Dinghy Suggestions- Your Choice

[Goodxcharly]

I like Achilles inflatables. A good rowing inflatable boat along with easily planes with 6hp O/B. The last one I had was 36 years old and still going strong, till unfortunately stolen recently.
So ordered another one, Lex-88.
Debated back and forth on a cheaper PVC boats verse hypalon and decided they aren’t worth the trouble.

[Buzzman]

You might also consider Mark Gumprecht's Cat Skiff series. The Glider is 12', the L'il Nip is 8', and there is also a 10' version of the L'il Nip.

There is also a wider version of the 10' cat skiff Mark sent me loft drawings for, which is 4'6" wide instead of the 3'10" of the L'il Nip 10' version.

DM me if you want the drawings for the wider skiff. Comes with basic instructions.

[Sailorman97]

Highfield Classic 340. 3.4 meters or 11ft. Very stable, well built aluminum rib with big tubes, inner floor so your feet stay dry and they even have a mount for a bilge pump, gas tank in front and you run fuel line to bow locker. will carry a 25 hp motor. I have a 20 4 stroke on mine and we can do 22 knots in flat water but usually go slower.

If that is too big I would also do a Classic 310. A 10 ft boat with all the same characteristics.

[Sailorman97]

Originally Posted by PhilC

If you do buy an inflatable, carefully consider the pro's and con's of Hypalon Vs PVC. All PVC boats (regardless of the sales BS) have a limited lifetime of between 3 and 10 years at which point their value is zero. If you are OK with that then PVC offers low cost and light weight. If you are not, then it's either Hypalon or a hard dinghy.

Put chaps on the boat. We always kept ours covered and it is in decent shape.

[Moana Bella]

We have recently bought a new Polycraft Tuffy and it's great.
We wanted it for similar reasons to yourself - diving and snorkelling. And hubby is a very large unit, and not that agile, so stability was important.

Super stable to get into and out of. Steps at the back for getting out of the water.
Pretty much indestructible and unsinkable and would float just as well upside down.
We have a 9.8hp Tohatsu outboard, and it gets up on the plane easily with 2 people inside, and does 18knts in flat water.
Haven't had it out in big waves yet, but its a fairly flat bottom, so I don't think it will be a problem. (within reason of course)
It weighs 107kg and is 3m x 1.5m. (Sorry, I don't do well with imperial measures.)
Goes up on the davits just fine - even if we leave the motor on.
They are made in Australia, and cost just over AUD$3k here. But of course freight overseas may be killer.
You can see them on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/RWKzWVx56BE

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

One possible exception would be something like a Dyer Dhow

Ah yes, the consummate Northeastern "yachtsman's" dingy, they should be required equipment on a Hinckley.
All kidding aside, they are a classy boat for sure.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Have you motored it?
If so, can it get on a plane? How many people and what size motor?

The designer recommends a motor no larger than 3 hp. It's not supposed to be a planing hull. As drawn the skegs are too wide and deep for it to plane well.

[Rumrace]

Ribs are popular cause they stick to the water it seems. Every hard Dinghy seems to heavy to haul around or unstable in big water.
I’m thinking Zodiac can sell me new tubes?
The tiny hull inside the tubes is aluminum.
If that’s the case it’s more like changing sails that tossing away a boat. Behind the the row of boat sheds, where you hoard old stuff are discarded Dinghy 2 free boats and some neglected projects.
Dinghy litter ticks me off. One of those reasons not to be in that club.

[RaymondR]

The problem with RIBs as cruising dinghies is their lack of utility because of the things you cannot do with them:

Drag anchor chain into them.

Go into rocky places with oysters growing on the rocks.

Explore places where you might puncture them on a snag.

Tie them up to derelict jetties with exposed bolt or nail or spike ends.

etc.

They are just too frail for serious boat work.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

The problem with RIBs as cruising dinghies is their lack of utility because of the things you cannot do with them:

Drag anchor chain into them.

Go into rocky places with oysters growing on the rocks.

Explore places where you might puncture them on a snag.

Tie them up to derelict jetties with exposed bolt or nail or spike ends.

etc.

They are just too frail for serious boat work.

They are too frail clearly for places you go , for the rest of us there are the 4x4 of the water.

And yes you can drag anchor chain into them.

[rslifkin]

If you can carry a big enough one to get adequate stability and load capacity, a basic aluminum skiff works well. They plane (typically with less power than a RIB). They're also durable (ours was built in 1968) and have good interior space for carrying stuff due to the lack of tubes.

No reason other hard dinghies won't do the same, but fiberglass ones are often heavier and many that are intended as dinghies don't plane.

[KompetentKrew]

I love my Honwave 2.7IE airdeck - would certainly plane one-up with your 8HP motor.

2.7m is just shy of 9'. I reckon I could go a foot or two longer on my davits.

If money were no object I'd get a RIB about the same size.

[CaptainRivet]

Highfield Ultralight UL340 which is a 42kg light 3,4m or 11,4' aluminum hard bottom Rib which super stable but very light and the 26kg 9.8 Thotsu 2 stroke. Every kilo counts when beaching it and you need to eg carry it 20m because of tides. Additionally have big wheels so i can handle it alone

[Mike Crothers]

Walker Bay 10' Hard dinghy with the added floats is what we have.

Pros- rows well, is stable, takes up to six horse engine, can be sailed (for grandchildren), almost bullet proof.


Cons - doesn't plane, Walker Bay is going to stop making them, not very expensive, easy to clean up to look brand new with some comet cleaner.



I modified mine with: Larger towing eye, added eye bolts to lift on davits, added a drain bung in bottom of the boat and plugged the factory plug that is on the back of the boat where I couldn't reach it when it is on the davits.

[Tellico]

I haven’t had a chance to put the motor on yet. It does row nicely.