Achilles vs Highfield rib

[Cheechako]

You just dont hear much complaint about Achilles.... for decades now. That should say something. The Achilles I sold a couple years ago was from the mid 90's . Not a leak or problem with it.

[robert sailor]

Don't know a thing about the new ones but Achilles used to make one of the best. Owned 2 in past years and they were both great and got used hard.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by emcmia

Anyone with experience with Brig Inflatables (purportedly manufactured in the Ukraine)? Recent boat show exhibits have been impressive - high quality at competitive pricing.

I have a 10' 06" Brig RIB with my CS36 on Lake Ontario. They make pvc and Hypalon. Mine is Hypalon. They are quite tough but lack lifting points. When I drilled through the transon to attach some D rings I found it was hollow below where the outboard mounts. A bit chintzy. I had to insert aluminum tubes as spacers to make sure the d rings were mounted properly. Price was good. Quite heavy and very wet!! Not enough sheer. The dealer in Toronto was quite helpful.

[dneve]

I had a Zodiac Cadet PVC in Maine with no problems until I brought it to Florida and the glue holding the floor to the tubes dissolved! The tubes were fine but many hours of regluing never lasted in the heat. A dealer told me Zodiac would not admit to the problem so out of $ on this boat. Achilles sounds the way to go!

[KD8NPB]

Originally Posted by dneve

I had a Zodiac Cadet PVC in Maine with no problems until I brought it to Florida and the glue holding the floor to the tubes dissolved! The tubes were fine but many hours of regluing never lasted in the heat. A dealer told me Zodiac would not admit to the problem so out of $ on this boat. Achilles sounds the way to go!

Adhesive simply doesn't last forever. 8 to 15 years is pretty typical. Regluing a floor takes about 5 labor hours if the material isn't heavily degraded or contaminated.

[misfits]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

You just dont hear much complaint about Achilles.... for decades now. That should say something. The Achilles I sold a couple years ago was from the mid 90's . Not a leak or problem with it.

An Achilles is what I've decided to go with. I'd really like a LSI with air floor because it would be easier to stow & has 17" tubes, but it's over 2K. I suspect I'll end up with a LEX.

Thanks to all for your input!

[misfits]

Anyone have any experience with the LSR-E with the roll up aluminum floor?
Cost wise, pretty much the same as the LSI air floor.
Opinions, pros/cons would be appreciated.

Thanks

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by misfits

Anyone have any experience with the LSR-E with the roll up aluminum floor?
Cost wise, pretty much the same as the LSI air floor.
Opinions, pros/cons would be appreciated.

Thanks

Owned one years ago. Not a bad design, blow up keel. In less than flat water the floors tend to undulate fore and aft, not a huge deal but noticeable.. light, easy to stow, I prefer a RIB but you can't roll it up and store it below

[MLOI]

Originally Posted by misfits

Anyone have any experience with the LSR-E with the roll up aluminum floor?
Cost wise, pretty much the same as the LSI air floor.
Opinions, pros/cons would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sorry - no to the LSR-E
But we do have a 3m LSI, and the high pressure floor works better than I expected it would. Planes easily with 3, takes a bit of effort with 4 with snorkling gear and lunch etc. (9.8 hp two stroke)

We got washed across 20m of reef in it, barely scratched the rubber.

I have been surprised how good it has been so far.

Mike

[anacapaisland42]

We have a 40 year old Achilles, thousands of miles, much abuse, no leaks .......ever......
Bill[


QUOTE=Clipper4730;2576075]Hey y’all so it is time to replace our dink and have narrowed the field to two manufactureres. Achilles and Highfield.

[steve 123]

I have a 10 year old Achilles LSR with roll up aluminium floor and inflatable keel. The model I have is a LSR-104 which is the predecessor of the LSR-310E. The differences appear to be cosmetic, but there may be changes to how the floor is constructed so my remarks below may not be applicable to the current model.

For the first 5 years the aluminium floor was good. However, it the last five years corrosion of the floor has been a problem, preventing the floor being rolled up. The interlocking aluminium strips get corroded at the "hinges", preventing the strips hinging fully. The problem is progressive, with the radius of the rolled up floor getting larger each time the boat is used. The only remedy I have found is to dismantle the floor, which involves removing each of the plastic end caps by drilling out their rivets, wire brushing the "hinges" to remove the oxide, and reassembling.

The aluminium floor is 30% of the total weight. It would be worth considering how this compares with the weight of a high pressure inflatable floor.

The aluminium oars were too short to be effective. I replaced mine by timber oars with holes drilled in their shafts to fit on the rowlock pins. This arrangement has worked well. I used the aluminium oars on a smaller inflatable for a while, but they were not strongly made and they broke.

The Hypalon and transom are excellent and have given no problems.

The valves have given no problems but are not nearly as convenient to use as the valves on a 30 year old Avon inflatable I have.

I use a Tohatsu 9.8HP 2 stroke on the Achilles. It will plane with two people on board, but not with three. If buying again, I would buy a 2 or 3 HP engine and accept that it would not plane.

I have used the boat only occasionally so cannot comment on how it would stand up to heavy use. The floor flexes significantly when going over waves, which would stress the Hypalon, but I suspect the Hypalon would stand up well unless used in waves every day for a long period.

Steve

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by Captain Randy

Do yourself a favor and do NOT but a Zodiac PVC. Crap boats. I have learned my lesson

^ 1+

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

What car had soy based wire insulation? Interesting, I understand why, but interesting, I didn’t know that was being done.
You getting a cat, or maybe rat poison now? How do you prevent a reoccurrence?

I believe it was a German car, and the engine wires rotted away caused by heat. BMW maybe??? They wanted to be greener than others

[foggysail]

Back to dinghies. I remain the proud owner of an Avon 10.3 RIB purchased new at a boat show in 1987. They just don't make them like that any more.

This thing even has a bilge with a flat interior floor to keep our feet dry. I had one repair made caused by my negligence over the many years I have owned it. It still performs as well as it did back in 1987. And back then it cost about $2000 which in today's market would be much higher. Over the years I have owned it, a friend is into his 3rd or 4th dinghy.

One secret.......I keep it covered on my forward deck whenever it is not in use. Deck storage is not an issue since I installed a large davit crane.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by foggysail

Back to dinghies. I remain the proud owner of an Avon 10.3 RIB purchased new at a boat show in 1987. They just don't make them like that any more.

This thing even has a bilge with a flat interior floor to keep our feet dry. I had one repair made caused by my negligence over the many years I have owned it. It still performs as well as it did back in 1987. And back then it cost about $2000 which in today's market would be much higher. Over the years I have owned it, a friend is into his 3rd or 4th dinghy.

One secret.......I keep it covered on my forward deck whenever it is not in use. Deck storage is not an issue since I installed a large davit crane.

The problem with this endorsement and with the several other long life stories is that the current production, even in the same brand, may well not be to the same standards.

This is certainly true of Zodiac... we had an old grey hypalon Zodiac that lasted around 15 years of full time usage in teh tropics. Good luck with their current stuff (as several others have noted).

And Avon... well, IIRC they are now owned by Zodiac, and the wonderful quality of old Avons is now history.

A pity, but a reality of modern marketing and business practice.

Jim