I am so done with inflatables...
- Thread starter BlowMeAway
- Start date
Inflatables and hard dinghies are like apples and oranges, they have different characteristics and each best suited for different tasks. Get the one that best meets your specific needs. Whether you are looking for longevity or foul weather stability is a personal decision. I have found that the argument of which one is better goes nowhere fast just as the one for apples and oranges.
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QFT. It's typical for us to have to travel distance with large loads against a 20-knot wind in chop. Not a job for a small motor or oars; our 20HP outboard moves things along just fine. We amortize the cost of the inflatable over its service life; an expected cost for our specific needs.
Personally, I think its like anything else; you get what you pay for. I buy the best quality dink on the market, which comes with a 5 year warranty and holds up for many, many years of very hard service. Our last Zodiac Mark 1 Classic lasted 9 years of almost daily service. Beach landings in surf, concrete docks, broken West Indian dinghy docks and even some encounters with rocks and coral and not one single hole. 85º isn't all that hot when you live in the tropics, by the way.
At the end, after all that time being pushed hard by a 15hp, 4 stroke, the dink still did not leak air, but was retired because the transom gave out.
However, I am not a fan of RIB's, as they completely defeat the whole purpose of an inflatable, IMO. I really like the fact that I can deflate my Zodiac and stow it below, should I choose to. Our dink will easily carry a couple of 55 gallon drums of water or fuel, should we need to. The other terrific thing about our Zodiac is that we can stand on the side tubes without it flipping over. No worries about weight distribution at all. And its a lot kinder on one's back than any hard dink, if you are going fast in choppy water.
Don't give up upon the whole concept just because of one experience. A good inflatable will give you good service for many years.
At the end, after all that time being pushed hard by a 15hp, 4 stroke, the dink still did not leak air, but was retired because the transom gave out.
However, I am not a fan of RIB's, as they completely defeat the whole purpose of an inflatable, IMO. I really like the fact that I can deflate my Zodiac and stow it below, should I choose to. Our dink will easily carry a couple of 55 gallon drums of water or fuel, should we need to. The other terrific thing about our Zodiac is that we can stand on the side tubes without it flipping over. No worries about weight distribution at all. And its a lot kinder on one's back than any hard dink, if you are going fast in choppy water.
Don't give up upon the whole concept just because of one experience. A good inflatable will give you good service for many years.
For your application. For ours, a RIB is best.
A couple? Wow, that would be something. Bear in mind, water is 8 lb./gallon, diesel 7 lb./ gallon, gasoline 6 lb./gallon. That's 660 to 880 pounds of liquid, plus the weight of the drums @40 lb. each, and your weight. So, like 1,000 plus you plus the motor. Max. capacity is 1,300. BTW, these are still available, $3,200.
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Rowing 12 mph fully loaded. You should be in a rowing team.
Very popular in Florida and have many friends with them and they are great except
hard to drain water out from rain but friends added drains and they can last for ever.
Nick
hard to drain water out from rain but friends added drains and they can last for ever.
Nick
Not wishing to hijack the thread I would be really interested in how to add a drain to the water tender as this would be a big improvement.
Tim
Tim
Agreed, I'm very interested in how a drain can be added. Can we install something self-bailing like you might find on a Sunfish or Scorpion.
@Scott T-Bird, @Tim22, @BlowMeAway
See posts 6 and 13 in this thread:
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...lug-in-a-walker-bay-8.185070/&highlight=drain
See posts 6 and 13 in this thread:
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...lug-in-a-walker-bay-8.185070/&highlight=drain
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I'm curious to know about that, too. I've looked around on-line but can't seem to find the same thing that we used to have on our old Ghost 13 sailboat. It had a drain in the floor at the center of the cockpit that could be opened while sailing and it really removed water quickly as long as the boat was moving.
So, like 1,000 plus you plus the motor. Max. capacity is 1,300.
So, what's your point? Motor is a lot less than 300#. At any rate, try that w/an 11 foot RIB! That really is the point, don't you think? The barrel in the pic is 75 gallon size, by the way, and weighs a lot less than 40#.
What do you weigh? It would be you plus motor for the 300 lb. margin. And then you are absolute max. capacity.
It just seems remarkable to me, that you would carry two 50 gallon drums of liquid in that thing.
I would prefer to do it in a RIB. The AB 10.5" fiberglass RIB has a capacity of 1514 lb. Mine is the 9 VL, 9.5' and has a capacity of 1393.
I guess my point is: that two 55 gallons drums of fuel or water in a Zodiac Classic; I just don't believe it. But then, I've seen wackier loads going down the highway.
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SO I have this one I bought at a yard sale.
That is a 6 hp 2 stroke Evinrude on it. It moves along nicely, but it will not plane with this motor. even with just my teenage son on board. See video below.
It moves almost as fast with my 2hp 2 stroke Evinrude Mate.
That is a 6 hp 2 stroke Evinrude on it. It moves along nicely, but it will not plane with this motor. even with just my teenage son on board. See video below.
It moves almost as fast with my 2hp 2 stroke Evinrude Mate.
I think there's a lot of BS in the system regarding dinghies. It's almost as bad as the oil wars on the car and motorcycle forums. People planing rigid dinghies on 5hp, carrying two 55 drums in a Zodiac classic, etc., etc. All in good fun, maybe they have done these things, what do I know? Maybe with the right prop you can plane that boat? Maybe with the right Zodiac you can haul that fuel. Your mileage will vary.
Capta, just curious. How do you manage to get that on your boat?
I too am interested in this. Thought about drilling and using PVC pipe and standard drain stopper, but finding an adhesive that will make a waterproof seal to polypropylene is tough.
That wasn't fuel or water. It weighed about 200#. A halyard worked just fine. All I was saying was with the big, flat floor
I could carry 2 full or nearly full 55 gallon drums in the bottom. A equal size RIB has nowhere near the same flat floor space.