Dinghy Questions

[Tony B]

Dinghy general questions.
1) in the past I have owned 3 non-RIB inflatable dinks and never tore the bottom. Probably has something to do with always beaching on sand. Has anyone here every torn their soft bottoms and under what conditions?

2) None of my previous dinks were hypolon and never had a problem.
My dink will be exposed to direct sunlight no more than around 50 days a year. Do I really need hypolon?

3) I saw one dealer on the internet that sold the PVC dinks with tube covers, anyone know who that was? I don't remember.

4) Does anyone know anything about boatstogo.com? I am somewhat interested in their Saturn. Anyone familiar with these?

5) Until recently, I thought I wanted a RIB - not sure now. After lots of replies on previous threads, 'Livingston' keeps cropping up. Here is my dilemma: The 9' fits my boat but not my needs/wants. The 10' fits everything I want but is too heavy for my aft deck hardtop. Too heavy and too wide for my hanging davits and quite possibly too heavy for my old swim platform. Towing is not a problem with the following questions:
a) How many problems will backing out of a slip be introduced if the dink bow was slightly lifted from the water by my stern davits and I want to back out?
b) When entering locks and dams, do you guys tow your dink behind you or 'on the hip'?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Tony B

[Cotemar]

I had the same issues with inflatable dinghies, so I designed and built a 10' Catamaran dinghy that weighs 95 lbs. fitted out as you see it here. It’s light, fast and dry.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1544868

[a64pilot]

Towing one sucks, may not be an issue for you as your bigger and more power, but towing mine slowed me down more than I expected. And it's noisy, again may not be a factor as your a powerboat, but I was surprised at how noisy the thing is, so you put it on a long line to get rid of the noise and it slows you down more, and now you worry about it in any weather.
Tied tight to my stern and with the bow elevated it says glued there, backing up whatever.

[Sailor Doug]

I pulled the bottom off a RIB on a 50 km tow at 6 knots. Repaired the seam but it continued to fail. Bought a Hypolon & davits, problem solved.

[Dulcesuenos]

We spent 3 weeks in the exumas recenty. where if we had a soft bottom would have seriously limited where we beached. As for UV I was told once a PVC dinghy is exposed to sun, the fabric and seems start the deterioration process. Once this happens it is less likely to be able to be repaired when the seams start coming unglued, unless its all welded seams then notbsure..

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