What About a Dinghy?

I don’t mean THAT dinghy, gentlemen.

As focused as we have been on dragging / pushing / pulling Blue Tortuga over the finish line, an equally important secondary vessel has also been in the works – the dinghy! Cruisers like to say, "if our boat is our house, the dinghy is our car."

Sample Dinghy Type

A dinghy is a critical piece of equipment for those that do not plan to continuously stay at a marina – like us. The dinghy really is our car. It gets us from the anchorage or mooring to all those critical places that we need to go.

Choosing the right dinghy for our needs meant carefully considering a number of components. We started with how we wanted to use the dinghy, how many people it would regularly need to transport, what our catamaran could accommodate, and how far we may need to go in it. Similar to the questions people answer when they consider a car purchase.

Dinghy Davits Hoist System

Size does matter! It was an important consideration as it needs to be large enough to shuttle people and supplies to and from Blue Tortuga keeping them as dry as possible. But it also has to fit comfortably between the sugar scoops on the dinghy davits (the hoist system) on the back of the catamaran. We wanted a dinghy that was around 11 feet or 3.3 Meters. This seemed like a good compromise between being large enough to carry gear, two people, groceries, plus all the basics that would have to ‘live’ on the dinghy like: fuel tank, life jackets, lights, anchor and line. Plus having a place to secure these things, like a locker to keep them from being stolen when left at the dinghy dock.

Sample Dingy Dock

The weight was a two factor challenge: hoisting and durability. Our dinghy davit system requires two people to hoist the boat by pulling on the rope and pulley system. The ease of this system is an important consideration since security for the dinghy and outboard motor – which is a target for thieves – needs to be hoisted and tied to the stern each day. If the sound of that does not seem like a big deal, compare that to the number of times a person typically pulls their car into the garage or parks in the driveway. Super simple stuff unless in order to park in the garage meant the car had to be parked in the driveway and then manually pulled into the garage. I mean, REALLY important to keep the weight down. Having an aluminum bottom, because it is lighter, was important for us and would be more forgiving when running in shallow water, beached to go ashore, or used as a scout boat when navigating narrow, shallow passages for Blue Tortuga.

However, finding an aluminum bottom as our original launch date drew near was nearing impossible, so we looked at fiberglass bottom dinghies. While fiberglass is subject to chipping and made the boat much heavier, especially when adding the weight of the motor. It was not our first choice – but we had to work with what was available.

As the motor comes into the picture, we knew we needed a motor strong enough to handle the swift currents we had experienced while sailing our monohull, Reboot. While balancing the power with the weight, we settled on a 20 hp Suzuki. While many cruisers choose to use a small sailing dinghy or oars to row everywhere we faced the fact that we are getting old and are not likely to be able to row the distances we expected to need to go and we didn’t want the hassle. While an engine can be a hassle as well, it was as hassle that we preferred to rowing.

After much research we located a company called Wildcat Inflatables. We had a couple of conversations while still in the United States with Thomas, the owner, and opted to have a new dinghy built with Wildcat. The 11.4 meter RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) with a bow locker, a single seat, oar locks (in case the engine failed) and sunbrella covers for the inflatable tubes around the fiberglass bottom.

He was also willing to secure a 20 hp Suzuki engine AND deliver them all to the vessel once launched. We agreed, made a full payment for the engine, down payment on the RIB and anxiously awaited our trip to South Africa.

As we neared our deadline to leave for South Africa we reached out to Thomas to confirm.

The voice message Thomas left on October 26th in WhatsApp indicates the parts are done and will be put together and ready for us Nov 20th.

We anxiously awaited our trip to South Africa. As it got closer, we were so excited to start our cruising dream. We share the bump we experienced when the delay in our launch was announced. That exciting event can be read about here: https://bluetortuga.wixsite.com/bluetortuga/post/progress-sort-of

When we got word our launch was delayed we reached out to Thomas on November 8th. In retrospect, we probably should not have even bothered, but contrary to Thomas’s message that the dinghy would be ready November 20th, the launch delay triggered a spiral of excuses from Thomas about why our dinghy was not yet complete.

As we pressed to get the dinghy delivered Mid-February, Thomas had more and more excuses from “will be sorted by then” (whatever that means), "driving - call you back", COVID, Load-shedding, . . . delay, delay, delay. Messages say he is “Aiming for Friday” Feb 17th, but no, not ready. More excuses, more delays.

As I write this on March 10th, still no dinghy. Do the issues really matter? We end up with the same end result – no dinghy. Unable to deliver more than a month later. Thomas set a date by email (interesting change of communication venue) indicating he would again “aim for the 16th”, this time March 16th. We explain we are extremely disappointed and finally have to pull the plug, deliver the Suzuki outboard motor on the 16th even if the dinghy is not ready and refund our deposit in British Pounds. This is because the South African Rand is not accepted in St. Helena and we expect to be leaving without the dinghy. We can no longer wait – our visa expiration is now dictating our schedule. We must leave the country with or without the dinghy.

Our opinion of South Africa continues to sour. The longer we stay the more disappointed we become. More on that later.

Follow up: Sunday March 26, 2023

Wildcat Inflatables owner, Thomas, via Whatsapp

Well, it is Sunday at Noon and the dinghy just arrived. The condition of the dinghy is disappointing at best. The quality of the work is debatable. See photos:

The impact of this is ridiculous enough, but the games, have meant that we did not purchase from someone else and now have a subpar product what should have been pristine since we had originally asked for delivery in November. Learn from our mistakes!

The recommendation: be VERY cautious about doing business in South Africa. Visit! Be a tourist! Explore the beauty this country has to offer. Eat the food - which is amazing! Drink the wine! But think twice before conducting business here.