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Tow Eye for the Spindrift 10N


Steve Day

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Guys,

I would like a few opinions on the placement of the bow eye on the spindrift. In the pictures supplied on the disk that Graham provided, the tow eye looks like it is quite high on the bow. In fact the center of the eye appears to be a couple of inches below the rub rail.

One of the complete boats featured on that same disk shows the tow eye lower on the bow, if fact just above the place that the sides join the bottom pieces on the bow. Down where a trailerable boat would have the eye for the winch line to bring the boat onto the trailer.

Based on my experience towing boats, I would think that the lower position would tow better, particularly in any kind of sea. Anybody have an opinion, or practical experience that would either confirm or debunk my thoughts?

I am getting a lot closer. The construction on the floatation compartments is complete. Now I am turning my attention to centerboard trunk, mast, mast step, rudder, and oars, in generally that order.

This thing is starting to look like it will be finished soon. :)

Looks like good temperatures for boat construction this weekend. :D

Steve

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Hi Steve,

I have heard that a lower position for the tow eye is better but my mechanical mind can't see that it would make much difference. The line will be pulling almost horizontal in either case. The planing forces will take the boat wherever it wants to go. The long towing line should not affect the position that the boat will assume.

It might keep a little more of the line out of the water in the higher position. I doubt if it makes any difference strength-wise. I'm not sure which way I will go yet but I think I'll put the blocking in both positions so I can change it later if needed.

The lower position might be better for hauling the boat out of the water and flipping it over on deck. It also might be a little better when lifting just the bow section by itself with just the one line.

I will probably have two eyes in the stern section since I plan to lift each section by itself for stowing and launching.

I'm not too far behind you in progress. I have the rails formed up and ready to shape before final installation. I cut out the rudder parts and the corner blocks last night. I'll get the rudder parts and centerboard glued up this evening.

Isn't this fun?!!

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Pictures,guys, Pictures...

I sent the film in my throw away camera out to be put on disk this week. I hope to be sharing progress pictures of CS17 #58 soon. 8)

Ya'know, I autta' be thinking of a name for #58. I was thinking about painting it yellow and calling it "Mean Mister Mustard Seed"... then trailering it to the great race this 4th of july to try and beat "Ketchup". :shock:

Roger

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All of the experts say to put the bow eye low, but as Garry said, I don't see that it makes a lot of difference. I have seen bow eyes take a nick out of nice shiny topsides and did not want that to happen to me. I decided to just use a reinforced hole in the bow through which the painter passed, with a figure of eight stopper knot. It has worked perfectly for me for many years, it is cheap, reliable and it cannot leak into my floatation compartment. After about five years of full time use I noticed that the line was wearing at the hole, so I just cut 6" off and tied a new stopper knot.

Using the hole through bow method requires that it be above the floatation, but I have not seen any problems while towing.

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Some interesting comments here, regarding the placement of the towing eye.

From personal experience I would suggest fitting it just above the waterline or at the bow knuckle, whichever is more practical.

While I agree with the comment that for normal towing it should not make much difference, it's when things are not as they should be when the low eye comes to its own.

For example, I was happily towing my assembled nester dinghy when a gust got the boatspeed to over 6 knots ( boat is a NIS 26).

Looking back at the dinghy I saw to my horror a water fountain erupting in its centre. I scrambled to drop sails to slow down and stop, the tow line was mightily strained and the dinghy about half full by the time I got it alongside. I think I would have towed it right under with a high mounted towing eye.

The reason for the fountain? The water pressure at 6 knots pushed the dummy centreboard plug off and the open slot acted like a pump. :shock:

Another case: towing in rough seas, with the dinghy starting to surf and trying to ram the mothership. A low mounted towline creates an instant drag as it goes slack (if its a good sized line), diverting and slowing the dinghy.

Also, with the line attachment at water level there is none of the bow down jerking as would happen if the line was attached higher up and it does go slack frequently due to dinghy surfing. That downward jerk really slows the mothership due the extra drag.

Now, before the engineers here try to disprove this with neat sketches and line angles, think about that, with a reasonable painter lenght and waves, the dinghy is often at a higher level than the attachment of the line at the mothership's transom :wink:

For those reasons I would also be very very worried with the suggested attachment of tow rope through a hole and a figure eight knot.

