Towing a 13' Whaler

[hibanx]

Has anyone tried to tow a 13' Whaler benind their Hatt? I tried to tow mine behind my 43C and had a serious problem. At any speed above idle, the bow would rise on the Whaler and it would take on water over the transom (lots of it). I was towing it from the factory bow eye, with the 25 hp Honda tilted all the way up. Has anyone else had this problem??

 

[ThirdHatt]

How far was the Whaler behind the boat? Did you try adjusting the length of your bridle to see if that helps? It is usually better to tow farther back in clean water but every setup is different.

 

[TROUBLE]

I towed my 21 foot flats boat behind my last boat on a 60+ foot tow line and never had a problem even at 20+ knots. You can always pull it in closer when in tight quarters.
Art

 

[Angela]

We tow the 15' Whaler ("Mermaid") behind Sanctuary quite often - never a problem. Sounds like you need a longer towing line. We make a bridle that stretches between the two aft cleats on the aft deck, and put a stainless ring on that line. We attach the towing line to the ring. We do give Mermaid quite a bit of line. She stays back there nice and happy. We've not done this in any rough seas - just the bay waters between Miami and Elliott Key.

 

[rsmith]

Has anyone tried to tow a 13' Whaler benind their Hatt? I tried to tow mine behind my 43C and had a serious problem. At any speed above idle, the bow would rise on the Whaler and it would take on water over the transom (lots of it). I was towing it from the factory bow eye, with the 25 hp Honda tilted all the way up. Has anyone else had this problem??

You have to be carefull towing the whaler because the 13 will flip easy. Once its on a plane unless you put the motor partialy down to act as a keel of sorts it will fishtail from side to side. If you have a pre 73 with the cut down transom you will take on water coming on and off the plane. I leave the drainplugs out so it dosent fill up.
More than a few years ago I helped a friend bring his 46 back from West end GBI. It had been blowing over 20 from the north for a week and his wife and family bailed on him. I flew over and tried to convince him to leave the whaler but he was convince the Bahamians would steal it. then I found out he was towing it with the nylon anchor line(not good). When your on someone elses boat you have a tendancy to go along even you know better. About 3/4 of the way across the whaler flipped and the bow dug in like a diving plane, the thru bolt that holds the bow eye in snapped and even tho I had a safety line run from the shackel to the norman pin the line slingshoted into the cockpit. We tried to recover the whaler but the conditions were so rough we just couldnt get near enough with out the Hatt coming down on top of it. We ended up leaving it and calling the CG to report it. As far as I know its never been found.
I tow a 23' dusky to the Bahamas and have a 1" poly bridal and tow line that I use. I have a made for the purpose towing eye mounted and reinforced at the bow. The tow line has a saftey line spliced into the main line and connected into the lifting eye on the bow.
You dont want to tow with nylon. I saw a guy killed by a flying cleat when I was a kid. Its too much like a sling shot.

 

[ron6785]

I tow a 17' center counsol Sundance with a fifty hp Honda. I've towed it over 5000 miles with what is called a New Zealand tie. It requires a fender secured horizontaly to the front of the Sundance. The boat is towed very very close to the swim platform. From the two forward cleats on each side of the boat you attach two lines. One line from each side goes straight forward to the rear cleats. on your hat, the other line on each side criss crosses right to left and left to right, these lines prevent the boat from wander side to side. you can run a center line from the winch eye on the boat up thru the swim platform entrance (53MY) and secure it to one of the rear cleats, this line really doesn't have any weight bearing and is there just to help keep the boat centered. I did install two cleats on the exterior transom of the boat , but I did that more for a hand hold while handling lines while docking and they are perfect for the tie method.

The boat rides on your aft wave very close to the swim platform. I also attach two cheap walmart fenders to the lower vertical rails of the swim platform so that if I have to make an emergency stops the fender on the boat only comes in contact with the fenders on the swim platform.

This design is done in New Zealand and Australia because the seas are too rough to have a boat on a long tether. The dingy or Sundance really becomes an extention of the boat , so you can back up and the dink stays in alignment with the boat with no danger of getting ropes wrapped around your props, its great for locking thru and I've been in some really rough seas and the boat rides perfectly.

Make sure to mark your lines at the cleats on the big boat so it is easy to tie the boat up everytime you use the whaler. The problem is that you forget that the dink is back there sometimes because you never have to worry about it.

 

[rsmith]

is the tow between the roostertail and the back of the towing vessel?

