Dinghy for Bahamas, RIB or Soft Bottom ?

[slomotion]

OTOH, maybe RIBs inspire a certain amount of carelessness. I have variously:

Anchored my dinghy in 6 feet of water, gone snorkling, and returned to find it happily teetering on a coral head which either was not there to begin with or was at least 3 feet under water and 20 feet away when I set my anchor.

Dragged my dinghy onto the beach, stuck the anchor in the sand on about 6 feet of line, gone beach combing, etc., and returned to find my dinghy resting on top of the anchor of a 24 foot power boat.

Dragged it across rocks hidden just under the sand.

Hit a conch.

Hit a rock ....... uh, maybe more than one.

[barnakiel]

If you can lift it comfortably and have place to store it then always go for a rib.

b.

[MarkJ]

We have a roll up dink and she fits into a lazerette for passages!

But cruising often there is times when we want to go exploring and the folks with the bigger rib's with the bigger OB's can go off for a few hours run, 10 miles etc up rivers, along the coast, snorkeling etc etc.

We just can't do that with the 3.3hp OB and spa bath 'Lil Dink.

So we are getting davits and a RIB and have just be given a 9.9hp Mercury which is far too big for 'Lil Dink!

As sad as it is, we have to move up to bigger, more expenvive and more complicated.... and we will have a spot for the new, expensive and complicated solar panels... it never stops.


Mark

[Sunspot Baby]

I should have mentioned the Livingstons in my earlier post. We see a few in the Bahamas and they are actually no heavier than many RIBs if you don't start adding seats and the like.

George

[svjobeth]

Storage is typically the major issue with a RIB, particularly on a boat w/o davits or a small(ish) boat, say under 40'. I'm not sure how it would be on a Gemini though. The previous owners of our Crealock 34 had a RIB and we're not quite sure how they dealt with it...we sold it soon after acquiring the boat.

If you do opt for the inflateable floor, carry an over packed patch kit with you at all times!! We now use an infateable floor dingy until we sort out what we now call "the dingy delima" for a more long-term solution. I will tell you it will not take much to puncture the fabric.

On our dingy's maiden voyage, it was nudged against a oyster and barnacle encrsuted piling at the landing on Sapelo Island, Georgia. That little nudge punctured one of the chambers clean through, just below the waterline!! We were about .75 mile from where Jo Beth was anchored; my wife moved to the very bows of the dingy and I slid as far forward on the opposite side as I could while still gripping the tiller/throttle and raced our little 5hp motor all the way back, my bum settling closer and closer to the water as we went. The volume of air that escaped was impressive.

We hoisted the dingy by the bows with the staysail halyard and let it hang off the lifelines; as I patched the hole, I watched a beautiful sunset over the marshes...

Best -

[CFR]

Hi from Germany, just a general thought reg ribs etc. We made good experience with a foldable dinghy called here banana - boot. some of our wellknown circumnavigators like booby schenk ( the german dashew) are highly recommending it as good compromise for storing and good rowing and hardbottom.

[beau]

I now have the perfect tender after many attempts over the years.

It looks like a Zodiac inflatable but is all fiberglass.
It is a little heavier than an inflatable but not much. It has a flat floor and it won't sink even if full of water. If you hole one of the tubes it still won't sink.
Very stable. I have never found anything else as good.