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Richard Nye

9/1/2025 11:07 AM

Now that I have your attention....

We're in Maine now and the 9 foot tide makes it difficult to go to shore when there is no floating dock. Our dinghy dry weight is 800 pounds, so if that gets beached we have no way of moving it.

I'm contemplating getting a small, lightweight dinghy that I can either row or put a small motor on to drag up on shore above the tide line. I'm thinking rowing is best. A motor would complicate things some...one more motor to maintain, need gas can, have to secure it on deck, would need registration, etc.

The West Coast may be in our near future, so I know some of you West Coasties use a small dinghy to get to shore when the swell and crashing waves makes anchoring a dinghy unsafe.

I did just purchase an anchor buddy and second dinghy anchor, but I haven't used it yet, and am a bit afraid to use it here in Maine due to the extreme tides.

I'm looking for ideas to handle this dilemma.

Richard

Untethered, 57-22

Mike Cero

9/1/2025 11:36 AM

I love my little Takacat with an electric motor. Originally got it for our Alaskan trip as a backup for a Davit failure w/ dingy on top. When we had a dog, it was great for taking him to shore as he'd just walk off the open bow. Same with getting back on. No more of the heavy "up ya go" lifting. I also find it very relaxing laying perpendicular across the tubes in a lazy boy configuration moving around observing nature etc.

Mike Cero

M/V Sea Rose (6605)

Mark Tilden

9/1/2025 12:15 PM

Mike:

That Takacat does look pretty cool. What do you do with it on board Sea Rose?

mark

Jack Burgess

9/1/2025 4:17 PM

We use the anchor buddy system occasionally, more in the past when our travels took us to Maine and Nova Scotia, where the tides are, as you say, difficult. Cruising in the Eastern Caribbean for the last few years did not present us with much in the way of big tides. Our 14' Walker Bay, like your tender, is not going anywhere if left high and dry. I have a Torqueedo electric motor for my little Flying Scot sailboat, and have planned to buy a smaller dinghy to use with either that motor or paddles, but never got to it. Still a plan.

We may have our new boat delivered to the Pacific Northwest next April or May, commissioned there, and cruise there for several months. I figure it would be the only time we would be on our own boat there, and what a wonderful place for a shakedown cruise! I also am interested in the best combination of tenders, and believe two is the right number, so let's keep this topic going. Hopefully we will get some shared wisdom from the Left Coasters on what works best over yonder.

Thanks - Jack

Mike Cero

9/2/2025 10:30 AM

Mark, It gets stored on it's side up against the railing. Doesn't take up that much room. Another thing I like is it never fills with water because of the open bow and stern. I keep it inflated until the end of season.

Mike Cero

M/V Sea Rose (6605)

Russ Dykstra

9/1/2025 11:49 AM

Costco of all places, has a small inflatable cat/dinghy that is very light weight and from the review I saw online it was decent for $600!

Maybe put a small electric trolling motor on it but it does come with oars and a decent storage bag.

Mark Tilden

9/1/2025 12:13 PM

Hi Richard:

This is a very common problem in the northwest, where 15-20 foot tides are very common. We do carry a second small inflatable dinghy (with no motor), but we seldom use it---just too much hassle to get it out, inflate it, etc..

We do use the "dinghy buddy" (a bungee cord system for anchoring the dinghy and keeping it off the beach) fairly regularly. It does take some practice and even then, it often takes me two or even three tries to get it just right---far enough out that it will pull the dinghy back into deep water, but close enough that when the bungee is stretched out, we can get to shore.

Actually, if you watch our Alaska video: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/13lPBuuDB99sg2O5LuG_fWrGwAOPDaylZ/view?usp=drive_link) within the first few minutes you'll see our dinghy sitting on the dinghy buddy anchor at Codville Lagoon in central BC where we were hiking up to a lake and needed to anchor the dinghy. That day, we had about 12 foot tides.

Some have recommended stand-up paddle boards or kayaks as an alternatives, but those come with other issues/limitations as well.

Mark Tilden

Selene 60 "Koinonia"

Brad Budinger

9/2/2025 8:57 AM

We spent the last 5 years in the Pacific Northwest where 15’ tides are normal. At the right time a half hour hike will leave you high and dry for the next several hours. What we used was an Anchor Buddy (bungee) system and a 75’ painter to keep the dinghy offshore, particularly on a falling tide.

I found that an 8 pound mushroom anchor worked best for the Anchor Buddy. It doesn’t need to set hard, just enough to pull a little tension. You need the weight more than the grip.I had tried a folding anchor with little success.

In the second photo, the line in the sand is where the water was when we came ashore.

