Dinghy - High-Pressure Rollups or RIB ?

[Nashbrent]

I can carry up to a 11' dinghy. Wondering if anyone has experience with the new high pressure floor dinks. Do rigid floor models ride that much better? Motor size is also a question. How often do you actually plain a dinghy?

[Ram]

I have a new 11 ft.HP fl Dink and now wish I would have bought the RIB- with a 15hp its very fast but a bumpy ride !

[billyehh]

It depends. A RIB will hold more, is more stable when planing and obviously more rugged when beaching. What you give up is the ability to store when sailing especially offshore.

For long term cruising I like my 10' ft RIB with a Yamaha 15 hp 2 stroke. It is light enough that I can manage it if I need to remove it from the dink. When you are anchored all the time as I am a fast reliable method of transportation is highly desirable. The problem comes with storage. I am fortunate to have a stern platform to carry my RIB and mounted motor on my catamaran. Many cruisers, especially monohulls carry their dink on the foredeck while traveling. I have seen lots use davits or small inflatables.

To Answer more definatively, I would need to know how you plan to store it, where and how long you are cruising and are you on the hook or using marinas.

[Nashbrent]

I have a 45 Jefferson (power) aft cabin. I plan to store the dinghy on the aft deck hard top. Its rated to 800lb and has a 600 lb davit. no chocks have been installed.

Thanks for your input.

[svHyLyte]

We have a Zodiac made 3.4m HP floor dinghy with a 15hp Mercury motor that I bought after our old inflatable with plywood floor panels died as I did not want to continue the fight to get floor panels properly arranged in the boat on a narrow inconvenient foredeck. Having now had the HP floor dink for several years, if given a "do-over" I would purchase a folding transom, rigid hull, inflatable such as the Genises, or another dinghy with rigid floor panels. Hind-sight is always 20/20 eh?

FWIW...