AB Dinghy

[RickG]

We are happy with our 2011 AB AL Ultralight 9'. Her super light weight makes her tippier than our old fiberglass Caribe 10'. It's worth it at half the weight. We have an 8.8 Tonhatsu 2-stroke that is more engine than needed. We bought ours at Budget Marine on St. Martin.

[Sailing Drummer]

You may already have the new dinghy by now so this may be a moot point. But anyway, we recently went from a 10' Caribe to a 9' Caribe. The boat is great BUT our Honda 15 is just heavy enough to make the boat awkward when not planing. The stern sits too low to the water because of the weight. And to get up on a plane with one person you have to sit all the way up at the bow. With your 20hp you may find that motor a little too heavy?

[KD8NPB]

In my experience, bonding CSM/CR to bare aluminum with no primer has poor longevity. This is unfortunately what AB does. They only mechanically prepare the aluminum via sanding / grinding.

Warning ; Nerd stuff below:
Proper bonding via polychloroprene adhesive to a metal surface requires application of Bostik 9252 , Clifton PC4426, or a similar metallic surface primer. They contain ethanolamine which bonds tenaciously to ferrous & nonferrous surfaces, promoting bonding, while simultaneously reducing the risk of corrosion / oxidization.

It should be noted that use of copper type anti fouling will also accelerate the rate of the debonding, possibly leading to premature cohesive or adherent fracture.

Powdercoating (melted plastic, basically) can also be utilized as a primer, but this should only be done with plastomers (PVC/PU). If the surface is to be bonded with an elastomer (CSM/CR), a halogenating agent should be utilized (which AB also does not utilize).

This is more information than most people probably care about with dinghies...

[boom23]

KD8NPB,

So, which aluminum inflatable manufacturer does it right?

Thanks.

[KD8NPB]

Originally Posted by boom23

KD8NPB,

So, which aluminum inflatable manufacturer does it right?

Thanks.

You're going to hate my response ; "Right" is arbitrary.

All recreational boat manufacturers are going to do "cost-cutting" somewhere in their boats to remain cost competitive. Unfortunately, a lot of boat manufacturers engage in "cost-cutting" in their engineering processes (structural), because it usually involves the highest gains. This cost cutting is sometimes from simple stupidity...engineers making an arbitrary decision to follow their adhesive suppliers recommendations without lab testing, or eliminating $200/liter primers from the production process.

But... Honestly, everything I say could be taken as biased, so I will not make a recommendation. In my opinion, the company I work for has the best approach (private lab + expensive technical chemicals & consumables).

If I had to say something, I would say use your best judgement based on serviceability. Every manufacturer has some aspect of their product you're probably going to dislike within a 3 to 10 year span of ownership.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Sailing Drummer

You may already have the new dinghy by now so this may be a moot point. But anyway, we recently went from a 10' Caribe to a 9' Caribe. The boat is great BUT our Honda 15 is just heavy enough to make the boat awkward when not planing. The stern sits too low to the water because of the weight. And to get up on a plane with one person you have to sit all the way up at the bow. With your 20hp you may find that motor a little too heavy?

I took delivery of a 10 Al today, a little bizarre as the dealer dropped it off at the Marina and drove away saying he was too busy to help us get it into the water, go find someone to help.
He lost the sale of a life raft doing so.

Anyway my 20HP Suzuki at 97 lbs is way lighter than a Honda 15, so I’m not worried there.

[jstevens]

"... and drove away saying he was too busy to help us get it into the water"

Sounds like a factory-trained AB rep. Hopefully, by this time, you've found no issues that required warranty service.

John

[a64pilot]

No, but had to ride a couple of miles before I could get to where I was allowed to plane.
It’s more weight / trim sensitive than the Zodiac was, if the wife sits on the bow cushion, it will chine walk at high speed, and chine walk scares me. It’s not bad, but I’m used to chime walking on very fast Bass boats, and it can get away from you quick, so it spooks me.
When we sit in our normal positions, both on the tubes, it porpoises at cruise, which is most likely trim as in engine tilt, I may have it trimmed too high.
It is a drier ride than the Zodiac which surprised me, cause it’s tubes are slightly smaller, you can make it plane bow high easily and keep it right at that bow high point without having a lot of power, and of course that is a dry ride.
It also planes incredibly easy, if you just ease into it, your very quickly on plane at no more than maybe 10mph and didn’t go through that bow in the air, everybody lean forward to plane nonsense, you just realize when you look at the wake that your on plane.
I think an 8 would plane it, The Zodiac I’m certain would not with a 9.9, it would have taken a 15.
However I think it’s slower than the Zodiac was, but won’t know for awhile. Zodiac was fast, I mean stupid fast, like 30+ kts fast, 35 with just me and the 12” prop.
The Zodiac was I think a very good hull design, just very poorly manufactured.

Being aluminum the AB is slightly noisier than a fiberglass hull, think sounds a little like a Jon Boat. The bottom felt cold too as of course it was at water temp, where a fiberglass hull doesn’t conduct heat like aluminum does. The drain plug oddly was not centered and not at the lowest point so you will have an inch or two if you do the put it on plane then pull the plug trick, and the plug doesn’t have a lanyard, but that is easy to add of course.
I wonder how hot this thing will get out of water, but in the sun? The metal hull.

[robert sailor]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are lots of aluminum dinks in the Caribbean and most owners are happy with them. It's just good you have your car back because without it boat life is a pain. Had ours stolen in the South Pacific so I know what you were going through. Within a few hours of operation you'll have your new dink pegged and it will feel like home...enjoy your new ride. R

[boom23]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I took delivery of a 10 Al today, a little bizarre as the dealer dropped it off at the Marina and drove away saying he was too busy to help us get it into the water, go find someone to help.
He lost the sale of a life raft doing so.

Anyway my 20HP Suzuki at 97 lbs is way lighter than a Honda 15, so I’m not worried there.

I had the 20hp Suzuki on a AB 10 AL and it was a great setup. Great engine.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by boom23

I had the 20hp Suzuki on a AB 10 AL and it was a great setup. Great engine.

I was really concerned about the Zuk to start with, cause you know the sun rises and sets on Yamaha, right? The Zuk is like one step up from a Chinese motor?
But three years later, it’s been flawless. In fact it hasn’t run since Irma, but started first pull, and once I even sunk it about 6’ under for ten min or so, many oil flushes and a good wash and spray with corrosion -X and it hasn’t missed a lick since.
I think it’s a better quality motor than Yamaha or Honda.

I’ll get Ab dialed in I’m sure, easy stuff. Heck it may even swing my 12” prop, who knows.
He has a nickname, old dink was dinghy, cause it got dirty easy, and showed it.
This one is Ab, as in Abby normal