INVESTIGATOR 563

Hi all. Saw this brilliant ( to me) idea on fb. Made me think that it might be able to be designed to fit an I 563 instead of using the raisable roof. The stern of the dinghy is open for easy head height entry to the cabin and the stern of the dinghy can be fitted by using wing nuts when you want to row ashore What do you think ?

Cheers

That’s pretty innovative Peter. It proves once again that sailers are all frustrated inventors. It doesn’t even interfere with the vang. I’m assuming there is a canvas cover to keep the weather out while you’re ashore. Maybe existing hatch is in place?

I’ve tossed around ideas for the enclosure of the pop top for years. But I’ve usually had so many other projects boating and otherwise to which I keep adding . I toyed with the idea of a folding frame that would allow me to rig my little tender over the cockpit during overnights but worked out fairly quickly that my lousy back would not cooperate with dragging even a 7 ft tinny out of the water, plus I’d have to remove the boom. I think that the idea under reference if adapted to the 563 would work fine but might be fairly small as a tender given the available roof space but I’d love to see someone have a go.

For Investigators I think Emrys extended pop top legs and sunbrella poptop tent are the best I’ve seen either on here or tsp.

Hi Peter, Ozzie, it might work for an Investigator if the dinghy gunwales were designed to fit outside the poptops edges. Allot of work, design flair/skill and dedication required.

I'm going to try out a kings 360 inflatable kayak (A$300) It stores up under the foredeck. I added 19mm poly pipe to the cockpit lifelines so it can sit on these while inflating. It's a sizeable 12 foot long. Has a solid "drop stich" 9psi floor and two 4psi side tubes. It can carry 150kg's, (2 person or one with allot of cargo) has 1 or 2 seats/2-part paddles. It solves the old guy weight-lifting problem being only 10kgs. It's not designed to be towed or go on choppy/windy waters though...Haven't been out with it as yet..

Another possibility is an inflatable paddle board. (Some of these can be set up with a kayak seat and paddle, so it's more like a surf-ski of old) They are now all "drop stich" material, amazing innovation which allows things to be inflated and become rock solid like a hard dinghy or surfboard. Watched a good video from "sailing kate Louise" about the sydney dinghy cruising raid visiting the Brisbane DC association on Moreton Bay. One member had a standup paddleboard which was handy for getting the last 50m to shore when tides meant anchoring out a bit.