Sure, it's simple and it may work for a long time but is it strong enough to tow a dinghy half full of water? Can it stand up to the jerking pull of a surfing dinghy?

Not even a simple eye was good enough for me to attach the painter, it had to be a two screw fitting (we call it a 'saddle' - Omega shaped thingie) and its attached, on a ss pressure plate outside, with two 1/4" through hull screws, nylock nuts and fender washers inside, at the bow knuckle of the transom bow.

Perhaps for those who only sail on sheltered rivers or lakes, no special thought as to where and how the painter is attached is required. But those sailing along ocean coastlines or to offshore islands would understand the real hassle to recapture a wayward dinghy, especially if sailing short or single handed. Better to take extra steps to prevent that happening - one never loses a dinghy when the conditions are light. No, Murphy makes sure it only happens when it is most inconvenient or dangerous to fetch it back :wink:

Klaus, down under

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Guys,

I started a good discussion here. :lol: Thanks for all of the thoughts. The long discussion from Klaus is a welcome diversion. I would have expected our friends "down under" to be sailing while we are all discussing it up here with all of the cold weather. :wink:

I think I am going to put my eye down low. I will be putting a block in the floatation compartment and will fit a substantial eye that I happen to have on hand.

Thanks all for the interesting comments. :)

Steve

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Hi Klaus, welcome to the forum. A couple of years ago a friend showed me your web site with the building of your boat, congratulations on a fine job. You make some good points and have some good experience to back it up, however I stand by my method. You can make the bow as strong as you like and if your painter is strong enough it is as reliable as the mechanical method.

During my 15 years of voyaging I had plenty of opportunity to test it and it never failed. The most sensible thing to do is to carry the dinghy on board when offshore but for convenience we often pushed our luck. I found that if it got too rough I would just heave too and bring the dinghy over the lee side, but not always before it was put through some wild gyrations.

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I'm planning to build a "dummy centerboard" that will come flush with the bottom of the boat. This will cut down on drag and splash (and wet butt) when the centerboard is not in place. I remember having an occasional splash when operating my previous dinghy under power (I had no plate or dummy c'board then).

I still doubt that the position of the bow eye really had much to do with Klaus's "fountain" situation though. The bow eye on my previous dinghy was right at the top (potential gel coat nibbler) and I never saw a situation where the dinghy was being pulled down. It tended to ride bow up when there was any speed as it tried to plane. Even a painter attached at the waterline is well above water when the dinghy is planing (which it would normally be at normal towing speed).

One reason to use a bow eye fitting is to attach a SS cable for locking the dinghy to dock or boat. I plan to use a length of old lifeline cable. A simple rope can be cut too easily. Dinghy theft (particularly for the easily sold outboards) is unfortunately a too common problem.

I would not use the cable to tow with though. I think a longer line is necessary and the shock abosrobing quality of a rope is beneficial.

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Garry- if I may make a suggestion here. When I was cruising I used a steel cable to lock up the inflatable and also our plywood dink Note- cruising on a 35 foot tri gives you room for several dinghys :) . You can see both of them in this picture, taken by the way in the Elizabeth River moving from Willoughby Spit to Waterside in Norfolk just days before Halloween in about 1983.

What I did to stop chafe was strip the core from a length of double braid and insert the wire cable through the cover. Then I made a loop on each end with Nicro-press fittings and I seized the braided cover over those nicro fittings. The only thing uncovered was the loops on each end.

[attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

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Yes, I picked up that idea from a previous post. Good idea. I have some old lifeline cable that should work.

BTW - I lived on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk from 1979 to 1981. Great spot. My neighbor (16' Hobie) and I (15' 505) kept our boats tied down right there on the beach. We had a blast!

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The name rings a bell. I may have heard of him. Was he a boatbuilder? I was into walking the docks and looking at boats but shy about introducing myself. I was still several years away from building Rosebud down near Wimlington, NC.

It's funny how small a world it is when you share an interest with others.

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Yeah- He was a boat builder - still is I think. He's the guy that built the "Tugantine", the sailing tug boat that worked around Norfolk back in the 80's. Dylan was a quite nicely done ferro boat. helluva sailing machine. Did the mouth of the Chessy to Bermuda in record time once.

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