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Old 04-09-2020, 10:09   #1
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Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

So, i'm working backwards with "things i'm going to want my liveaboard life to accomplish".

And one of them is that I am going to want a dinghy that is capable of carrying 2 people (let's say 350lbs of humans) and a month of supplies (Just as a rough ballpark) on plane.

It seems most people go with a hard floor inflatable. (Which i'm not at all opposed to) but I don't know how the numbers translate.

I'm also noticing that inflatables have (what I would consider) low horsepower ratings for their size. So I feel like I might just be missing something due to not knowing that kind of boat. (Hence saying I want "on plane" as a ballpark target)

Am I just thinking too big?
Is getting that kind of speed going to be prohibitively expensive?
Do inflatables hit plane with far less HP?

"More input needed" Thanks
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Old 04-09-2020, 10:16   #2
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

To be honest, brutally honest, it depends how fat you are. LOL

It’s true. A great part of the weight you’re trying to plane is the two of you.

I’m lucky not to weigh much (155lbs) and my girlfriend weighs as much as a couple jugs of water. Together, we are about a 240lbs load. So, we use an 8’ RIB with an 8hp motor to plane with a month’s worth of provisions.

Recently I went up to a 9.9 because the 8 died. It was the only one in stock.

But by and large it’s the weight of the 2 people that determine most of what you need.

14’ is huge too. Hope the mothership is a catamaran. Otherwise it may be troublesome on the davits.
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Old 04-09-2020, 10:24   #3
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

Added a weight for the humans. And i'm just saying that a 14' aluminum is what i'm familiar with as a marker. Your information is what i'm after, thanks.
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Old 04-09-2020, 10:27   #4
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

Take a look at


Livingston


and


Terhi
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Old 04-09-2020, 10:28   #5
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

We have a 10’6” AB with a 20 HP Suzuki.
RIB’s are so popular for many reasons, first they are extremely stable, nearly impossible to capsize and that gets important when loading and unloading and with dodgy docks.
They are also big bumpers and won’t hurt other boats and this becomes important at crowded dinghy docks where they are all jammed together and you bumper boat to get to the dock and or maybe are crawling over other dinghies to get to yours, that’s when the stability becomes real important.
They are also literally impossible to sink.
When you dock with your boat to load or unload, they will cause no damage to the big boat, we don’t but you can stand on a tube when getting in and out, try that with a tinnie.

RIB’s are relatively inefficient, meaning that they take more HP to go the same speed as a larger fiberglass or tinnie does. I assume the tubes due to shape and the fact that they aren’t solid create a lot of drag.

You want a flat raised floor too.

However a good quality 10’ RIB and 20 HP motor will set you back roughly $9,000 or so.
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Old 04-09-2020, 10:36   #6
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

I think a rib is a nice mid ground between a proper dinghy and a yoyo toy.


But a rib is not getting sailed and rower only over short distances. Which is a bummer imho.


Still, a rib is a rib is a rib. A good mid ground it is.


As far as hp are considered. I noticed plenty of idiots speeding thru anchorages, they all have big hp motors.


But the distance is very often just two cables or less to that dock, so why big hp?


So my own attitude would be a small rib (small enough to be easy to hoist) and a small top quality 4-stroke outboard (OK let's make it a 8 hp Yama). And I would be happy.


As is, we only have a 7ft yoyo and oars. No problem. I am promised a rib on my 60th birthday anyway.


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Old 04-09-2020, 14:41   #7
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

We've always had "too big" dinghies. We discovered it is fun to plane, and if the dinghy is competent (and you carry a spare prop), you can explore well away from where the mother boat is anchored. All have been between 12 and 13 feet, some with soft bottoms, more recently, the largest RIB that will fit between the Solent stay and the mast, with the air let out, and upside down, with the sides tucked in so one can walk all the way forward. We do not use davits. Rib can be hoisted at night, via lifting bridle and spinnaker halyard. We've never thought we needed more than a 15 hp o/b.

It really depends, Lasivian, a lot on what your cruising plans are. In areas of dense population, probably a tiny rowing rubber ducky will do you well, or a nesting dinghy. Some of them are actually two independent dinghies, so you can be a slower two "car" family, and also a faster one, if you use it as one. You can make more than one provisioning run. And, you are unlikely to be able to do a laundry run and a major provisioning run at one time, anyway. You'll want a "raincoat" for the laundry.

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Old 04-09-2020, 16:36   #8
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

our RIB is 3.6m, aluminium floor, with 8hp 2 stroke. boat will happily accommodate 6 adults. 2 people & a little gear it will plane, but after that : no

but that's ok. we find that the fully laden trips (eg when we go shopping) are not long, and so displacement mode is fine.

we could fit a bigger engine (boat could handle 15hp easily), but this just adds weight when hoisting on the davits

anyway, what's the rush ? slow down and enjoy the scenery

cheers,
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Old 04-09-2020, 16:56   #9
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

We have had three aluminum RIBs and the same Yamaha 2-stroke 8HP engine on a Southern Pacific 9' PVC RIB that was light and easy to row and would easily plane with 2 or 3 people and "stuff" on board. The RIB died after about 14 years and has been replaced with a Hypalon AB Lamina 9 AL). With three people on board the boat will plane but uses a lot of fuel. In fact, we tend to row more than motor unless the distance to and from shore is more than 20 minutes or so of rowing or unless we have more than 2 people on board. The AB does not row well, particularly in a cross-wind situation, and I am tending to use the motor more often as a result.

The 3rd boat is a Force4 PVC 2.6m aluminum RIB. It rows really well but has only a 3.5hp 2 stroke Nissan. No planing possible with this motor.

