the deck to reduce weight aft and on the davits. Cross strap the dink so it can't move - chafe will destroy it and is very hard on the davits. Rig it so you can quickly and easily cut it free if you need to.
8. Island Packets can have boarding waves in the cockpit. If a wave boards the dink it will break down the davits. Imagine the davits torn down and jamming in the rudder just at the moment when you think things couldn't get much worse, like at night in a storm. On the IP350 we couldn't carry on the deck so for off-shore work we hung the dink upside down on the davits - it can't fill that way. This may sound way too anal - - but imagine your dink with 60 gallons of water in it on the davits. Kato's advice is that the dink shouldn't be on davits when off shore. The cuts in the Bahamas can be nasty ( large standing waves ) in generally mild weather conditions.
9. Finally, a pitch for dink safety. On our dink the misc stuff is safety stuff - a few basic tools, flares, GPS, hand held VHF, 80' of yacht braid + a small anchor, some water, and shoes. In lot of places in the Bahamas and farther south if the dink stops your next stop could be Africa. If you are going several miles by dink you are better off with a buddy dink.

Thanks
George
SV Delicia

Delicia wrote: Here are some thoughts, Based on our experience in 9 winters in the Bahamas,- mostly conflicting.

1. No dink is big enough or has too much power, when in use. In the Bahamas, keys, and in the out islands you will want to be able to go on plane for several miles in open ocean conditions. The bigger the dink the dryer the ride.
2. All dinks are a pain to deal with when not in use.
3. We have settled on a light RIB with a 15hp 2 stroke.
4. The stern rails on the IP are very strong and I would not worry about the weight of the motor on the rail. A motor hoist is mandatory. Davits are a different issue.
5. I would worry about the weight of the dink on the davits (ours are Kato, and very nice) - but some inflatables are heavy, over 160#. Our dink is an Achilles 10.3 which weighs about 110# + 24# for fuel and 10# more for misc stuff. This is what we carried on our 350 (about the size of an IP 31). This is what we carry on the IP 40.
6. My real concerns are associated with foul weather sea keeping rather than handling. In the ICW and in coastal day sailing none of this is an issue. At the risk of inflaming everyone on this site - cruising IP's handle and sail poorly - because they are big and we all over load them. They do sail much better than fin keel boats because they are far more tolerant to being over loaded. So...
7. Some suggestions: Consider putting the dink on the deck for crossings. Get the fuel and other junk out of the dink and lash to the rail on the deck to reduce weight aft and on the davits. Cross strap the dink so it can't move - chafe will destroy it and is very hard on the davits. Rig it so you can quickly and easily cut it free if you need to.
8. Island Packets can have boarding waves in the cockpit. If a wave boards the dink it will break down the davits. Imagine the davits torn down and jamming in the rudder just at the moment when you think things couldn't get much worse, like at night in a storm. On the IP350 we couldn't carry on the deck so for off-shore work we hung the dink upside down on the davits - it can't fill that way. This may sound way too anal - - but imagine your dink with 60 gallons of water in it on the davits. Kato's advice is that the dink shouldn't be on davits when off shore. The cuts in the Bahamas can be nasty ( large standing waves ) in generally mild weather conditions.
9. Finally, a pitch for dink safety. On our dink the misc stuff is safety stuff - a few basic tools, flares, GPS, hand held VHF, 80' of yacht braid + a small anchor, some water, and shoes. In lot of places in the Bahamas and farther south if the dink stops your next stop could be Africa. If you are going several miles by dink you are better off with a buddy dink.

Thanks
George
SV Delicia

Thanks George, all good advice. It's is reassuring to hear that the rail is strong. I too thought I would lash the dingy to the foredeck for crossings. (We are not a cutter and have a more open deck). I also liked your opinion on needing a larger dingy engine to plane.
Thanks again
Keith