Dinghys

[redhead78]

Hi all ,gettin closer, even here in jersey its warmin up.....I am needin a dinghy and looking at walker bay, any thoughts, 10' looks like a pretty good little boat. I could use some advice for a dinghy, most time 2 people, once in a while maybe 4, is this asking too much? How about the inflatables, hard bottom, soft bottom? I have no experience with these at all. Thx Red

 

[Bad Obsession]

Drive around an area near the water and look around to see if you see any dinghies in people's back yards that looks like they have sat for a while. I found my dingy that way and offered the guy $200 bucks. I was out of there with a nice dingy at a good price. It needed a tad of fiberglass work but that was a cheap fix too.

Also look at Craigslist and similar places. There also are abandoned dinghies at marinas sometimes. I like my fiberglass dingy since I tow it all of the time. It works great for what I do.

 

[druid]

I had the Walker Bay 8 for many years. It's great for one person, useable for 2, but quite tippy. I'd guess the 10 would be better for 2-3 people, but 4 would be pushing it. I don't really see the purpose of the inflated collar around the WB's - if you want an inflatable, get an inflatable!
Which brings us to... inflatables. Most folks have inflatables for dinghies, but for some reason almost never deflate them. They're VERY stable, can usually take a pretty big outboard (but are a BEAR to row!), but be very careful hauling them up on a rocky of barnicle-infested beach.
Personally, I don't like inflatables because they have no soul, but that may not matter to you

druid

 

[BudGates]

I also prefer a hard dinghy, especially if it has a sail kit. I use a 198? Montgomery 10. Even though it's the smallest sailboat that I've owned it's my favorite. It will handle a small outboard but I've never put one on it. I enjoy rowing and it keeps me in shape. (I've never liked rowing an inflatable.) When I get up early and the wife is still sleeping I'll get out the oars and take the dog for a ride. Or if there's a little bit of breeze I'll set it up and sail around the area. The 10 foot dinghy is a great tender for two people and does okay for three but, as druid said, 4 people is pushing it.

 

[Gunni]

No way would I put 4 people into a hard dinghy in anything other than a still pond. There are real good reasons why people use inflatables. They are stable, have huge weight capacity, and are very seaworthy. Walker Bay makes a nice line of RIBs, stick with the CSM material. I shopped a new RIB last fall and settled on the folding transom Achilles, however the AB aluminum RIB was mighty attractive. Good luck.

 

[seadaddler]

As mentioned look for used but any way inflatables are great I think and a rib is the best,
if you have davits that is even better too.
I got a used defender rib just a few months ago on craigslist and 9'6'' is a nice size or 9'.
Nick

 

[Ukeluthier]

Count me among the hard dinghy lovers. I have no need for yet another infernal combustion engine... and you certainly need one to cover any significant distance in an inflatable, rigid bottom or not.

I have a "Connie," a beautiful, hand-built, 30+-year-old fiberglass rowing/sailing dinghy I acquired back when I had my 46' cutter. Rows and sails like a dream. Carries 3 people and a dog safely and comfortably. At 9'-3", it is half as long as my 19' catboat, but it tows effortlessly. I routinely take it out for rows of several miles just for a little exercise.

The Connies -- if you can still find one -- were fiberglass replicas of the wooden tenders that were provided with the old Consolidated Express motor cruisers and were built by E. D. Stokes of Cleveland, Ohio.

 

[pateco]

I got this one with the motor for $200 at a yard sale.

 

[BudGates]

I got this one with the motor for $200 at a yard sale.
View attachment 120651

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... I'd say you stole it.......

I paid $600 for mine with the sail kit. Come to think of it, it also came with a trailer that I sold for $100. Okay, I got this one for $500.

 

[seadaddler]

The one Pateco is showing is the model that a few of our club members have and they
don't seem to take much HP to push them good speed and one friend even uses a trolling electric motor with good results.
The good thing is they seem to be stable and they don't leak air.
Nick

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

One consideration. In many states, if you put ANY sort of propulsion on, other than oars or sails, the boat has tom be titled, registered, and stickered, whereas a dinghy used only with oars (or a sail) does not. This would included an electric trolling motor

I had a 7'6" Achilles which I ran with a 3HP OB. Cost me fees every year. My 6'6" pram has no motor so needs has no fees

Just a point to consider.

