Zodiac or Walker Bay?

[ozboatie]

We have the option of a zodiac 2.4 RIB or a Walker Bay 8ft to go cruising with 2 persons 2 smaller dogs both would need to be stored on deck or existing davits
Looking for constructive advice and opinions

[Pblais]

Two persons and 2 dogs won't fit in a Walker bay 8 with luggage. The luggage part is what will do you in. You will spend more on a RIB and haul more stuff. The Walker Bay can be enhanced with the add on side flotation. It makes the boat a lot more stable but adds as much as the boat costs to the price. The RIB is going that have a whole lot more stability but won't row all that well.

[rebel heart]

I'd go with the walker bay. It's really a rigid dinghy vs. inflattable, and a rigid hull is just going to last a heck of a lot longer now matter how you slice it (no pun intended). I thought my inflattable could pass muster right up until some jackass with a meathook coming out of his wire at a dinghy dock put a hole through my inflattable right along a seam that was just completely unpatch-able using what I had at the time.

If you're doing short runs, the inflattable is certainly more handy because you can deflate it and store it below.

But for rowing, length of service, and overall points, I'd go with the walker.

Edit:

Looking at Paul's statement above, you should look at the load capacity of the 8. But I still frown on inflattables for long term use, so if you are doing big-ocean type stuff, you might have two bad options on the table.

Sorry man; not trying to be negative.

[ozboatie]

Thanks
Fortunately we own both and are needing some help with making a decision from those with experience we will be doing coastal cruising around OZ
Cheers

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by ozboatie

Fortunately we own both and are needing some help with making a decision from those with experience
cheers

Have you tried putting the whole family in the Walker and rowing or motoring around?

[ozboatie]

Yep
Even went fishing in it I guess the question really relates to the zodiac of which we have little experience besides haveing to pump it up frequently

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by ozboatie

Yep
Even went fishing in it I guess the question really relates to the zodiac of which we have little experience besides haveing to pump it up frequently

If you can get the whole family into it, I think that solves it (in my mind anyway).

RIBs are great for:
- stability (you don't need to be as careful boarding / unboarding)
- load carrying (you can pile the gear in)


If you don't need those, or value durability and rowing more, the Walker will do you well. My $0.02, anyway.

[anotherT34C]

Haven't yet tried this myself, but I might guess that an ~8ft cheapo inflatable from Coleman ($50ish) might be a useful supplement to your 'real' dinghy, as a towable cargo boat of sorts. I have one, and it folds up so small, I don't know where it is.

[Celestialsailor]

Does it have to be a Zodiac or Walker-Bay 8 only? Seems kind of a limited pool. I have a Livingston 7.5 with landing wheels on the back of it and a 6hp Tohatsu 4 stroke. I've had a ton of dinks and find this one a good compromise.

[Minggat]

Not familiar with the Zodiac numbers. How long is the Zodiac?

I carry both a 10ft inflatable, either stowed below or on the fordeck and a Walker Bay on "davits". I say it like that because my boarding ladder doubles as my davits and works with the stern arch to do the lifting.

Some RIBs fit nicely on deck with the air out of them. I'm a strong believer in 2 dinks. But if I only had one, it would be the Walker Bay.

[sandy daugherty]

I'ld love to have a walker bay with a sail kit, but I use an inflatable with a 6hp 4 stroke, and the motor is too big for the Walker Bay. I also have a $90 inflatable that I use to work on the boat, it will float under the bridge deck and I don't care if it gets mucked up by scrubbing the waterline. It has a 24# trolling motor, which is too small for a Walker Bay.

A friend talks about "third cruise dinghies" or what people end up with after having bad experiences with first and second tries. He has a Livingston, and apparent works at keeping it too ugly to steal. Another friend has a welded aluminum monster reminiscent of an icebreaker or a trash barge.

I'm still learning, and hoping someone will build a Livingston lookalike at less than 60# for under a grand. Right.

[fred]

When we were out cruisin' with the kids, we took both.
One on the davits and the Avon deflated on the foredeck or for long treks, rolled up in the lazerette and the hard dink on the deck.
I launched and retrieved off the deck with a 4 point harness & painter, a halyard and the middle of the whisker pole clipped to the end of the halyard.
When we anchored for a period on time, both were launched.
They were well used.
When someone needed 5 minutes peace, away from everyone else; the other one was available for the rest of the family.
Dirty, wet, sandy dogs & kids in one....adults in the other.
The kids learned quickly they had to earn solo trips in the dinks...taught them self reliance as well.
I usually rigged the hard dink for sailing, shortly after anchoring; which made it a pain to put the motor on and turn it into the launch.

Take both of them....let us know which got used the most.


fred

[Heikki]

Originally Posted by anotherT34C

Haven't yet tried this myself, but I might guess that an ~8ft cheapo inflatable from Coleman ($50ish) might be a useful supplement to your 'real' dinghy, as a towable cargo boat of sorts. I have one, and it folds up so small, I don't know where it is.

Last season we invested €19 (approx $25) for a back-up inflatable. That sure was money well spent. We used to have WalkerBay 10 with sails, we have no experience on the Zodiac other than it is brand with a good reputation. I am not a big fan of pumping air to fill up an inflatable, but I sure was very pleased with the WalkerBay, so if I would have davits, I would go for WalkerBay and just use another $20-$50 for a backup inflatable.

On the other hand, if you are heading for a longer ocean passage or should you otherwise expect some really rough weather, I would not want to hang anything on davits. On that case I would settle with Zodiac stored firmly out of the deck.

[offthepoint]

I want to put my Walker Bay 10 on davits but am not sure how to attach. Where are the strong points - and do you need to buy special eye bolt/strop accessories in the interests of safety?

[Minggat]

I removed some of the bolts holding the seats in and replaced them with eye bolts for that purpose. In the 8ft there is also a hole in each corner of the transom and one in the bow. I spliced some 3 strand loops in them that I use occasionally.