Trying to pick my dinghy poison

[Cheechako]

A slatted floor rollup inflatable is easy to blow up, stable and a lot less difficult than assembling a nesting dingy on a lumpy non flat surface like your cabin top. Like I said earlier, my friends sailed from Seattle to New Zealand with an Avon vinyl floor rollup and planing motor with no issues.

[MicHughV]

there is an inflatable on the market that has a so-called "drop -stitched" floor...I'm not overly familiar with it, it's really two layers of hypalon stitched together with about a 1" gap between the layers, and a gazillion stitches...sort of like a foam sandwich...once inflated, I've told it makes for quite a stiff floor. Might be worth a looksee.

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

there is an inflatable on the market that has a so-called "drop -stitched" floor...I'm not overly familiar with it, it's really two layers of hypalon stitched together with about a 1" gap between the layers, and a gazillion stitches...sort of like a foam sandwich...once inflated, I've told it makes for quite a stiff floor. Might be worth a looksee.

Thanks. It is called a high pressure floor and is a common, if imperfect alternative.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

Thanks. It is called a high pressure floor and is a common, if imperfect alternative.

Yes, they are common, and yes, not perfect. But we've been using this type of dingy since 1993 with reasonable results. The drop stitch floors are better now.

The main benefit is the ease of stowing a dingy with this type of floor. You just let the air out and roll it up. Then it can be placed on deck or below (preferred).

On the other hand, it is a pain to have to pump it up when you get to you next destination and they don't perform as well as a RIB.

[mikedefieslife]

A few things are worth noting. One is that all other things being equal, an inflatable floor dingy will be faster and/or need less power than a rib purely due to to the increased buoyancy. The rib will handle better though.

In the caribbean the anchorages are generally less well protected than in the med. in the med when you get 20knts and have to dinghy the the best of a mile to shore it’s not the most fun with a 3hp engine. In the Caribbean however 20knts is pretty much and everyday occurrence.

[MicHughV]

I don't know if I could agree with that. I've had several inflatable rubber dinks that had the plywood floors, in addition to the blow up center tube, that provided the dink with a RIB type underbody shape. I've powered these dinks with engines that varied from 3 to 15 hp and have used them in seas ranging from 6" to 6'. In all cases, it was a compromise at best, and not a good compromise at that. Ultimately, regardless of the motor on the back, my best bet was always to go slowly... a wet ride to be sure...a bailing bucket is a necessity.
A hardbody RIB, has no competition from a wood floor rubber duck and imo, is the only way to fly. RIB's are made in so many varieties these days, that finding one to fit your needs should not present a problem.

[sanibel sailor]

A RIB is appealing in many ways-performance and durability- but it condemns one to on-deck storage in some way, which I would prefer to avoid. On-deck storage does mitigate the weight issue if I am not hauling it out the companionway however. A small aluminum RIB is an option I am considering, but I am not yet ready to commit to the on-deck storage poison. Part of the issue is I cannot tell how it will fit on deck until I buy it and then I am stuck with it.

I did weigh my current dink today as a baseline. This model is no longer sold by them, but the West Marine website lists it as 77 lbs. Boat/floor/seat without accessories is actually 89 lbs.

[JPA Cate]

A small aluminum RIB is an option I am considering, but I am not yet ready to commit to the on-deck storage poison. Part of the issue is I cannot tell how it will fit on deck until I buy it and then I am stuck with it.

How Jim approached this was to first, ask them what size it is with the air out. No one ever knew. As a result, we made our choice, and found a dealer who would let us trial fit it. We had to take it if it fit. We arranged a location where this could be done with him present. (In our case, it was a public pier.) It did fit between our baby stay and the mast, with maybe an inch to spare! And we still have the hull, on its 3rd set of tubes, as stated above.... We use the spinny halyard to raise and lower it, and use the main halyard for the o/b.

Ann

[slug]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

How Jim approached this was to first, ask them what size it is with the air out. No one ever knew. As a result, we made our choice, and found a dealer who would let us trial fit it. We had to take it if it fit. We arranged a location where this could be done with him present. (In our case, it was a public pier.) It did fit between our baby stay and the mast, with maybe an inch to spare! And we still have the hull, on its 3rd set of tubes, as stated above.... We use the spinny halyard to raise and lower it, and use the main halyard for the o/b.

