The hook has been dropped and set. Your crew is itching for a night on the town. Since no one is ready to swim ashore, the tender will have to be launched, but it is such a pain in the neck, the crew starts foraging in the galley and considers reading a book in the cockpit instead.
If your dinghy storage and launching system is keeping you from enjoying visits to the shore, or even from anchoring out at all, it’s a problem. It’s an even bigger problem if you can’t launch your tender in a hurry with a short crew in an emergency.
Let’s explore options for the little boat on the big boat.
ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT
Cruising boats of yore typically had a wooden dinghy stowed in chocks on the foredeck. A pair of oars or a sail were the propulsion. If the mothership had a mast, then a tackle on a halyard or gaff could be used to hoist and launch the dinghy. Larger boats may have used separate iron or bronze davits
