Foldable Boats

Ken Cross · Apr 12, 2015

I've seen only one in use as a dinghy. The man who had it seemed happy.
Ken

Kings Gambit · Apr 12, 2015

We once sail with a couple who owned a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 32 with the swing keel and who carried a foldable boat to use as a "dinghy." Those folks traveled Tampa Bay to Tortugas, Key West & Key Largo, and to the Bahamas, using that foldable as their dinghy, as I recall. They seemed happy with it; it evidently met their needs for going ashore. They apparently stow well along the lifelines of the yacht. Of course, upon moving up to a larger yacht, an inflatable w/outboard on davits was the ticket!

kloudie1 · Apr 12, 2015

I have known a couple of folks who use the Porta-Bote for a dink. They are lighter, row better, and tow much better than an inflatable. Seem to be quite durable .. One of the forum members, Zeehag uses one and likes it.. The only bad things I have heard is that they are a little flex-y and some people don't like that feeling... They have a bit less capacity than the same length inflatable..
When I need another dink, I will probably buy one..

Ron20324 · Apr 12, 2015

rsotomayor said:
Yes, the lack of space makes them attractiive.....

On my B 323, a 260-size inflateable fits between the mast and clears the anchor locker lid. Makes a nice awning over the hatches, also. Easy on, easy off with the spin halyard.

RECESS · Apr 12, 2015

I have a friend that wanted a port-a-bote and one came available for $175 down the road from me. I checked it and bought it for him. I was most impressed with how easy it was to stand in them while in the water. It folded up easy one person. You do need a little more room to unfold them.

Overall I was impressed.

KZW · Apr 12, 2015

I don't know if these are any good or not. I would like to hear from those with experience

http://quickboats.com/

sesmith · Apr 12, 2015

We got an 8' Portabote last season. It works great for our use. We store it on the starboard side of the deck against the lifeline stanchions. We can unfold it on the foredeck and have it in the water in about 15 min, using the jib halyard to lower it in. Takes just a little longer to get it back on the boat.

We can fit an amazing amount of stuff in it. On one excursion last season, besides my wife and myself, we had 2 folding bikes, a bag of garbage, a small cooler, clothes and shower stuff, and some other stuff. On the way back to the boat, we added some beer and a couple of bags of ice. It rows well, even with the stock oars. It would even be more fun with an outboard, if we had one.

KZW · Apr 12, 2015

sesmith said:
We got an 8' Portabote last season. It works great for our use. We store it on the starboard side of the deck against the lifeline stanchions. We can unfold it on the foredeck and have it in the water in about 15 min, using the jib halyard to lower it in. Takes about as long to get it back on the boat.

We can fit an amazing amount of stuff in it. On one excursion last season, besides my wife and myself, we had 2 folding bikes, a bag of garbage, a small cooler, clothes and shower stuff, and some other stuff. On the way back to the boat, we added some beer and a couple of bags of ice. It rows well, even with the stock oars.

Thanks for the information. Where do you store your seats and oars?

If you can fit it on your 25 ft Seaward, it should fit on my 31 ft Catalina. I'm not keen on the idea of an inflatable.

KennyG · Apr 13, 2015

Porta Bote prices

rsotomayor said:
Great. Would it be too much to ask what is the approximate price for an 8ft Porta Bote ?
Thank you.

:dance:Ma-an!! I wish I coulda grabbed that one for $175!!!! They're about $2K-$3K. Maybe less for the 8 footer.They're going to have a representative at the Annapolis spring boat show. I've never used one but all the things I've read about them make me want to buy one as my tender for my Hunter 420. They've got some pretty good show prices, about $1K off a $3K one.

Neat things about Porta Botes: They have 3-4 seats/boat depending on size. An inflatable generally has only one. They handle much better. you can hang them from your davits OR fold them into something the size of a surfboard. they can be fast with a small outboard. You can buy all sorts of fun gadgets, nice swivel seats with backs, a Bimini, a ladder for swimming or scubaing, a fishing platform, even a sail kit! :-D

They report their biggest customer base is "disgruntled inflatable owners". After seeing an inflatable hanging off the back of a boat this weekend looking like a "V" between the davits, I'm even more excited about a Porta Bote!

Delezynski · Apr 13, 2015

Rso,

We sure do like ours. We are now on our second one. The first lasted over about 14 years. It was still working, just a beet tired after all that time in the tropical sun. We run it up on any beach as you can't damage them without trying hard. They can be rowed in a wind! Try that in a deflatable. We have posted a lot of info on our web pages (listed below) in our "position Reports" yearly gear reports.

Greg

mz4wheeler · Apr 13, 2015

I consider the dinghy on board to be a key life saving device, not just a convenient way to get ashore. It is your backup plan when the galley catches on fire or you are taking on water in a storm. It's there when you have to abandon ship. When would you need it? When you least expect it. That's why you need something that is unsinkable and isn't flimsy. Something that will hold up in a storm. No folding boats for me!

sesmith · Apr 13, 2015

KZW said:
Thanks for the information. Where do you store your seats and oars?

If you can fit it on your 25 ft Seaward, it should fit on my 31 ft Catalina. I'm not keen on the idea of an inflatable.

The stock oars come apart into 2 pieces each, and the seat supports collapse. We just store the 2 seats and oars under the cockpit in the storage area inside our boat. That's also where we manage to store the 2 folding bikes.

Kings Gambit · Apr 13, 2015

mz4wheeler said:
I consider the dinghy on board to be a key life saving device, not just a convenient way to get ashore. It is your backup plan when the galley catches on fire or you are taking on water in a storm. It's there when you have to abandon ship. When would you need it? When you least expect it. That's why you need something that is unsinkable and isn't flimsy. Something that will hold up in a storm. No folding boats for me!

The best back-up plan IMHO for "...taking on water in a storm." is more dewatering capacity [= buckets, manual & electric bilge pumps; or an engine-driven bilge pump]. If the storm is that bad, you're likely not going to be all that well off in a dinghy. Those are not the same things as life rafts which have protection and are better designed not to flip. This topic was discussed extensively last year in a thread entitled: "Plan to Save or Abandon the Ship." You might wish to have a look at it.

mz4wheeler · Apr 13, 2015

Kings Gambit said:
The best back-up plan IMHO for "...taking on water in a storm." is more dewatering capacity [= buckets, manual & electric bilge pumps; or an engine-driven bilge pump]. If the storm is that bad, you're likely not going to be all that well off in a dinghy. Those are not the same things as life rafts which have protection and are better designed not to flip. This topic was discussed extensively last year in a thread entitled: "Plan to Save or Abandon the Ship." You might wish to have a look at it.

Every boat (hopefully) has a dinghy to get to/from shore. Very few have REAL life rafts, suitable to go offshore. However, at any time, anywhere, even the protected waters of Puget Sound (where I sail), bad weather can break out with small craft advisories. Whether it is poor planning on your part or bad luck if you must abandon ship (for any reason), I'd much rather jump into my unsinkable dinghy than a flimsy foldable boat. That was my only point.

Delezynski · Apr 13, 2015

mz4wheeler said:
-SNIP-
I'd much rather jump into my unsinkable dinghy than a flimsy foldable boat. That was my only point.

Just a point here, the Portaboat IS unsinkable. AND, is not easily damaged by floating debris like a deflatable.

AND, IT CAN BE ROWED even in windy weather. Having said that, the oars that come with it are not very good. We bought real ones to use.

Greg