OCT Offshore Cruising Tender

[Pelagic]

I am shortlisting a new 3.5m tender for stargazer and I am curious if anyone has had experience using this make?

Interested in what you thought about build quality, stability, ride in a chop vs the Highfield 3.40m RIB.

https://octenders.co.nz/about-offsho...ising-tenders/

[tp12]

They guys on ROAM have one, did a video on it, and love it.

Sail Surf ROAM

[Freedom45]

We are into our second season with our OCtender 3.0.
Pluses: Well built, reasonably light, we have something the two of us can pull up on beach(we have 8hp 2 stroke) the thing won't deflate ever ....huge!
Lots of storage. Dry, at least as good or even better than big tube Deflatables.
It will last for our twenty year cruising plan. Very high quality item. The builder(Russel) stands behind his product, the aluminum plate glued on bottom stern departed, we were in NZ, he drove down and replaced plate without hesitation.
The one thing I don't like is the low speed maneuverability....without a vee bottom or keel it goes sideways, takes at bit of practice to keep from crashing into dock. Flat bottom can slam in certain conditions.
In windy conditions you do get blown around a bit, the thing is light.
Price, I looked at website just the other day, yikes! The price has gone up since I bought mine, but again, very high quality built boat.
I recommend them, but suggest you test drive one first.

Cheers.

[tomfl]

Is there a US seller

[sailhand]

I think the guys at OC tender have done a great job. As a guy who designed his own dinghy I am acutely aware of the many compromises involved. The problems mentioned here with the design could be symptomatic of some of these compromises. I believe the light weight, stability and flat internal floor are achieved at the expense of ride quality in choppy conditions and the maneuverability issues mentioned. In order to achieve ride quality in a monohull dinghy you require a relatively deep v hull and that gives you stability issues, particularly with a lightweight vessel, as well as better maneuverability.
I wonder to what extent cruising in choppy waters in an inflatable causes structural damage. Whilst the crew sit on a nice cushion of air and hold the throttle on, the rigid hull cops a pounding. The discrepancy in inertia between the two could possibly aid in the separation between the rigid and flexible components of the dinghy. The nice big inflated tubes give passengers a much more comfortable ride than would otherwise be the case if they were seated on the rigid structure. The properties inherent in a flexible structure absorb the majority of the shock that would normally encourage the helmsman to slow down. I have often wondered if inflatable tubes used internally for seating in rigid hulls would be as effective at duplicating this perception of a smooth ride in choppy conditions.
To keep the OC Tender stable and light they place a flat panel in the keel, this has the added benefit of providing a flat internal floor and overall less structure to reduce weight as well as asssisting planing. Unfortunately the attributes mentioned earlier become more pronounced due to these same changes. As always compromises need to be made. The pros and cons of the OC Tender outlined above are overwhelmingly in favour of the rigid dinghy in my opinion.
I think the cost component is heavily in favour of the rigid OC Tender. A smaller cheaper motor and a tender that will outlast an inflatable many times over. There is also resale value to consider, what is the value of an old inflatable. Even the aluminium ribs corrode fracture and leak and welding, if possible, is not always a solution.

[alansmith]

Sail hand, your thoughts are presented well. ThAnks for your effort. Helped me add another arrow to my quiver of knowledge.

[LoudMusic]

I seriously considered purchasing one to deliver to the US east coast, but the delivery fees made it cost prohibitive. We have a typical Highfield as our stand-in until we can make our way to OZ and pick up an OC tender locally

EDIT: At which point I also would like to add whatever becomes the modern equivalent of the ePropulsion 6kw outboard and ample batteries, which seem to be able to tuck under the OC tender's side bench seating.

[Sawbonz]

We have ours waiting for us in Ft Lauderdale as our Leopard 45 has been delayed.... By six months. [emoji26]

The OCT it's beautiful and appears well built. No experience driving it yet. We would be happy for anyone to see it in person while there if you're curious.

Yes shipping was expensive, but overall costs were still the same or less than an inflatable and the exchange rate is favorable to the US.

[Jim Cate]

Interesting boat, but I don't see any thwarts or rowlocks for rowing. Even our RIB has those!

Jim

[Freedom45]

Ours came with oars and oar locks.


Cheers

[daletournier]

I recently cruised with a boat that had one, it certainly looked well built and well finished , in fact it looked very cool. Seemed to go well with the 8hp on it. The owner was happy with it.

IMHO I still don't think you can go past a good quality rib.

