Mercury Dynamic 310 Hypalon Dinghy any good?

[epiic]

I am shopping for a new dinghy and came across a brand new 2016 Mercury Dynamic 310 Hypalon for $2100 USD.

Would you guys say its a good buy?

https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/...m/dynamic-rib/

[Tetepare]

CSY Man wrote in another thread


I was disappointed with my previous dink as well, but for other reasons:
Poor build quality and lousy customer service:
Mercury 310 Imflatable floor, hypalon, 10 year warranty.

The design was great, sturdy, fast and stored easy up-side down on my CSY 33 between the inner foresail and the mast, perfect size for the boat.
Then I went from a 4 hp 2-stroke Evinrude (2-cylinder) to a new 2009 Yamaha 4-stroke single.
What a huge difference that was: One should think 4 hp is just that across the board..? Not.

The old 2-stroke maxed out at 7 knots with a 220 lbs Norwegian Stallion onboard plus basic safety gear.

The new 4 stroke pushed me at 11 knots, measured numerous times in flat water and the Stallion leaning forward with a tiller extension.

A hell of a good combo dink/motor, just too bad that Mercury did not do a quality job in China making the dinghy and too bad Customer Service tried to stall and screw around with the (on-paper) excellent warranty: The transom came loose, CS tried to tell me the transom was not part of the boat and was not covered by the warrant..WTF, say again?..?
Got it all sorted out eventually but I had to talk loud on the phone numerous times to make them see my point, not good for my blood pressure.

Sorry about the thread creep, but I use every opportunity I can to sh!t on Mercury Boats, perhaps that will help others in the future by forcing them to improve.
Again, great design and great dink/motor combo.

[CSY Man]

Perhaps the new Mercury boats are better.
Mine was a 2006, purchased new in 2007.

[epiic]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Perhaps the new Mercury boats are better.
Mine was a 2006, purchased new in 2007.

Hopefully... but either way, customer service is important.

Did you have the PVC or Hypalon version?

Also, how many years of use did you get out of it before it gave you problems?

[travellerw]

Have you looked at Highfield dinghys? You could get a nice 10ft aluminum bottom hypalon Highfield for close to that price.

We have had ours for 7 months and are super happy with it!

[epiic]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Have you looked at Highfield dinghys? You could get a nice 10ft aluminum bottom hypalon Highfield for close to that price.

We have had ours for 7 months and are super happy with it!

Yes I have.

In the 2k USD price range, they are only available in PVC. Hypalon is much more expensive option.

Where did you purchase yours?

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by epiic

Yes I have.

In the 2k USD price range, they are only available in PVC. Hypalon is much more expensive option.

Where did you purchase yours?

I bought mine in Florida from Inflatable Boat Pro. I waited till the Miami boat show and bought it there and didn't pay much more than 2K USD for the Hypalon version. I ended up buying the light version as we wanted it nice and light for lifting on the davits.

If you are in Florida and can wait, you can definitely get some good deals at the boat show.

[epiic]

Originally Posted by travellerw

I bought mine in Florida from Inflatable Boat Pro. I waited till the Miami boat show and bought it there and didn't pay much more than 2K USD for the Hypalon version. I ended up buying the light version as we wanted it nice and light for lifting on the davits.

If you are in Florida and can wait, you can definitely get some good deals at the boat show.

That's the problem. I am nowhere near Florida and cannot wait for a boat show.

The seller agreed to my offer ($200 less than his asking price) so we are @ $1900 USD. Worth it?

[sailm8]

I bought my 310 Hyperlon RIB from Busters Marine at the Miami boat show 5 years ago. $1500 shipped to my door. NJ to FL

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Have you looked at Highfield dinghys? You could get a nice 10ft aluminum bottom hypalon Highfield for close to that price.

We have had ours for 7 months and are super happy with it!

If you can get a Highfield hypalon aluminum dink for close to USD2000 go for it!. They're usually over USD4000!!

Where did you get yours and are you sure it's hypalon because they make pvc ones too.

[Vasco]

epiic,

If you're going cruising get a RIB not a soft bottom dink. Might cost a bit more but you'll not regret it.

I will cut costs on a lot of things but not with a dink when cruising.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Vasco

If you can get a Highfield hypalon aluminum dink for close to USD2000 go for it!. They're usually over USD4000!!

Where did you get yours and are you sure it's hypalon because they make pvc ones too.

Yeah! The typical price of the 10' Hypalon is $3898... the pvc version is $2434. Great deal on the dinghy!

Matt

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Yeah! The typical price of the 10' Hypalon is $3898... the pvc version is $2434. Great deal on the dinghy!

Matt

Hmmm I didn't think I got that good of a deal. It was over $2K but not much over. I will have to dig up the receipt. Like I said, we did buy the ultralight model (UL290) and if I remember correctly that saved about $400. I also remember a cruiser at the show saying they cost much more in different states. He was very surprised at the prices at the show!

Its definitely Hypalon as a few of our cruising friends have the PVC version and you can clearly see the difference between theirs and ours.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Hmmm I didn't think I got that good of a deal. It was over $2K but not much over. I will have to dig up the receipt. Like I said, we did buy the ultralight model (UL290) and if I remember correctly that saved about $400. I also remember a cruiser at the show saying they cost much more in different states. He was very surprised at the prices at the show!

Its definitely Hypalon as a few of our cruising friends have the PVC version and you can clearly see the difference between theirs and ours.

Most of the UL series are pvc. Also the UL series does not have a flat floor which makes it difficult to carry anything. The CL series is preferable for cruising.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Most of the UL series are pvc. Also the UL series does not have a flat floor which makes it difficult to carry anything. The CL series is preferable for cruising.

Highfield Inflatable Boats Here is a price quote sheet I found online.


Now, regarding the floor of a rib, I'd never want a double floor dinghy again. The added weight kills any benefit of the flat floor. Ours holds water between the floors and was killer on our davits.

Matt