 

[hibanx]

My issues happened at very slow speeds, just above idle, around 8 knots, in calm water. I am guessing it has something to do with the length of the tow line, but it is a little discouraging that at such slow speeds I am having trouble. It almost seems as if the height difference between my stern cleats and the whaler bow eye is causing the abnormal lift on the bow and therefore the transom going down. I am going to try again with an adjustment to the tow length. If I still have trouble you may see the whaler for sale soon.

 

[doc g]

I tow mine quite a bit,when it's too rough to pick it up and put up top. Older 1969 Whaler with low transom and I leave the (heavy 3cyl Merc 40 hp)motor down.Tracks straight Have no problems. Have a bildge pump on auto all the time, but never a worry. Try leaving the motor down. I also think that its a whole lot better on the transom of the Whaler to keep the OB in the down position....Pat

 

[rsmith]

if you put the engine in rev the prop wont spin
If your using the towing eye pull it out and check the integrity of the thru bolt. mine is ss but still rotted

 

[hibanx]

Thanks for all of the advice. i will make a few changes and try again, then report back.

 

[ron6785]

is the tow between the roostertail and the back of the towing vessel?

The boat rides literally right at the edge of the swim platform however if what your refering to as the roster tail is the immediate wave aft the swim platform ,yes. In fact when your sitting still the boat should be right up against the swilm platform. When underway the ropes stretch a little and the bow of the dink rides just above the swim platform. Remember the dink has a fender mounted horizontally on the front and I put up two cheap fenders on the vertical rails of my swim platform, this allows a cushion if I have to stop quickly. The important thing is you don't have to worry if you have to stop and back up unexpectetly. The large boat takes longer to stop or loose inertia than the small boat so its not like the dink slams into the swim platform, or at least thats been my experience

The ceaveat here is I'm traveling on a 53MY at no more than 16knts. The mistake you can make is not snugging the dink up close enough which will allow it to turn sidways when you back. This is not unlike seeing a sail boat towing a dink snugged right up to the transom, they of course have no worries because their dinks are soft sided. The tie procedure I've described above is to prevent the boat you are towing to move sideways when backing and to allow you to cross rough seas without worry about the dink.

 

[pmurphy]

The boat rides literally right at the edge of the swim platform however if what your refering to as the roster tail is the immediate wave aft the swim platform ,yes. In fact when your sitting still the boat should be right up against the swilm platform. When underway the ropes stretch a little and the bow of the dink rides just above the swim platform. Remember the dink has a fender mounted horizontally on the front and I put up two cheap fenders on the vertical rails of my swim platform, this allows a cushion if I have to stop quickly. The important thing is you don't have to worry if you have to stop and back up unexpectetly. The large boat takes longer to stop or loose inertia than the small boat so its not like the dink slams into the swim platform, or at least thats been my experience

The ceaveat here is I'm traveling on a 53MY at no more than 16knts. The mistake you can make is not snugging the dink up close enough which will allow it to turn sidways when you back. This is not unlike seeing a sail boat towing a dink snugged right up to the transom, they of course have no worries because their dinks are soft sided. The tie procedure I've described above is to prevent the boat you are towing to move sideways when backing and to allow you to cross rough seas without worry about the dink.

Ron6785- Do you happen to have a picture of how your boat tows? That sounds very interesting to me. I tow either a 15 ft whaler or a 17 ft mako but it has always been on a line centered about 60 ft behind the boat. Coming back from the Bahamas this year in very heavy seas with the mako in tow I thought I was going to sink it. Many times it got nearly sideways in the following seas at 10 knots.

 

[Canuck Dennis]

I towed an 18 ft Zodiac this summer behind our 70 footer, over 1000 miles, some in 6 ft seas, we had a similar bridle as Angela shows, except, we had the Zodiac about 3 ft from the swim grid, good chafing gear and averaged about 10kts, worked really well and was good for docking etc. I think you have to do one or the other, either really close or way further back.

 

[ron6785]

Ron6785- Do you happen to have a picture of how your boat tows? That sounds very interesting to me. I tow either a 15 ft whaler or a 17 ft mako but it has always been on a line centered about 60 ft behind the boat. Coming back from the Bahamas this year in very heavy seas with the mako in tow I thought I was going to sink it. Many times it got nearly sideways in the following seas at 10 knots.

I'm sorry I don't and I'm underway and at anchor for the next few nights, as soon as I get to a place where I have a cell I'll take a picture of it from my aft deck so you can see how the ties work. I know it sounds difficult , but its really easy. I originally towed with a long thether, however if I had to stop or back up it was problematic in fact pulling into Naples coming from Key West a couple of years ago I had to stop and back up quickly and wrapped the tow rope around my prop even though it was a floating line.