[sailhand]

For those interested in OC Tenders they have some interesting videos on youtube. One in particular that was mentioned earlier that shows their overall philosophy on tender design. This video was made by some guys who built their own sailing catamaran and sailed from tasmania to tahiti and back. Not only are they cruisers, they are also boat builders and to some extent designers. Anyone thats built their own boat from scratch will understand the design aspect of such a project.
The hull design gives you your sailing capability but the liveability, functionality of systems and maintenace and performance aspects are designed primarily by the builder/owner. The electrical system, propulsion system, head and treatment/holding tank etc etc. These are all different boat to boat usually, even on production boats these various systems are customised to some extent by their owners. As such the guys from surf roam that made this video were quite capable of building their own tender if not designing it as well. They now use an OC Tender. Some of the genius of their simple design is reflected in jims comments above. The tender has rowlocks oars and "thwarts" they are just hidden and unobtrusive and the thwarts are not fixed to allow flexibility in trim, cargo capacity and a third function as a man overboard device. This last idea I intend to shamelessly copy, and I hope the guys from OC Tender accept this as recognition of their innovative solution, which is kind of an evolution of one of my own ideas, they did call me a thieving mongrel after all. For all those in the northern hemispere this last statement is in relation to the never ending rivalry between australia and some of the inhabitants of our outer islands that continue to seek independence.
I am in no way implying ownership of their innovative ideas, I have however been using moveable lightweight seating in my dinghy for nearly 11 years and I'm sure others have used this idea long before I thought of it. The innovative aspect to which I refer is almost an evolution of the age old use of lifejackets as softer seating in dinghys. They have taken this a step further and made the seating the priority and the flotation and safety aspect a secondary, nonetheless important, aspect of their design. Maybe the addition of the ubiquitous yellow or read covering and reflective tape could further improve the man overboard use of their seating.
The lack of any metal fittings and some of their storage ideas are also great ideas that also reduce maintenance and expense. I think pride of workmanship in an innovative high quality product is a rarity these days and although these guys, to some extent might be considered my competition, not least because they're kiwis and I'm an aussie, they deserve to be supported. A great product, and they even have a sailing version. And dont worry, one day we will beat the all blacks, granted it may not happen again in my lifetime, but it will happen.

[Sojourner]

It looks cool but being so flat would worry me. My kidneys used to take a pounding on the seat of our old inflatable going into a chop. So we got one of those 'delos' style all aluminum RIB style Ocean Craft boats, 3.3m with 20hp on the back, shipped from Australia. Just the opposite style as the one you posted, super deep V design. I don't know if you've ever tried one, but man, it feels like a proper little motorboat slicing like butter through even significant chop offshore, bone dry inside wind in your face or not. If you got the space and cash for one (and what with the boat you're driving you prolly got both), check out an oceancraft. Only 3 kilos more but priced a grand less, including lockable casting platform/gas locker up front which makes getting in and out at docks a breeze, and keeps your stuff from being stolen. Totally customizable, all the stability of an inflatable, easy in or out when diving, all-but indestructible.... I really can't say enough good things about our oceancraft all aluminum rib!

Anyway, that was the coffee talking, i bid you good day

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

It looks cool but being so flat would worry me. My kidneys used to take a pounding on the seat of our old inflatable going into a chop. So we got one of those 'delos' style all aluminum RIB style Ocean Craft boats, 3.3m with 20hp on the back, shipped from Australia. Just the opposite style as the one you posted, super deep V design. I don't know if you've ever tried one, but man, it feels like a proper little motorboat slicing like butter through even significant chop offshore, bone dry inside wind in your face or not. If you got the space and cash for one (and what with the boat you're driving you prolly got both), check out an oceancraft. Only 3 kilos more but priced a grand less, including lockable casting platform/gas locker up front which makes getting in and out at docks a breeze, and keeps your stuff from being stolen. Totally customizable, all the stability of an inflatable, easy in or out when diving, all-but indestructible.... I really can't say enough good things about our oceancraft all aluminum rib!

Anyway, that was the coffee talking, i bid you good day

The OC tender in that size is 49kgs... Is the Oceancraft really 52kgs?

Matt

[boom23]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

The OC tender in that size is 49kgs... Is the Oceancraft really 52kgs?

Matt

I don't think so... According to their website, the smallest Ocean Craft dinghy (2.6m, 8' 7") is 75kg.
Also, it requires long shaft outboard.

Ocean Craft Data