Having also owned a plywood floor inflatable and a fibreglass dinghy, I will continue to buy (hopefully not too many more) aluminum RIBs because of stability. The fibreglass thing was very tippy. The plywood floor inflatable preferred going sideways when rowed in any kind of wind.
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Old 04-09-2020, 17:14   #10
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

I too wanted to add that looking at typical Caribbean anchorages, it is a huge benefit to have a big mother ship and then an adequate dinghy. In this scenario you can anchor in the last line, in deep water.


I think it is very nice to be able to stay well offshore in anchorages - there is more breeze and fewer mosquis, and so the boat stays cooler thru the day and night.


And a powerful dinghy gets you ashore dry and safe. It also allows you to explore the area better.



This is to say the bigger your sailboat, the bigger the dinghy. +++

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Old 04-09-2020, 17:41   #11
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

Out of curiosity - you started with a PVC dinghy that lasted 14 years(!), then a hypalon AB and the third is again a PVC?.

My two hypalon AB RIBs are fiberglass double hull, too large with 15HP outboard - way too heavy for an easy hoisting on the foredeck while cruising and even problematic on the davits. So I want to downgrade to the lightest possible aluminum RIB with a new 8HP Yamaha (my mistake, I had to buy the 6HP). My expected future use of the dinghy is relatively light. Not sure if Force4 is available in the US, but with your experience, would you still recommend a PVC RIB?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Marathon1150 View Post
We have had three aluminum RIBs and the same Yamaha 2-stroke 8HP engine on a Southern Pacific 9' PVC RIB that was light and easy to row and would easily plane with 2 or 3 people and "stuff" on board. The RIB died after about 14 years and has been replaced with a Hypalon AB Lamina 9 AL). With three people on board the boat will plane but uses a lot of fuel. In fact, we tend to row more than motor unless the distance to and from shore is more than 20 minutes or so of rowing or unless we have more than 2 people on board. The AB does not row well, particularly in a cross-wind situation, and I am tending to use the motor more often as a result.

The 3rd boat is a Force4 PVC 2.6m aluminum RIB. It rows really well but has only a 3.5hp 2 stroke Nissan. No planing possible with this motor.
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Old 04-09-2020, 19:17   #12
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

There is always people in these threads saying what's the rush slow down. Presumably they aren't anchored in Spanish Water Curacao (the only pace on the Island you can anchor for over 3 days) where the majority of the time it's gusting 25knts. You will get completely soaked in displacement mode (and sometimes even planing) every time you go to the dock which can be a distance.

Anchoring in St Anne, and going into Le Marin would be another one, even further distance. Otherwise you're stuck getting the bus.

Or being in Marigot, St Martin, or even the French side of the Lagoon, and wanting to go the Dutch side. All can be pretty rough and wet in even a slight blow (and it is usually blowing), and good dinghy and planing ability makes a HUGE difference.

The OP is looking something with a high payload. Solid dinghies don't have that unless you go bit or GTFO which I presume is why such a large one was suggested. RIBS, can with bigger tubes, but Air floor dinghies tend to have the highest payload capacity for their size, and due to their increased buoyancy would be faster than the same size rib, but handle more poorly.

P.S Is there even such a thing as a PVC Rigid Inflatable Boat? I thought your options are Aluminium or fibreglass. Solid PVC sounds like it would be extremely heavy as a hull for a RIB.
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Old 05-09-2020, 11:03   #13
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

Having spent a lot of time on anchor and lots of time exploring every little beach and cove we can find; plus diving and fishing...I’m in favor of the largest tender that you can afford and are able to easily transport. We call it our station wagon.
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Old 05-09-2020, 12:00   #14
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

Very much depends on the distances you intend to go and how much rough treatment the dinghy will have. If on a budget or you only want to go short distances, go with rollup or inflateable bottom dinghy and low hp.
My first real dinghy, aside from the Avon soft bottom with no engine that we used in the Cal29, was a Zodiac with inflateable V bottom and floorboards you had to insert. It was stored below a settee in the cabin. Pain the butt to assemble but it served well for a few years of local cruising and 5 months in Mexico. It could plane with me, wife and 9 yr old daughter using only 8hp Evinrude 2 stroke. One time coming out from a little river, over the bar, we powered up and got airborne over a wave - all three of us on board. Dinghy held together on touchdown! But finally it died after many repairs, with too many seams separating. One thing I liked about that setup was the light weight. We could hoist the dinghy with the motor on it, to the foredeck.

Our next dinghy was a RIB. We needed to go up to several miles in sometimes choppy conditions, and not take all day doing it. Still fit on aft deck of ketch. No assembly necessary. Want to be able to drag over sand if necessary. Enough speed to take us out to the great snorkel spot. Or trips for supplies and we don't have to anchor really close to town.

So we got a Caribe 9' RIB, used 15hp Honda and dinghy wheels. The 4 stroke just sips gas, its amazing. Super happy with it. Exploring the coast behind the reefs in the islands of Honduras, we went many miles in that dinghy, we could never do that in the big boat, or with a limited speed dinghy.

Using a RIB does not require davits. Before we got davits, we would remove the motor - that's almost half the weight right there. Then hoist RIB on foredeck with spare jib halyard and deflate. Easy to see over it, sitting in the cockpit.

And actually don't tell anyone else but I admit, Speed Can Be Fun (well away from anchored boats).
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Old 05-09-2020, 12:36   #15
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Re: Dinghy Discussion (Help me learn what i'm missing please)

I had an 8' Force 4 aluminum rib for 20 years before the tubes were no longer repairable. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find an outlet anywhere in the US where I could purchase a new one (I wanted to go up to the 10'). I purchased a Highfield instead. If you can get the the FORCE 4 in your area I HIGHLY recommend their product. JMHO
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