Best Hypalon Dinghy and outboard right now

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Pulling it up a beach is the easy part. It's man handling it on the boat, or around the boat that is the bigger problem.

With a good lifting bridle attached to a spin halyard it is fairly easy to move the dingy around the foredeck, especially with a second person. on the winch. One trick is to tie the bow of the dingy to the bow pulpit of the big boat to restrict the movement of the dingy once it is in the air.

Our halyards lead to very large cockpit winches and Judy can easily winch up the dingy (even with motor and gas can) while I guide it and swing it around.

We can have our dingy lifted an secured within 3 mins of arrival back at the boat after dinner ashore. Our dingy, w/o motor or gas, is 12ft and weighs 96 lbs.

[barold]

Originally Posted by JDanielBryant

The 9’ Achilles I have is great and does not show any of the problems that the PVC inflatables showed - hyperlon is definitely superior to PVC. WRT outboards, I recommend you look into the propane powered units. My Lehr is no longer manufactured, but there are several makes available now. No gasoline smell, no gasoline danger, and no gasoline varnish clogging the carb (that alone is reason enough to get one).

What happened to Lehr? Or is it just your model? I like the idea of propane (already use it for cooking aboard) but need to find a good refillable 1lb bottle option. This one has been around, but hard to find in Canada.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by tomfl

That is the real trick. As a rule the bigger the heavier. I have been looking into several different options. One thing I have noticed is that some inflatables have an option to put fold up wheels on the transom to make beaching options easier.



Any thoughts on wheels.

Wheels can be mounted on almost anything, but I caution you to get BIG wheels, smaller ones don’t roll well in sand and may be worse than nothing when they sink in.
Ours are wheel barrow wheels, but having said that, we have pretty much never used them yet. Where we have cruised, tossing an anchor on the beach is sufficient.

These are our’s
https://youtu.be/i4d0HczDUAE

[sailcrazy]

tomfl....FWIW, we bought a set of wide plastic wheels from Defender a couple of years ago, and mounted them on the transom of our 11' RIB. They have a 3-position lock (up, horizontal, and down) built in, and looked like they would be perfect when the 2 of us go ashore. WRONG!!! They would be perfect-if you need to go ashore where there is a concrete ramp, but are completely useless on sand. and every beach we've gone ashore at here in the Caribb has been sand. I'd take them off and trow them away, except for the mounting holes through my transom. SAve your $$.

[Leo Ticheli]

Originally Posted by myocean

Electric Outboard ist probably the smartest thing to do.
E.g. the brand new Torqeedo Travel 1103 CS.

- no maintenance
- no starting problems
- easiest handling possible
- no stinking gasoline on board
- no noise
- super simple storage
- 12V charging

Get an additional battery and you have everything you need for long operating hours.

OK, they are expensive - but worth it!

I strongly disagree. The Torqeedo is a cruel joke of an outboard motor. No maintenance? Only packing it up and sending it in for repair. No starting problems? Only when it's actually working and not giving you error messages. OK, it's light-weight. Hooray. No noise? Right; sometimes complete silence. Simple storage? Is this an important issue? 12v charging? Yes, just make sure you have extra batteries for those long daily trips and excursions so you can have one or more charged.

This model is under-powered for even moderate opposing currents.

The worst defect is the shear-pins, which will break under normal usage, leaving you stranded. I wondered why they sell the shear-pins in twelve-packs; now I know.
Also, there's no prop stop to help remove the prop nut; you have to power the unit and block the prop to remove it to change the shea-pin.

I call them the way I see them, or, in this case, have suffered from them.


Fair winds,
Leo

[BobMc]

We have the 10 foot Achilles dinghy (wood floor, inflatable keel) with a 6 HP Tahatsu. It will go on plane with two of us aboard, provided the tubes are properly inflated. Bought them both through a local dealer which was less expensive than Defender and dealer installation of lifting rings forward so I could raise it with our davits.

