Talk:Dinghy

I disagree with the definition given in this page. Definition of a dinghy as tender to larger boat (ship) is okay. Other definitions are an open, undecked boat, a rowing boat, or smallest boat of a ship. Modern usage of dinghy as one-design racing classes also okay. No definition at wiktionary. Amgine 18:38, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Whaleboats, Whitehalls, and Dories are not generally taken to be dinghies! While there are larger craft that serve as tenders and lifeboats for large vessels (e.g. yawl-boats are used as powered push boats for engineless schooners on the coast of Maine), a dinghy is usually under 12 feet in length so that it can be pulled aboard by one person. Eight feet LOA is very common. Whaleboats, Whitehalls, and Dories weigh well over 400 pounds and are properly classed as 'small craft', not 'dinghies'. Also, IMO the article has too much information that is related to boating in general and not specifically to dinghies.--Kbk 16:56, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

The reference at "Pram" to "Pram (ship)" should be removed. It's not applicable and is even confusing. Since there is no article "Pram (small boat)", it would, perhaps, be better to have no reference, at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 32.135.230.116 (talk) 00:10, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Dinghy use in different nations
I think this was mainly written from a UK perspective. In New Zealand a dinghy is a small rowing boat-more often than not a plywood(for lightness and cheapness) or fibreglass,plastic pram dinghy about 8 or 10 feet long.It is not commonly a term used for sail boats apart from UK migrants. Sailboats are called just that or else by their class name eg Cherub, Moth ,Optimist etc. Rubber/plastic blow up boats are not called dinghies but inflatables.A dinghy is mainly an oar powered boat that can have an outboard. There are few larger oar powered craft in use-some dories but they are not dinghies. Traditional pulling style boats are as rare as hens teeth.90% of the pram dinghies in NZ are v or arc bottom designs of ply because they are far more seaworthy than any flat bottom boat. They also tow very well provided the tow eye is positioned low enough in the bow. The tow rope needs to be adjusted according to the speed of the mothercraft and the following wake wave. I should add that there are still naval whalers and old time whale chaseboats that are dragged out sometime for an outing but it has to be a big occaision as a whaleboat need a dozen or more fit strong rowers who know what they are doing.1%. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.58.189.177 (talk) 08:52, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't know for certain but I'd be dubious about this being UK specific. It does not seem to correspond to the current use of the word, which basically boils down to two different definitions: an inflatable dinghy used as a rowing boat or with an outboard (often used as a yacht tender); or a sailing dinghy. OK the first definition is recursive, but a small, fully-inflatable open boat that can be rowed or has an outboard would I guess be valid. A sailing dinghy is quite different - the description given on the Dinghy_sailing page is valid. Those boats can be somewhat bigger (something like a Wayfarer is 4.8m) and no serious one is inflatable. However, they remain basically open boats with no keels - something with a keel and even a small cabin is in UK terms a Keelboat. My guess is that either the originator has confused dinghy with rowing boat, or the terminology has changed over the years and this is an old definition. Alternatively the description is from yet another country - like the US? --JForrest (talk) 13:05, 8 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree that a dinghy is more than just a boat that is towed or carried from a larger vessel. The definition does have a modifier of "often" carried or towed in the opening sentence, so for me, the definition currently written is still valid and represents what I learned from other sailors when growing up in the sailing community. Buthsop (talk) 15:44, 10 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Maybe but basically you have several conflicting definitions. For example, the description of how sails are used with dinghies is nonsensical if the dinghy are sailing dinghies! For proper sailing dinghies, you'd expect either a single sail (something like a laser or pico) or a full Bermuda rig. It only makes sense for "very small open boat". --JForrest (talk) 14:19, 12 June 2012 (UTC)


 * In the first paragraph "The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats." and links to those pages.  Those links cover the use of "dinghy" for the boats which are used for other purposes besides being a tender.  So for descriptions relating to the racing dinghies, those other pages should handle that text.


 * Now the point you are making, this page and definition does have issues and conflicting statements further down on the page, such as the Gunter certainly is not the most commonly used sail rig on dinghies, if you go by the numbers of dinghies. There are over 200,000 Lasers already, next most popular is (I think) the Sunfish and they use a Bermuda (without a jib) and Lateen.  If the language was changed to "frequently" or "commonly", something of that nature that gives a more general impression, that would be an improvement to the definition.  Buthsop (talk) 15:50, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Capital
Dinghy How do I capitalize the T in "ten horsepower" in 10 hp/m 10 hp/m Peter Horn User talk 22:09, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * 10 hp/m 10 hp/m Eureka! Peter Horn User talk 22:18, 21 December 2020 (UTC)