History of dinghys and a deep think on why we like RIBs

[Bean Counter]

For us, a dinghy with planing speed with 4 aboard, soft sided, fuel locker, flat floor, was the basic requirement. Longevity is enhanced with dinghy chaps that keep the UV off the tubes, and one the best additions is the inflatable dinghy boarding ladder https://www.defender.com/product3.js...207&id=1505987

[refuge]

I can’t say enough good things about the RIB we have. While I love a rigid sailing dinghy it’s just not currently practical for our cruising lifestyle with kids.

With the Rib I can pack 5 people and all our day gear and head out across the banks at 40mph. The weight a RIB can safely handle is incredible. They are robust. Our Caribe DX13 is about 10 years old and still looks new. Never had an issue at all and it’s been through a lot.

I see the sailboat as a way to get my dinghy places where we can explore. A solid dinghy would not work for us. But we keep a fiberglass sailing dinghy at home for the pleasure of it. The kids are becoming masterful sailors and racers with the dink. The wife and I can drape ourselves across the gunwhales with a couple of road pops and head a hundred feet offshore for a sunset cruise.

There’s no better fun than a sailing dinghy but for an all around robust cruising workhorse there’s no substitute for a quality made RIB with an oversized 2-stroke outboard.

[LargeMarge]

Originally Posted by Jammer

[edited for brevity]
...dinghys on the brain...
[edited for brevity]

We like the latest dinghy by Dashew for their FPB78, aluminum with replaceable RIB-style flotation-bumpers.
We would add push-bars to the bow.
We would keep the console and the banister.

[mqbenedict]

Fun thread. Thanks to everyone.

I had an inflatable, gave it away and am building a Chesapeake Nesting Pram. Can't say yet which I'll like better but I'd like to add one consideration into the mix; aesthetics.

Inflatables are generally as ugly as sin and at best, hardly memorable. Ok so is a diesel engine and many of us have and treasure them, but you won't find many paintings or photographs of inflatables hanging on the wall or used as screen savers.

Does anyone but me care what a tender looks like?

Mark B.

[LargeMarge]

Originally Posted by mqbenedict

[edited for brevity]
...aesthetics.

Inflatables are generally as ugly as sin and at best, hardly memorable. Ok so is a diesel engine...many paintings or photographs...on the wall or used as screen savers...

I thought the same about diesel engines, then I slack-jaw drooled over the motor-yacht AVIVA engine room and its pair of MTU 4000 M73L V-16 works of art.


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[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by mqbenedict

Fun thread. Thanks to everyone.

I had an inflatable, gave it away and am building a Chesapeake Nesting Pram. Can't say yet which I'll like better but I'd like to add one consideration into the mix; aesthetics.

Inflatables are generally as ugly as sin and at best, hardly memorable. Ok so is a diesel engine and many of us have and treasure them, but you won't find many paintings or photographs of inflatables hanging on the wall or used as screen savers.

Does anyone but me care what a tender looks like?

Mark B.

Don't care about sinks looks or lack thereof. It is a transportation device, nothing more . I did buy a Walker Bay 10, used, and am adding their Hypalon Tube kit which provides a ton of stability and still. keep the plastic boat which can be dragged on rocks, sand and coral without issue. There are makers of generic PVC tubes. Might consider seeing if you can add those to your design?

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Cpt Mark

Don't care about sinks looks or lack thereof. It is a transportation device, nothing more . I did buy a Walker Bay 10, used, and am adding their Hypalon Tube kit which provides a ton of stability and still. keep the plastic boat which can be dragged on rocks, sand and coral without issue. There are makers of generic PVC tubes. Might consider seeing if you can add those to your design?

Yep, my dinghy is just a work boat that I use daily. It gets tied to rough solid piers, dragged onto rocky shores and abused by the sun.

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by mqbenedict

Fun thread. Thanks to everyone.

I had an inflatable, gave it away and am building a Chesapeake Nesting Pram. Can't say yet which I'll like better but I'd like to add one consideration into the mix; aesthetics.



