Portland Pudgy?

[surfingminniwinni]

Does anyone own a Portland Pudgy?

Portland Pudgy multifunction dinghy--the fun boat that could save your life!

They are not available in Australia, but they seem to be a great dinghy.

Like to hear your thoughts.

Originally Posted by surfingminniwinni

Does anyone own a Portland Pudgy?

Portland Pudgy multifunction dinghy--the fun boat that could save your life!

They are not available in Australia, but they seem to be a great dinghy.

Like to hear your thoughts.

I own one, and for us it is perfect. It fits on our foredeck, it is very stable, it rows well, and sails well enough to be fun.

It's well made and very well designed.

It's a bit heavy, over 100 lbs. If you are the sort of person who needs a planing dinghy to rush you across the harbor, it's not for you.

[surfingminniwinni]

Thanks,

With all the options they are about 168lbs.

I guess you get it on & off with your main halyard?

[Chief Engineer]

How much are they?

Originally Posted by surfingminniwinni

Thanks,

With all the options they are about 168lbs.

I guess you get it on & off with your main halyard?

That's likely the weight if you include all of the sail rig and everything else, but you wouldn't normally store all those parts in the boat... at least I don't.

I use my whisker pole, attaching the spinnaker halyard to it, and then a four part fall from the end of the pole to the dinghy, a lot easier to control the boat than just lifting from the top of the mast. Since the halyard winch is doing the heavy lifting, the weight is pretty irrelevant. This is the same system I use for hoisting an inflatable aboard.

[Chief Engineer]

How much are they?

[Morgan Paul]

How much are they?

It looks like they cost about 4 grand.
2008 PORTLAND PUDGY sailboat for sale in Maine

[surfingminniwinni]

Seems alot of $'s I wonder if thats fully optioned with liferaft pack?

[Chief Engineer]

Rotomolded plastic....about $50 worth of plastic pellets....melt same....rotomold....add some geegaws......I wonder how many they have sold?

[Latitude9.5]

I've been in one, the only complaint I would have is the aft seat is very small, other then that they are extremely stable, have some nice features and I think the owner told me he paid $2k, but he did not have the life raft or the sail option. He swore by it and hung it on his davits and towed it.

It also requires a long shaft motor or a special adapter to run a short shaft, he ended up buying a long shaft motor, so factor that in to the cost if you want a motor.

[radiuschine]

They ain't cheap but you will spend the same amount anyway. A good quality dinghy and liferaft will set you back a few thousand, then you have to find some additional space on your boat.

[Celestialsailor]

Are they really approved as a life raft?

[radiuschine]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Are they really approved as a life raft?

I believe they make that claim on the website. Portlandpudgy.com has a lot of interesting material, although I have to admit I haven't actually verified any of it. Appears to be a very well thought out design. Most yachts under 50 feet tend to have a shortage of space. This is one possible solution.

[Polunu880]

I am replacing my old d4 dink, and was considering an inflatable, until I had talked to several owners, to get the down side of them. I now have a short list of suitable hard dinks to consider, with the pudgy near the top.
I would like to see one in person and talk to an owner,(you can only get some what of a feel from the web site).
Anyone in the San Diego, CA area that wouldn't mind talking and letting me have a look at their pudgy?
cliff

[Latitude9.5]

We ended up buying a Bufflehead 10, it's a sailing dinghy that will take a 10 hp motor, LOVE IT. I am in the process of replacing the daggerboard and rudder with starboard.