Ideas on a Forgiving, Stable Tender/Dinghy?

[ssullivan]

Yesterday I hurt my back. I was already sore from the few hundred miles we traveled and then went out pounding around at full throttle on a 6 mile dinghy/tender ride in choppy waters.

The intense pain in my back got me thinking:

What are the options out there for tenders that are small, yet are:

*Stable
*Forgiving when it's rough
*Keep you (or more importantly your wife) dry
*Doesn't require extreme power to plane with about a 300lb load

Anyone have anything like this? The flat bottom Achilles I have is beating the crap out of me. Since we live at anchor (and when I say anchor I mean OUT at anchor), so we have to go in daily to work. We need something better, but that's small enough to stow easily.

[rsn48]

I can't vouch for the below link to the New Walker Bay Genesis, but I know here in Vancouver they have become very popular very quickly:

Walker Bay® | products | Dinghy, inflatable boats, small boats, small sail boats, row boats, small fishing boats

Here is a review I snatch from somewhere:

"
Walker Bay Genesis 270

May 7, 2007 - 7:53pm — Brad Roberts
If you cruise your boat like I do, a tender is an absolute necessity. From transporting us back and forth, to watersports, to the kids taking off alone to explore, our tender gets used—and abused.
This past summer we tested a Walker Bay Genesis 270 FLT. While this new for 2006 product won the NMMA Innovation Award at the Miami Boat Show last year, I wanted to know if a product looked great on paper, would it actually hold up in real-life conditions.
The one-piece high-impact marine composite hull (polypropylene) solves the worry of chipping the gelcoat off a traditional fiberglass-bottomed RIB when it touches bottom. The removable floor pieces create a flat interior bottom that makes it easier for kids (and aging adults) to stand up, compared with theV-bottom of other RIBs. The integrated trim tabs, wheels in the hull and folding transom were nice touches but would they work effectively?
After a season of use, I have to report that the NMMA innovation award is deserved. The poly hull appeared soft to me, however it stayed rigid in the water and thanks in part to the two full-length strakes, it didn’t flex the way I thought it might. While our girls weren’t gentle or particularly careful, the few rock scuffs the bottom did suffer proved it was much more abrasion resistant than I’d guessed. The integrated trim tabs appeared to help get us on plane quickly even when fully loaded (we drag-raced other fiberglass RIBs of similar size with the same power, and won). The flat-nose bow provides more useable interior room and was welcomed by our two youngest, who had to sit up in the bow.
At 8 feet, 10 inches, with a beam of 65 inches and weighing only 98 pounds, this folding transom lightweight tender tips up single-handedly onto my swim platform. It’s fast, responsive in the corners, and offers a relatively dry ride—all of which spells fun."

I'm not sure if this boat is the same one I have provided a link to, if not it is the smaller cousin and experiences should be the same.

[rsn48]

Enjoyable dingy article from May 2007 Pacific Yachting:

http://www.walkerbay.com/pdf/reviews...on_low_res.pdf

[2divers]

Caveat here, I've never had a chance to ride in one, just got a chance to look at it up close.

The one I got to touch was solid single mold plastic that was highly flexible and rigid like a peice of heavy cardboard. Ie strong but flexed a little bit very easily.

I was not impressed, but then again I am civil engineer and my favorite material is concrete , (but not in boat!) They just did not appear to have the sturdiness/ solidness I would have expected.

2divers