Porta-bote dinghy

drsm · Post by **drsm** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:07 pm

Dan, I believe you said you have the 12 foot Porta-bote and use it as a dinghy. How do you get it onboard the Telstar? Do you drag it over the ama or do you use the halyard to assist? If so, how do you avoid scuffing the ama up? Once you've collapsed the boat, where do you store the seats and transom?

Thanks,

Steve

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:17 am

The Portabote is light enough that it can be lifted up and over the side of the ama if you have two people. Otherwise, you could use the spinnaker halyard to lift it. I store the seats and transom down in the cabin, under the cockpit or in the forepeak depending on what I have aboard.

drsm · Post by **drsm** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:15 pm

Thanks! We just picked up the 10' version, and I thought I'd query the expert!

Steve

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:46 pm

Steve—

You'll find that the Porta-bote fits nicely on the ama deck for storage when it is folded up. Be aware that you can’t store it there when the boat is folded up, as I believe the boat is too thick. But if you’re out cruising, you shouldn’t need to retract the amas generally.

drsm · Post by **drsm** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:35 pm

Dan,

If you should need to retract the amas for some reason, does the boat tow worth a darn? Maybe better to just tie it temporarily on deck?

Steve

Post by **Ron** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:30 pm

It motors a little better with the ama's open, but there should be absolutely no reason why you can't tow something small with them folded. I'd probably avoid heavier seas and try to keep the tow line astern (i.e. - no really sharp turns). If you keep one ama unfolded, probably better to fold the starboard in. With the motor on the port side of the main hull, you'd almost be a catamaran. Keep the folded dinghy stored on the port ama. Doing it the other way you'd need a lot of rudder to keep the boat going in a straight line (motor would be very off-center).

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:38 pm

Steve—

The porta-bote tows fine, provided you have a decent length bridle for it. I’d also recommend adding padeyes for attaching the bridle as well. I used Wichard folding padeyes for this so that they don't interfere with the folding of the boat. If you’re using an outboard on the Porta-bote, I highly recommend you remove it before trying to tow the Porta-bote. Also, don’t forget to make the bridle out of floating line. Adding a few "egg" floats to it never hurts either... as it beats snagging the line with the prop.

Ron’s advices regarding leaving the port-side ama open is good advice, and I’d point out that many slips will allow the Telstar to sit in them with a single ama open. Mine is not one of them, but the slips at my marina are pretty tight.

drsm wrote:Dan,

If you should need to retract the amas for some reason, does the boat tow worth a darn? Maybe better to just tie it temporarily on deck?

Steve

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:41 pm

I went through all the on line info on the Porta-Boat and i like the idea but I have to ask.
Is it really possible to disassemble and then reassemble it while on the water on the Telstar? It looks it would be quite an awkward task?

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:36 pm

On a monohull, it would be a monumental pain in the butt... but the Porta-boats are just small enough so that you can assemble them on the ama, provided you didn’t get the 14' 6" version.

Even the 14' 6" version would be doable, but it’d be far more difficult than the smaller versions... just due to the length of the space available between the akas. The 12' 6" barely fits between the akas, and the 14'6" one would be a problem to stow.

The main issue is that until you’ve assembled and disassembled the boat a number of times, the hull is very stiff and you’re also unfamiliar with the process, so it is a lot harder to do at first than it is after doing it a while. Once you’ve gotten the hang of assembling it, it is really quite manageable. One thing that really helps is to have a board or boat hook that is just the length to stick into the porta-boat to hold the sides apart while you’re trying to get the middle seat in. Once the middle seat is in, the rest is pretty simple.

Jerry wrote:I went through all the on line info on the Porta-Boat and i like the idea but I have to ask.
Is it really possible to disassemble and then reassemble it while on the water on the Telstar? It looks it would be quite an awkward task?

drsm · Post by **drsm** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:28 pm

One thing that really helps is to have a board or boat hook that is just the length to stick into the porta-boat to hold the sides apart while you’re trying to get the middle seat in.

The new Porta-botes come with a plastic stick just for that purpose.

International Telstar Owners Association