Does anyone but me care what a tender looks like?

Mark B.

Yes, I'm with you. And has to be able to row so a nesting hard dinghy for me.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by mqbenedict

Does anyone but me care what a tender looks like?

Yes.


There are many reasons to be on the water. One of them is that it is a form of performance art. A beautiful boat is an echo of the relationship between humankind and the water that has been going on for centuries, reflected in graceful design, materials of natural origin that develop a patina rather than merely aging, and craftsmanship in construction.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Yes.


There are many reasons to be on the water. One of them is that it is a form of performance art. A beautiful boat is an echo of the relationship between humankind and the water that has been going on for centuries, reflected in graceful design, materials of natural origin that develop a patina rather than merely aging, and craftsmanship in construction.

That describes an artful, probably wood boat nicely. Its not the dinghy that gets used everyday by a fulltime cruiser in a host of dinghy unfriendly conditions. Different beasts.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Paul L

That describes an artful, probably wood boat nicely. Its not the dinghy that gets used everyday by a fulltime cruiser in a host of dinghy unfriendly conditions. Different beasts.

They are not mutually exclusive. Things do not have to be delicate to be pretty.


But I think it's a minor thing. Having a dinghy that I can row is not a minor thing. Then again I do understand the reasoning of people who like inflatables.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Jammer

They are not mutually exclusive. Things do not have to be delicate to be pretty.


But I think it's a minor thing. Having a dinghy that I can row is not a minor thing. Then again I do understand the reasoning of people who like inflatables.

Yea, I know I'm married

On a more serious note, a dinghy's life on a long distance, long term cruising boat is pretty brutal. So building for long life with low maintaince would be way up there if I was going to build my own. If you want a good rower, then that's part of your criteria. Lightweight, easy launching and for me easy use during reef snorkeling would be a criteria.

As far as aesthetics goes, for me its Form follows function

[Jim Cate]

Some years ago, whilst on a cruise in California's Channel Islands, we espied a truly beautiful timber dinghy, finished bright, flawless varnish... just the sort of thing you guys are extolling. We marveled, and wondered how on earth folks kept it up so well. Later we happened to be shoreward bound at the same time as that dink. We were quite astonished when the middle aged couple in it shipped their oars and leapt overboard in waist deep water, well off the beach and picked up the dinghy and carried it ashore and up the beach. Not a scratch on the varnish! But they sure had a different idea about what a dinghy was intended to do than I did.

I suspect they would be unwilling to drop an anchor and muddy chain into it, or come ashore where there is no soft sand cradle for their toy... things that are common usage for a cruiser's dinghy.

It was surely a work of art, but I wouldn't have traded it for our rather antique zodiac, ugly as it was.

Jim

[hpeer]

Aluminum boat:

In highschool I had a 12’ Starcraft for a few years with an 18hp Johnson 2 stroke. I was what we call “clamming” or “treading” out of it. You jump in the water with some sewn canvas shoes, feel the clams, pick them, put them in a wire basket inside an inner tube. Empty when full. Lost art. All the waters are now polluted.

The boat was very fast when light but would load down easily. I’ve had as many as 3,300 clams in it, and they were big ones. Gotta be 800-900 pounds of load. Got rough coming in that day, the only time ever my Dad came down to the landing to see if I was gonna make it. He had no clue of the load I had on. 3’ waves at times. One hand in tiller one hand bailing.

Good boats. But a bitch to do that kind of work out of. Round bottom and relatively high freeboard made picking up the baskets a real buster.

I do think about davits and having one of them at times. Would not work onnour deck. It then they would screw with the wind vane it on davits.

[hpeer]

I saw one of these Offshour Cruising Tenders the other day. At first I thought it was aluminum, apparently not. It’s wrapped in some kind of flotation, which provides abrasion resistance, has wide tunnels to step on, and Mew bags underneath for your stuff.

A bit pricey and takes up a lot of deck space. But if you always tow or keep your tender on davits it might be a nice option.

https://octenders.co.nz