The Perfect Tender....???

[Yachts66]

Looks great.....errrrr....but what happens when you tie up next to a dock full of barnacles and the inflatable part deflates? How does it perform then?

No offense, I had to say that....as I think that's the one major problem with all inflatables...they leak and are subject to puncture. Now if you could make one that wouldn't deflate you'd really have something!

Regards,

TJ

[Microship]

Yes, I would have to question the term "perfect tender" - it is so dependent on the application, personal preferences, cruising grounds, budget, and other variables!

Cheers,
Steve

(who carries a 10' kevlar Gig Harbor Navigator dink with forward-facing rowing system, high-performance sail rig, and inflatable "Dinghy Dogs" for those times when maximum stability is really needed... as well as a Hobie i12s pedal-powered inflatable kayak as a zippy lightweight alternative)

[High Cotton]

Originally Posted by fastcat435

We make the perfect tender, a rigid inflatable of 9 or 13 ft in length and a weight of 44 lbs for the 9 and 66 lbs for the 13 ft RIB. Here are the first pictures of testing the prototype with a 6 HP 4 cycle outboard and a total weight of 440 lbs loaded and in the sailing version it can be sailed.
In the first test with this load we did 15 knots

Where can I find these???

[fastcat435]

They can be ordred thru our web site
African Cats: comfortable lightweight performance leisure catamarans

greetings

[Seeratlas]

That's a really nice looking RIB, do you have a price sheet on the site somewhere I can't find?

Also, is it strong enough to do this?

YouTube - Flying Inflatable Boat Norway

I'm building one of these

seer

[rebel heart]

Watch out for those flying dinghies! :-)

YouTube - Opps!. Our Flying Boat Sank...

[Seeratlas]

yeah saw that, but I got a young lady to take me up in one once and I'm hooked. The sheer *fun* is just unimaginable until you've done it. They could do with better mufflers tho, pretty loud.

I just see myself pulling into some nice out of the way anchorage, assembling the flight parts into the dinghy then taking off for a *look around the neighborhood* Also, take off the wing and you have a pretty good *airboat* for the swamps. Or, pull the flight substructure out of the dinghy, add some wheels and you have a trike for the land. Exploring doesn't get much better than that.

seer

[Seeratlas]

I personally don't use an inflatable as a tender, I use a 12 foot Portabote.
amazing dinghy tho it looks funny heheh but sure useful. Weighs 60 lbs, does about 20mph with my little yugoslav 4.7hp on it, and can beach in the surf which is a LOT fun

A friend of mine caught a 100 lb plus sailfish off his right next to me in the Sea of Cortez and had to chase the fish around with the motor running cause he couldn't stop it with the boat. Was dead funny and took hours to land the fish LOL.

once you practice a bit, takes a bout 3 minutes to put together, and you fold it up an store it like a surfboard, which makes things on the foredeck a lot easier to negotiate. Anyway, I like it a lot and it seems indestructable. Mine is 20 years old, hold that, its actually 25 years old and looks like new.

seer
oh, and its really stable, he caught that fish in seas so big all the mexicans with their 20 to 30 foot panga's were roaring into shore. We were the only ones left out there fishing.

[Hubec]

I could never trust the Portland Pudgy as a life raft. It can't hope to match the enormous form stability that a traditional life raft provides. Plus it doesn't have the drag / ballast water buckets that traditional rafts have, meaning that it will tip easier but more importantly it will blow away if you fall out! Which is my main concern, i.e.; What happens if the wind's above 20 knots? I wouldn't have a hope of swimming fast enough to reach it. Now consider it's windage with the sun cover installed and inflated... I wouldn't be able to keep up with it if a just a 10 knot wind was blowing!

It's always nice to have a backup, but as a replacement for a traditional life raft this just doesn't cut it for me.

[Pelagic]

Personally, I think RIBs are the best “compromise” for the perfect yacht tender and you can easily make them last much longer by investing in a tight fitting sacrificial cover that is attached with commercial Velcro to cover the complete tubes. Have used that combo for years on RIBs that are used daily as workboats. The one I am using now is 7 years old (2 sets of covers) and the tubes still look like new.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Seeratlas

Also, is it strong enough to do this?

I'm building one of these

seer

Now that's really a dinghy that planes!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Am seriously thinking of buying a Walker 8........

And was looking at their website and see this is new:-



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

Small enough to put in a backpack when ashore..........

[waterworldly]

These dinghys have 24'' (600mm) and its not enough
Stessl boats - Edge Tracker 3.00 UL Specifications

I had a small aluminum runabout on the river as a kid and always wondered why no one used them as dinks, as they are roomy and even in the river current we had no problem with a smaller outboard. Perhaps a bit more v in the hull for chop, but it rowed like a dream in calmer waters and on moderate lake chop. And it was reasonable light and very durable. Am I missing something on why more don't use them? I also remember them as reasonably priced.

[Tom Spohn]

Sorensen
For you Livingston lovers I believe the Sorensen dinghy is still available. From talking to the owners who live in my neighborhood I gather that Sorensen believes they originated the design used by Livingston and there is some bad blood between them with maybe a lawsuit or two. I don't know the details, but it would be worth checking out Sorensen if you like the design.

Sorensen Marine Incorporated - Seattle, WA 98106 - Reviews: Boat Equipment & Supplies, Boat Dealers

[High Cotton]

Originally Posted by Tom Spohn

Sorensen
For you Livingston lovers I believe the Sorensen dinghy is still available. From talking to the owners who live in my neighborhood I gather that Sorensen believes they originated the design used by Livingston and there is some bad blood between them with maybe a lawsuit or two. I don't know the details, but it would be worth checking out Sorensen if you like the design.

Sorensen Marine Incorporated - Seattle, WA 98106 - Reviews: Boat Equipment & Supplies, Boat Dealers

That's not their website and I GOOGLED but couldn't find it.....