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Dinghy 101
By Jara Anton
Every boat on the water should have adequate lifeboats. When the going gets tough, the dinghy is deployed. Hopefully you will never find yourself rocking on a dinghy while your beloved water craft sinks to the depths of the ocean floor. If you are a waterlogged veteran, you know where and all about dinghies. For the rest of us landlubbers, let us get our sea legs.
Whether you are sailing the seven seas or taking laps around the state lake, your boat should be equipped with a life raft. The dinghy is perhaps the most popular style. The inflatable dinghy makes a great life raft or yacht tender for a larger boat. Inflatables are lightweight and they won't scratch up your vessel. Dinghies are easily launched or lifted back on board by hand. They are the best boats for land excursions and for getting to shore when no docking facilities are available. Dinghies can also be used in their own right for activities such as sailing, rowing, rafting, fishing, diving or pleasure cruising.
If you are interested in a dinghy with a few more options, some of the best sailing dinghies are catamarans. A 14' inflatable catamaran has plenty of room for 4 adults, gear and supplies for an extended sailing adventure. The lateen sail system is easy to learn and the boat can be powered by an auxiliary 4 hp outboard motor. These catamarans are extremely stable in the water and some of the safest boats afloat. Best of all, the entire inflatable catamaran and sail kit fits into two bags for easy storage.
This particular dinghy weighs just 25 lbs and takes only 8 minutes to inflate. This is a very lightweight inflatable boat which is easily launched by one person and one of the best choices in a portable yacht tender for a small sailing vessel. A wide beam and optional floorboards provide stability and support.
The dinghy concept goes back to the birth of civilization. There are ancient carved images of animal skins filled with air that were being used as one-man floats to cross rivers. They were inflated by mouth, obviously. Sometimes, these images have been wrongly described as ancient attempts at scuba diving.
Further, in 1839, the Duke of Wellington tested the very first inflatable pontoons. Soon after rubber was invented and made available to the masses. After the rubber c raze began, dinghies were revised yet again. The 1910 development of rubber manufacturing enabled attempts at producing circular inflatable boats. However, these were only usable as rafts and could be propelled only by paddling. These early circular boats also tended to crack at the seams and fold due to the imperfection of the rubber.
Not just for fishing, these life rafts were also used to save the crews of downed aircraft that were dumped over the sea. They aided in rescuing the crews of bombing and anti-submarine aircraft flying long distances over water, which was common during World War II.
The PBY Catalina made by Consolidated Aircraft and Canadair seems to have been the first aero plane to have had an inflatable life boat aboard, first as optional, later as standard equipment. A later version of that inflatable was pressurized by a gas cylinder rather than by mouth. A wire connected to the plane opened the cylinder valve in the inflatable after the life raft was thrown into the water.
It was during the 1950's that the dinghy world saw the most progression. Until the middle of the decade, inflatables were simply rafts in civilian use, bulky and hand paddled, but the outboard motor came into use in the early 1950's.
So, there you have it. Just a brief overview of the dinghy and all of its glory. The next time you are relaxing in the sun, you will be able to fully appreciate that little inflatable boat: the dinghy.