Dinghy Advice Needed

[mparent]

Well we finally bought our new sailboat (new to us). It is and IP 38. Now the tought part. What dinghy to buy? We want portability but also stability. We are looking at davits and Defender has two Zodiacs on sale. One is a slat floor (roll up) the other is a wood floor. We also considered Portaboat but haven't seen one yet so hard to make a decision. Please help. Thanks.

[Dave the Canuck]

Our Zodiac has an aluminum floor. We love it because of it's ability to be basically impervious to grounding and its excellent stability. I don't think that Zodiac makes them anymore, though. Titan makes some with aluminum floors and there are probably others. With the davits, this might be a good solution.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[captain465]

Give serious consideration to the Portabote...........It has many advantages.......some of which are financial($$$$$) and also light weight. It will fold up and occupy very little space strapped to the lifelines........use the boom with a tackle or a halyard to lift it aboard. Down side is finding a place to carry the seats and transom when the boat is disassembled.(I store mine in the v berth supported across the port and starboar shelves...... still allowes use of the v berth since it is all well forward.
It will take two people to assemble it on board.....even though they say one person can do it.

[rover88]

I am very happy with my Korean Made Saturn 11'. It is very well made and the price ($800 - $900) is certainly better than the comparable Zodiac or Avon. Check www.boatstogo.com (although I did not buy from them - mine was second hand). I have heard from several Zodiac owners about glue problems and seperation, especially the floor. Just remember that if you are leaving it out in the sun you should spend the extra bucks for a Hayplon (sp?) boat. Several friends have the Caribe ridgid bottom Hayplon models and are happy witht them. One put a 15hp Yamaha on his and cruises at near 20kms per hour.

[Dave852]

I had an aluminum bottom Zodiac, very nice ride, dry and light but the PVC construction does not hold up. I think the best on the market is the AB aluminum bottom. However look at the Apex A11-lite, only 112 lbs and has held up very well for me. The price is right as well. If you are considering davits go with the hard bottom, you will be able to get to a lot more places.

Dave

[Sailabel]

Hi mparent- congragulations on your new boat... may you have many pleasant adventures and cruises aboard.

You'll get a lot of opinions regarding dinghys. My advice (for what it's worth), is to first decide what you want in a dinghy and how you intend to use it. In other words, if you intend on long-term cruising and want to use the dinghy for diving... a hypalon RIB might suit your needs. If you primarily want a dinghy to row ashore in sheltered areas... a different dinghy may serve your needs. Do you like to row or want the 'quiet' and light weight of a small outboard... or do you want to cover distance a bit quickly?

We struggled with this, and as we set out cruising- we sold our PVC dinghy (a zodiac) for a hypalon dinghy (for us, we bought a walker bay genesis). I didn't want to deal with a planned dinghy replacement while cruising in the tropics... but the zodiac was great in the NW. Because our dinghy is our 'car' and we would be making landings in unimproved areas, we chose a RIB for the durability of the keel and bottom of the boat... as well as performance. We also went with a larger outboard. But the tradeoffs- we have a heavy dinghy that is more difficult to pull ashore (even though we use dinghy wheels) and have an outboard that we use a lift to bring it aboard (with davits, it's not a big issue). In the water and cruising, we love it; but it has trade-offs.

Again, you'll get lots of opinions. Sort through them and find what fits your needs and planned cruising style. You'll get plenty of pluses and minuses of each type.

Best of luck.
Steve

[Sandero]

Congrats on the new IP38... . wooo hooo now the fun begins.

Have had dinghies for 24 years, lived aboard, cruised in the Caribbean and spend summers on a mooring or at anchor. I've only spent a few mights dockside in that whole time except winter in water storage.

All my non RIBs got water in the floor which was not only an annoyance, but made stowing anything on the sole a no go. The Avon and Zodiac wood floors would hide water under the floor boards which would seep out when you thought it was all dry. YUCK. The zodiac floor leaked and I has many patched but always accumulated sea water which had to be removed every morning. YUCK The Avon Rover was pretty good on holding air, but it eventually had patches for that too.

4 years ago I got a aluminum bottom RIB from AquaPro which has a double floor so it has a bilge and a dry "sole". We have the 10' SMR101 which is a super dink, dry, stable no complaints. You have access to the bilge at the transom where the drain plug is. I pump rain water with a cheap west marine bilge pump over the transom.

RIBs are expensive and hard to stow but this one is a pleasure to use and since I use it so much well worth what I paid which was about $2500. Never, ever put air in the tubes. It tows well.

Never had a GRP bottom RIB so I don't know the up or down sides to them, but this aluminum bottom is fantastic and I have no complaints and recommend it highly.

If you don't intend to stay on a mooring, or anchor, or will be using launch services, you won't need a workhorse dink with a large motor. I have an old 3hp 2 stroke and newer 8hp 4 stroke. If you go slow in crowded harbors get a small motor, no point in a big one which can plane... or one which is likely to be stolen.

In the end you get what you pay for.

Fair winds.

[Boracay]

We're now on dinghy #4.

#1 We started with a very leaky, beat up 9' aluminium (De Haviland Cub - about 25kg). Not going to be stolen, very nice for 2 adults (rated for 3) but it was never going to survive with an outboard on the back. My wife hated it.

First set of oars stolen.