A small dinghy can carry quite a load however, in many anchorages, it can be a LONG row from boat to dock. I n the attached pic, I'm rowing, at 175, and my passenger is around 260. Still a good bit [/ATTACH]

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Ok, I can't figure how to get two pics at once- here's the rowing one

 

[brazenarticle]

Get an inflatable with some kind of hard bottom. You can try every other option then probably eventually end up with an inflatable with some kind of hard bottom. Generally that will just take longer (and cost more and be more aggravating).
Walker Bays are "tippy", other brands are heavy, some are way way heavy. I am in a club of bargain seeking (cheap!) sailors - we have a bunch of walker bay and water tenders abandoned on our racks. Rarely can we give them away for more than a week or two before they are returned. The walker bays are too "tippy", the water tenders have water, rotten foam and glass, and lots of ants living where the foam used to be.
Inflatables do not row. Those little "oars" are for decoration or to comply with someone's rule. If your aim is to row in aimless small circles - they work fine for that. After a few minutes of that might I suggest an old low horsepower 2 cycle outboard can get you to shore, be easily person handled onto the rail for sailing and be maintained by folks with minimal interest in maintenance.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

By the way- that pic of inflatable was shot 100 miles out in Gulf of Mexico. I towed it some 11,000 miles

 

[Terry Cox]

We have had, and much prefer inflatables. Quicksilver and Avon, both good brands. I prefer to carry ours rather than tow it behind the boat. Just a drag thing. See link below.

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=6195&mn=42

 

[pateco]

One consideration. In many states, if you put ANY sort of propulsion on, other than oars or sails, the boat has tom be titled, registered, and stickered, whereas a dinghy used only with oars (or a sail) does not. This would included an electric trolling motor

That is true in my state. I took the picture while taking her on a test run in a canal in the everglades just west of my house. I tested the engine in a trash can, and was just making sure it would continue to run under load. I found out I needed to rebuild the carb, as the float bowl was leaking like crazy when you tilted up the engine, and I could not get both idle and high speed tuning at the same needle valve settings. Rebuild kit is sitting on my desk waiting for free time to attempt it. So, I still have not registered her. I picked up a nice set of oars at the Pompano Beach Marine Flea market last month, but I still need to add oar locks to her. Where the oarlocks should have been the PO replaced with fishing rod holders? LOL.

 

[Robin3]

Get an inflatable with some kind of hard bottom. You can try every other option then probably eventually end up with an inflatable with some kind of hard bottom. Generally that will just take longer (and cost more and be more aggravating).
Walker Bays are "tippy", other brands are heavy, some are way way heavy. I am in a club of bargain seeking (cheap!) sailors - we have a bunch of walker bay and water tenders abandoned on our racks. Rarely can we give them away for more than a week or two before they are returned. The walker bays are too "tippy", the water tenders have water, rotten foam and glass, and lots of ants living where the foam used to be.
Inflatables do not row. Those little "oars" are for decoration or to comply with someone's rule. If your aim is to row in aimless small circles - they work fine for that. After a few minutes of that might I suggest an old low horsepower 2 cycle outboard can get you to shore, be easily person handled onto the rail for sailing and be maintained by folks with minimal interest in maintenance.

I found out long ago thst inflatables ( avon Redcrest 9ft and Redseal 10ft) rowee just fine if they had long enough oars, I had longer ones that took apart in two sections. Tht said we used small outboards for any long trips, a Mariner 2 2 stroke until it went belly up, then honda 2 4 stroke. Now in the USA we have a 10ft 3 RIB with a 9.9 hp 4 stroke mercury. One day I will see if the strapped on oars work.

 

[BudGates]

There is no dinghy, or even style of dinghy, that is right for everyone. It all depends what you're looking for and what fits you, your needs, and your lifestyle. Think of it as if you're looking for transportation on land. Each person will choose a different vehicle. Land vehicles come in all shapes and sizes from motorcycles, to luxury cars, to sport utility vehicles, to 4x4 trucks. The only people you have to please is yourself and possibly your significant other.

 

[Ukeluthier]

I found out long ago thst inflatables ( avon Redcrest 9ft and Redseal 10ft) rowee just fine if they had long enough oars, I had longer ones that took apart in two sections. Tht said we used small outboards for any long trips, a Mariner 2 2 stroke until it went belly up, then honda 2 4 stroke. Now in the USA we have a 10ft 3 RIB with a 9.9 hp 4 stroke mercury. One day I will see if the strapped on oars work.

"Row just fine" is very subjective. I've never seen an inflatable you could row to windward for any significant distance in any significant wind. Too much windage. As a practical matter, oars on an inflatable are really a "limp home" backup for a motor that has failed or run out of gas.

Inflatables also have a relatively limited lifespan. My hard dinghy -- with minimal maintenance -- is just as pretty and serviceable now as the day I bought it 32 years ago. Still use the original lovely Shaw & Tenney oars that came with it.

Inflatables are fine if you can tolerate another infernal combustion engine and are willing and capable of mounting and dismounting it, are willing and have space to store its volatile fuel, have a boat big enough to carry it on deck or in davits, have the money to replace it periodically, and don't care about ugly.

MHO.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

We have had, and much prefer inflatables. Quicksilver and Avon, both good brands. I prefer to carry ours rather than tow it behind the boat. Just a drag thing. /QUOTE]

I'd rather stow on deck also, but my foredeck is too small, and I can't mount davits -Boat is too small, and stern too fine for davits, so I tow it. Have had ONE problem in over 11 thousand miles and that was because the inflatable had gotten soft without my notice.

BUT- if you are towing offshore, you just accept the fact that the dink is expendable if the Caca hits the rotating thing