Ann

Not long ago I was contracted to buy and store a 310 rib on the foredeck of a 50 Footer

A robust sunbrella Sock with a draining screen panel was made
The sock slide over the deflated rib , using a drawstring to close up at the stern

The socked rib was stored hull up , the transom rested is a low profile chock and was restrained by two turn buckles to the transom
The bow rested on a round boat fender and was lashed to two deck pad eyes

The whole setup was very resistant to movement , protected from uv and looked ship shape

[MicHughV]

yep, a fact to consider is the weight of a dinghy, even an inflatable one.....they are no lightweights by any means.
on my first boat, I hauled the dink aboard using the mizzen halyard, this means attaching the halyard to the " lifting" or "towing"lugs usually glued to the side of the dink. I always used a bridle here to distribute the lifting load to two points on the dink...but a "glued" lifting eye has it's limits..and it won't take long before the stainless steel ring will want to tear thru' the rubber eye...which happened to me, quicker than I would have thought.
speaking of which, the glued " towing" eye for an inflatable also sees a lot of abuse. for this reason I arranged another bridle attached to the fiberglass transom with a 2nd towing line. when towing the dink, I would carefully adjust the towing lines so that the transom towing line would take the brunt of the towing load, and the forward towing line merely kept the bow of the dink pointed forward, a mere inch difference in towing line length is all it takes, but you can experiment with this to suit your own situation.
but there is no question, that finally moving up to a RIB, made a world of difference..
you will find that you will " tow" the dink more than you think to avoid the hassle of bringing it aboard...if you end up with an inflatable, consider the above....

[SausalitoDave]

F-Rib with electric Torquedo outboard. Traveled the Med and Caribbean for two years and loved the combination. Electric is amazing. Put the motor on with one hand then fit the 5 pound motor separately. Good power, no gasoline, good range.

[Happ]

You might want to look into a Takacat. These are inflatable catamaran dinghies I believe from down under. There are dealers in the US. I’ve seen YouTube videos and the are planning hulls and light weight. Very stable because of the duel AMAs. You can get them in Hypalon as well. There is another company as well.

Just a thought for you to consider.

[Mike OReilly]

I'm intregied by the F-Rib. If my portabote ever packs it in I would take a hard look at this option. It looks like I could simply roll it up and store in on deck, in a protective bag.

The key for me is ensuring it doesn't block access to the deck. This is the problem with carrying standard RIBs, or most other dinghy options. For those of us with modest sized boats, it's hard to carry a dinghy on board without blocking off a significant amount of deck space.

This is one reason I like my portabote. My current boat has pretty wide side decks. I can store the bote along one side (inboard, along the cabin), without blocking off access to the sidedeck. The seats store on deck just forward of the cabin, again without blocking any deck access.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

A RIB is appealing in many ways-performance and durability- but it condemns one to on-deck storage in some way, which I would prefer to avoid. On-deck storage does mitigate the weight issue if I am not hauling it out the companionway however. A small aluminum RIB is an option I am considering, but I am not yet ready to commit to the on-deck storage poison. Part of the issue is I cannot tell how it will fit on deck until I buy it and then I am stuck with it.

I did weigh my current dink today as a baseline. This model is no longer sold by them, but the West Marine website lists it as 77 lbs. Boat/floor/seat without accessories is actually 89 lbs.

I went from a 2.6m inflatable to a 2.6m aluminium rib. The weight is the same, if not less for the rob at around 32kg. The rib is smaller in width so easier to store. The inflatable was still huge once folded and bagged up. Perhaps the size of 3 4-man life-rafts.

Which brings me to the F-Boat. It looks a mess folded up and still huge.

Originally Posted by Happ

You might want to look into a Takacat. These are inflatable catamaran dinghies I believe from down under. There are dealers in the US. I’ve seen YouTube videos and the are planning hulls and light weight. Very stable because of the duel AMAs. You can get them in Hypalon as well. There is another company as well.

Just a thought for you to consider.

Takacat looks good. Less performance in terms of tracking but I think a good compromise on weight and size. The problem is the beam.

[rslifkin]

For those who like a bimini on a sailboat and don't have solar panels on it, I wonder if anyone has tried to make an arch rig that stores a dinghy upside-down over the cockpit so it acts as a bimini? Definitely a bit of a windage penalty, but if there's enough height available to do it, that might be a good way to keep the thing out of the way. Kinda like davits but without the downsides of having it hang off the transom. And the added windage aft might help boat behavior at anchor anyway.