#2 We then brought a 8' Achilles air floor inflatable (25kg). Went real well with the 5hp Tohatsu that we got with it. Wife liked it.

#3 Then we moved to a commercial mooring with secure dinghy storage. The Achilles was never going to survive a few summers in the Aussie sun and the dinghy had to be dragged onto the rack each trip so I brought a new 7' fibreglass pram (20kg). Rows OK. Very unstable with 2 onboard. Wife hated it. About as heavy as I ever want to manage on a regular basis.

#4 So we brought another 9' De Haviland Cub aluminium, this time in excellent condition, off Ebay. Put in an expensive rubbing strip. Goes well with the 5hp Tohatsu, not flash looking, stores on the dinghy rack. Easily handled by two. Wife likes it.

Some thoughts...
You need a dinghy that will take the number of adults plus one. i.e. For two adults you need a three person dinghy.
Light weight is wonderful.
Inflatables don't row, like being stored in the sun and may puncture. They are more likely to be stolen. Pain in the neck to blow up.
Good oars on a rigid dinghy are worth the trouble. Some of the commercial ones could be better.
A small light outboard (say 2hp) is a good idea if you need to carry it round. Outboards are a thief's favorite target.
A length of chain and a padlock might stop the dinghy from being "borrowed". In Sydney it has been recommended that a hole be drilled in the blade so that the oars can be locked to the dinghy and something solid.
Having the dinghy in bright, distinctive colours improves safety and security.
Permanent black marker pen may permanently mark fibreglass and can assist in security. A distinctive dinghy name may keep the cops sufficiently amused that they remember to look for it.

[mparent]

Thank you for the advice. The Portaboat does intrigue us but we were told that for most cruising it is best to have davits and a boat that is ready to go. If it takes fifteen minutes to get the boat ready then usually you forget it and stay on your boat. However, we also want, in time, to do bluewater so want to be able to have a boat which we can store on deck in rough weather.

I guess there is no perfect solution.

[Sailabel]

mparent- keep in mind that the davits are great while in protected waters. If you make a passage or head out in 'other than calm' conditions, you'll need to stow the dinghy on deck. Another consideration to add to the list.
Steve

[mparent]

What I have come to as a decision is folding or removable davits and an Achilles LSR-290 RIB with roll up aluminum floor. This can be stowed in a small space but can also be left on the davits for coastal cruising.

I am now wrestling with electric motor (Torqeedo Travel 801) or a gas. There is a Torqeedo Cruise which is equivalent to 6 hp but it is very expensive. The Travel is equivalent to 2 hp so may be underpowered. Does anyone have experience with electic motors versus gas?

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by mparent

What I have come to as a decision is folding or removable davits and an Achilles LSR-290 RIB with roll up aluminum floor. This can be stowed in a small space but can also be left on the davits for coastal cruising.

I am now wrestling with electric motor (Torqeedo Travel 801) or a gas. There is a Torqeedo Cruise which is equivalent to 6 hp but it is very expensive. The Travel is equivalent to 2 hp so may be underpowered. Does anyone have experience with electic motors versus gas?

The Torqeedo is a very nice package. I've looked at them with envy in the store and catalogs, but I'd be reluctant to own one for the following reasons:

1. It's novel and attractive. A real theft magnet.
2. No way to secure it unless you can drill the shaft and lock it.
3. That snap-on/off battery is very expensive. Anyone need a spare? They might just help themselves.
4. If you take the battery with you you'll have an extra load to carry... Kind of like taking the front wheel when you lock a bike. Who wants to carry that?
5. Here's are the big questions: How are you going to recharge it when away from the dock? If you're not already producing an excess of wind/solar power do you have a genset? How long are you willing to run it? What's the recharge time? (Torqeedo catalog says 5-10 hours, and to me that says you need a spare battery along with you in the dinghy too, unless you know it's got enough charge to get you there and back http://www.torqeedo.com/uploads/medi...c_measures.pdf )
6. You're more likely to use a dinghy frequently when anchoring out, and that's also when you're more likely to have higher power consumption for other stuff aboard, and no way to plug into shore power. What's the sense of having a quiet dinghy if your main boat alternator/generator is going to use even more fuel and make noise to recharge a dinghy battery?
7. It's just an attractive toy.

Gas dinghy motors? Lower cost, easy, available, easily refueled in minutes, much cheaper than proprietary batteries or extra generation equipment, repairable almost anywhere with available parts/expertise. Carry an extra gas tank and probably nobody will steal it. Still a theft target but if you beat them up a bit or paint them in a unique way, and put a lock on the thieves will likely steal someone else's.

[mangomuffins]

mparent,

there are many advantages to having a hard dink that you can row, motor, sail... hang on davits, tow or store on deck for offshore. Get a good one but scuff it up to reduce theft temptation... my $0.02.

cheers,
mm

[gs41escapade]

Don't get one that is too big. A couple years ago I replaced my very old SeaEagle with a new SeaEagle (good product, good company). They had new models: one foot shorter or one foot longer than the previous one. Bigger is always better, right? The new (bigger of course) one is a fine boat, but in retrospect too big.

[mparent]

I just talked to rep at Defender and she says the air floor Achilles is more stable (ie. less tipsy) than the aluminum roll up plus two hundred dollar less expensive. Anyone have any experience with an Achilles air floor? Thanks.