Achilles HB310AL Aluminum Hull Dink

[Vasco]

I'm looking for a new dink. Anyone have any experience with Achilles' new aluminum hull dink? They only came out with this in 2015. Looks good on paper, anyone got one?

[Dulcesuenos]

We almost bought one, we were between that one, the inmar 11ft, the apex 11 ultralight. Or one of the AB's. We ended up w the Apex, have had all the above .at one time or another and I think they all have the plusses and minuses we didnt go with aluminum hull mainly because we were told that in the tropics they get very hot, are very noisy, and with the heat potential adhesion issues, and this came from 3 different dealers. I guess time will tell. But lately have seen a few used AB aluminum ribs for sale very cheap. Btw the dealer we purchased thru knew we would have paid 2k more for an aluminum AB had he not asked where we were using it, and steered us away from it. Not sure how powder coating effects the heat.

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[Brien]

I bought a Achilles HB310AL last year and used it through the season. I am happy with it. Quality construction and welds. Nice keel protector and the deck is flat inside. Planes with two people and two dogs using my 6hp Suzuki as long as the bottom is reasonably clean. It stayed in the water throughout the New England summer and I should have cleaned the bottom more frequently. When I purchased, I asked Achilles if they had a recommended anti-fouling treatment for the bottom knowing it would remain mostly in the water. As it was new to them, they didn't recommend anything. I'd like to come up with something for next season.

[Boatguy30]

I thought the price on the AB and apex was about the same?

Anyway, the AB has a 5 year warranty that DOES NOT transfer. So if you buy on 6 months old and you have issues shortly thereafter you are SOL.

Erik in Marathon used to sell Achilles but stopped when they moved production to China. I'm pretty sure they changed the fabric also as they used to make their own fabric in Japan. I was also just asking Erik about the Inmars and he told me they have had a lot of glue failures. Warraranty repairs not available on the E Coast!

I had a Aquapro with powder coated aluminum hull last winter and it was nice and cool. The problem was the tubes were falling off the hull. This was fixable, but then the baffle in between the chamber in the hull blew to make it one big tube with 2 valves. Didn't seem real safe to take spear fishing as you had zero flotation if you got a small hole anywhere.

I've gone back to a hard dinghy (custom cat skiff) for this winter, but it takes some getting used to. Mainly when anchored in calms or current and it whacks into the back of the boat or gets stuck between the hulls.