nesting dinghy or folding dinghy photo on a MacGregor?

[Brian-Up-North]

Hi,

Does anyone have a picture of a nesting dinghy (eg PTWatercraft or Nestway) or folding boat (eg portabote, seahopper) on their Macgregor?

I am considering these dinghy options for my X and wanted to find a picture to see what they would look like on the deck (nesting) or tied to the lifelines (folding boat)

Thanks

[DownSouth]

I was contemplating building a custom one to fit in the rear berth.

[DaveC426913]

Not really a lot of room to paddle around down there, but you do you.

[K9Kampers]

Not really a lot of room to paddle around down there, but you do you.

[DownSouth]

I was contemplating building a custom one to fit in the rear berth.

for storage purposes only

[Chinook]

I don't have any pictures handy, but for the first 8 years or so we used a 10 foot porta bote as dinghy for our 26X. I liked the fold up factor, plus how nice it rowed. I had a kicker motor for it, but rowed it a lot also. I chose the 10 foot model over the 8 foot version because of the added load capacity it offered. I think the 8 foot porta bote is just too small. The 10 footer hull was difficult to stow while folded, however. It's heavy, around 60 lbs without the seats and transom. It isn't practical to stow on the lifelines, or bolted with brackets to the outside of the hull. Only option, which we used, was to stow it on the foredeck. It just barely fits in the middle, laying flat, however, this eliminates being able to open the forward hatch and also obstructs access to the anchor locker. We ended up stowing it on edge, lashed to the bow pulpit and forward stanchions. This allowed access to the bow of the boat, and use of forward hatch and anchor locker. It did obstruct forward vision on the side it was on, though, and also added to lateral wind resistance. All in all it was a big nuisance to stow on deck, and we only did so on major open water crossings. Also, the seat/transom bundle, a very bulky package, was stowed below, taking up valuable king berth storage space. It was a challenge to deploy it if not at a dock. One time while in the Bahamas, I slid right into the water in the unfolded hull with it. Very unceremonious. We also had problems trailing it. If the towing line is too short in a following sea it can bump into the back of your boat. Bigger problem in following seas is swamping. This happened to us twice and each time was a wreck. First time crossing from the Everglades to the Keys. 12 knot winds, 3 to 4 foot following seas. Water slopped in over the stern of the dinghy and it swamped. We were well offshore and it was a real mess getting it bailed out and pulled out of the water, folded up and lashed on deck. Second time it swamped was while going up the Snake River in Washington State. Upriver wind against current created steep 2 to 3 foot chop and it again filled. This time I was able to get near shore, anchor, and bail it out. Second time was the last. The marginal benefit of being a nice row boat fell way short of compensating for all the negatives. Oh, did I mention the black marks on the Mac hull every time it bumped into us while anchored? Did that all the time. Had to raft it up with fenders deployed to solve that problem. We ended up switching to a 9.5 foot inflatable, with high pressure inflated floor (made by Zodiac, sold by West Marine). It's much lighter, much easier to stow on deck, much easier to deploy, and just a little harder to row, and it's never swamped or gotten into trouble otherwise. I strongly recommend dropping the porta bote idea and going inflatable.