Brad Budinger

M/V Moonstone

Selene 55-70

Carl Gulledge

9/2/2025 9:10 AM

Wondering if anyone has tried one of these Mantus tenders?

https://www.mantusmarine.com/mantus-dinghy/

Carl

Richard Nye

9/2/2025 10:10 AM

Carl, 220 pounds sounds pretty heavy to haul up/down the shore. I'm looking for something sub 100 lbs.

Mark, your video is stunning! Thanks for sharing that.

About the Anchor Buddy. How exactly do you have that rigged? Mushroom anchor, bungee, some rope tied to stern of dinghy? Then long painter to shore. You drop the mushroom anchor at depth then motor to shore (doesn't the mushroom anchor move?). Get off the boat and let the bungee take the dinghy back to depth.

I'd prefer using the Anchor Buddy over a second dinghy. It's much simpler and doesn't take much space.

Richard

Brad Budinger

9/2/2025 10:56 AM

The Anchor Buddy rigging is very simple. It comes with self closing hooks on both ends so one attaches to the mushroom anchor and the other to the transom eye ring. When I get about 20’ from shore I just toss the anchor overboard and continue to shore. As soon as we touch land we shift our weight forward to keep the boat stationary while we grab our extra long painter and disembark. That line also has a snap hook on it so I attach it to the bow eye and pay it out from shore while the dinghy, now free of our weight, floats away. We find a suitable anchor point to attach the line to and away we go!

On return, just pull the line and the dingy to the beach and hop in. Pull up the anchor on your way out.

Brad Budinger

M/V Moonstone

Selene 55-70

Mike Woolf

9/2/2025 11:16 AM

Agreed that Anchor Buddy is simple and effective. With respect to the anchor, weight is your friend. I have a 9lb anchor (biggest I can fit under the seat) that holds just fine in any condition I've tried, up to 10 knot winds blowing at the shore. I got that anchor after a 2lb anchor moved easily when onshore winds exceeded 5 knots.

Mark Tilden

9/2/2025 11:58 AM

Hi Richard:

Mark, your video is stunning! Thanks for sharing that.

Thank you! It was fun to make....

About the Anchor Buddy. How exactly do you have that rigged? Mushroom anchor, bungee, some rope tied to stern of dinghy? Then long painter to shore. You drop the mushroom anchor at depth then motor to shore (doesn't the mushroom anchor move?). Get off the boat and let the bungee take the dinghy back to depth.

I have the "buddy ultra" (the longest one.....I don't remember exactly how long the bungee is) rigged to a folding grapnel anchor. That has worked fairly well for me--mostly because many of the beaches in British Columbia and Alaska are rocky, so it seems to "snag" fairly well. Brad suggested a mushroom, which is certainly another possibility, but I haven't tried it. The anchor buddy has a snap hook on one end that I attach to a cleat on the stern of the dinghy (I have a radar "arch" so the stern cleat is actually about 1/2 up the arch, which helps keep the bungee out of the prop).

Yes.....the tricky part of the operation is to judge when to drop the anchor and how quickly it "sets". You also need to pay attention to whether the tide is rising or falling. On a falling tide, you obviously need the dinghy well off the current tideline, so you will generally drop it earlier. On a rising tide, you want to be sure that you can still get to the dinghy when you return without swimming out to it, so you drop a little later.

As I said, it often seems to take us a couple of tries to get it right. Once the anchor is down, I motor in toward the beach with the motor tipped up as far as I can. If I get it just right, you get close to the end of the stretch of the bungee when you get to the beach. If you're by yourself, it can be tricky because you have to shut the motor off and climb out quickly before the bungee pulls the boat back out into deeper water. With two people, it's fairly straightforward. The second person steps out usually over the bow on to the beach taking the painter with them and holds the boat from getting pulled back out.

Then I will raise the motor fully and step out. Our painter line is attached to the bow and is about 75 feet long. It doesn't have to be super strong and longer is better because you need to be able to find something on shore (a tree or rock) to tie it to. YOu let the bungee pull the dinghy back out into deeper water and then tie off the painter so that you can pull the dinghy back in when you return.

Does that make sense?

I'd prefer using the Anchor Buddy over a second dinghy. It's much simpler and doesn't take much space.

I agree. I have a second small inflatable dinghy, but it's such a hassle to pull it out and inflate it that I virtually never do. The only time I've used it is when the motor on our primary dinghy died.

We look forward to having you come to the West Coast!

mark

Richard Nye

9/2/2025 1:26 PM

Thanks Mark, Mike, Brad, Jenni. Clear as can be. I've seen Anchor Buddys used in the Bahamas, but the tide swings there are maybe only 3 feet.

Richard

Treasurer

9/2/2025 10:32 AM

We have wheels on the back of our dinghy, which raise up to stow away, and then we can lower them prior to getting to the shore and roll the dinghy onto and off of the beach. Of course it doesn’t work so well in sticky mud that the wheels would sink into, but does in most cases.

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