[QUOTE=TheLastPirate;2929605]I know these things kinda go in cycles, one year Tihatsu is the best, next its Yamaha, for example. Im looking for a Hypalon inflatable, about 9 foot, with the wood or aluminum floor, air keel, and a 6 hp outboard. I have been looking at achillies with a Tihatsu(sp) thru defender. Any suggestions?/QUOTE]

[patja]

2 years ago I switched up from an 8'6" Aquapro RIB (aluminum bottom, quite light, but too small for our family of four as the children filled out to their full adult sizes) to an Achilles LSI 290e. I love the Achilles as I just deflate and store it when not in use, and the flat high pressure floor is much more comfortable for boarding and keeps your feet dry. The Aquapro, with its hard bottom, was stored on the dock when not in use where it became quite filthy just sitting out. Would have benefited from a cover, but I bought it used and it was already quite weathered when I bought it.


Just this year I also switched from a Yamaha 4HP outboard to the new Torqeedo 1103 3HP electric outboard, which is a game changer. No more need to carry gasoline, run the motor dry when not in use, go to that one gas station that has ethanol-free gas, worry about whether this is the year the carb needs cleaning, lay it down only on the side with the handle, kids struggle pulling the starter rope, me catching crew with an elbow to the face when I pull the starter rope, etc. But the real advantage is the weight and storage options. I can curl the heaviest piece with one arm! I can store it in a cockpit locker rather than on the rail where it interfered with my stern mooring line. No more need for an outboard hoist.


The price is about double, but the advantages are significant. Time will tell if the reliability is there vs. gas. And it certainly isn't great for all use cases, but for me (I run the outboard less than 20 hours per year, never more than a mile at a time) it is great, so far.



The Yamaha 4HP would plane the Achilles 290 with just me (220lb) in it, no problem. The Torqeedo doesn't have a prayer at planing, but that's probably just the 3HP vs. 4HP difference. And for my use cases, planing is rarely truly advantageous vs. being just for fun.

[thlamers]

About five years ago we replaced our Metzler eight footer (French made in PVC) with a Mercury eight footer also in PVC. Both had tube type air floors which require much less pressure than the drop stitch models. Purchased the Mercury for it's light weight, 45 pounds, and it has been flawless. Highly recommend it for it's light weight.


We always row so our experience is not exactly pertinent to your needs but price/performance for the Merc is excellent.


Tom LaMers

[captainmarknc]

I just left Costco. They have a brand new Hypalon inflatable that takes up to a 15 hp outboard for only $299.95!!!

I have had Achilles, West Marine, catamaran inflatables and the best one for me has been the roll up with the 3 piece floor that takes an 8 hp. The one for sale at Costco is pretty darn close.

https://www.costco.com/Hydro-Force-M...100341175.html

[a64pilot]

Your link goes to a boat that is $649 and PVC.
If you can buy hypalon for half that, I’d jump on it as it may not last, I’d assume a mistake in pricing

[sailorman14]

I repair inflatables professionally and I can tell you that my experience has taught me that a West Marine inflatable is only good for 3 years.
They are cheaper because the manufacturer uses less glue making it.
Have you considered buying one of the polyethylene boats made by Whaly?
They look good.
Yamaha is always the best outboard to buy. They have their S—t together. Tohatsu has problems with quality control. Sometimes you get a good one and sometimes you don’t.

[captainmarknc]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Your link goes to a boat that is $649 and PVC.
If you can buy hypalon for half that, I’d jump on it as it may not last, I’d assume a mistake in pricing

I know, it's on sale. You are right, it says PVC. I will stop back at Costco because I know I saw Hypalon.

[NorthCoastJoe]

Hypalon is the way to go. My first whitewater raft lasted me over 30 year before I replaced it with a newer model. It saw plenty of class 5 whitewater and no leaks, it did get patched a few times from rock damage. PVC is cheap and throwaway. We have an Achilles and a Honda OB.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Stephenlac.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by sailorman14

I repair inflatables professionally and I can tell you that my experience has taught me that a West Marine inflatable is only good for 3 years.
They are cheaper because the manufacturer uses less glue making it.
Have you considered buying one of the polyethylene boats made by Whaly?
They look good.
Yamaha is always the best outboard to buy. They have their S—t together. Tohatsu has problems with quality control. Sometimes you get a good one and sometimes you don’t.

A 2.7m Whaly is more than twice the weight of an aluminium rib. Cheaper and possibly more durable, but that weight is a killer - 72KG