New Dinghy Purchase

[nancyb]

We were tired of pumping water out of our old Zodiac and planned to invest in a new one next season, but this weekend the floor came completely unglued. Any suggestions of a manufacturer to look at who offers reliability without spending a fortune? We need to get our precious little dog to shore! We also want davits which we have never had.

[CSY Man]

Plenty of recent dinghy postings, do a quick search.

In a nutshell, don't get a Mercury inflatable, the warranty suck, and they will break. (Mine is in for repairs for the third time in 3 years and hardly used)

Avon and Achilles seems to be the best quality.
My Avon Redcrest lasted 10 years with plenty of use in the Florida/Bahamas sun.

Never owned a Zodiac but heard horrible things about them.

[Dockhead]

We have a quite old Avon 310 Rib, 11' with center console, wheel steering, and 25hp two-stroke. I wouldn't be surprised if it is as old as the mother ship, 10 years. It's spent, as far as I know, its entire life on the davits exposed to the elements, and is a little stained and dirty despite frequent efforts to clean it. But it functions perfectly and holds air for months. The tubes seem to be made of indestructible material (presumably, Hypalon) and other than stains and dirt are not showing any signs of wear, cracking, scuffing, etc.

It is suprisingly seaworthy and will get up on a plane with four people on board. We use it for quite long rambles which has added a whole new dimension to exploring anchorages. We even took a day-long river cruise in it one time, three of us and something like 30 miles round trip, all the way up the Wareham River from Poole to Wareham, which was a blast.

We are quite pleased with it; it seems like a quality product.

For whatever it's worth.

[JusDreaming]

We really like our AB, and have not heard any complaints from other cruisers who own them

[Vasco]

AB is the way to go if you want a reasonably priced (none of them are cheap) dink. And go for a RIB. They're well built (except for the glass seats that seem to snap) and about as tough as you'll get. Everyone stands up so you don't really need a seat, just takes up room.

[fishwife]

The AB Lammina tenders look good, aluminium hull, light weight and robust

AB inflatables - Models.

No relationship etc.

P.

[Vasco]

Aluminum is the way to go if you can afford the extra $. You can waterski with them! Fast and light.

[sandy daugherty]

We just bought an AB ultralight 9: Very light weight (68 pounds) with an 81 pound Tohatsu 8hp motor from Maritime Solutions Inc in Annapolis*. With a full tank and a bag of lights and stuff, Its 165 pounds on the davits. There is no way to plane two people and groceries at any lower weight. Well, maybe a folder could, but....

*Please send any kick-backs to my mailing address.

[nancyb]

Thanks all for the suggestions regarding a new dingy. We are going shoping over the weekend. One last questions however. Has anyone had any experence with alum floors. I see that a few of the avon and achilles we found have them.

[b-rad]

I bought one of these, couldnt beat the price.
For a roll up inflatable its relaly nice and quailty seems good.
I wish I had room for a rib but I dont so this works great for me
<font Color=red>SPECIAL!!</font> Bombard Slat Floor 9' 0"

[yeehaa]

I bought an AB 8 aluminum rib 5 months ago and have had nothing but problems with it. 2 weeks from new the D rings Rusted completly even before being in the water. Then the screws fell out of the engine mounting plate on the transom then the paint began to peel off the aluminum ahhhhI have contacted AB Inflatables and they seem to think that paint is not structural. Well the tubes are glued to the paint and the paint is peeling off the aluminum. Now it leaks water and am really unhappy with the Dingy. Its such a pity because the actual design is nice but the quality sucks,Now I have a 6 month old leaking unsafe 2,400usd dingy, I would never touch AB Inflatables again

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by yeehaa

I bought an AB 8 aluminum rib 5 months ago and have had nothing but problems with it. 2 weeks from new the D rings Rusted completly even before being in the water. Then the screws fell out of the engine mounting plate on the transom then the paint began to peel off the aluminum ahhhhI have contacted AB Inflatables and they seem to think that paint is not structural. Well the tubes are glued to the paint and the paint is peeling off the aluminum. Now it leaks water and am really unhappy with the Dingy. Its such a pity because the actual design is nice but the quality sucks,Now I have a 6 month old leaking unsafe 2,400usd dingy, I would never touch AB Inflatables again

Yeehaa,
what is the response from AB inflatables? Have they offered to replace the dinghy? What do they mean by "paint is not structural" ? You say the Tubes are glued to the paint - is that correct? normally the tube is glued directly to the Aluminium!!

[Sandero]

My research led me to the alum double floor RIB SMR 1001 hypalon from Aquapro.

Best boat for the price and loaded with great feature. Solid hand holds - no line to rot, double floor which has a bilge so it's dry. Big tubes so it is dry in waves. Zip over bow cover for additional protection up front. Seat with stowage compartments - non skid floor.

Made in NZ, US dealer in CA - Tradewinds Inflatables.

Get compliments and interest all the time.

[bounty hunter]

i think youll find that while Aquapro is a NZ company and used to manufacture here, it now has its manufacturing out of china.

[bounty hunter]

there are two other NZ manufacturers of inflatables which are well regarded and product very high quality products.

one is Naiad - Naiad design

and the other is smaller but very innovative - Rigid inflatable boats | RIBs | Wavebreak outboard RIB rigid hulled inflatables | Boats designed & manufactured by GP Engineering Nelson New Zealand

i dont know what their distribution is like, but i expect something could be arranged by contacting them directly.