I bought an
Endeavour 51 in June 2017 and have been fixing it as the
budget allows ever since. I’m finally getting to the point of being able to use the
boat soon. That said I’m in need of making a decision on which
dinghy will be best for our cruising lifestyle.
I built a beautiful
fiberglass dinghy from scratch which would be perfect for my hobbies of flats
fishing and spear
fishing. However, at around 300lbs(hull only) it is just too heavy to deal with lifting it every day while cruising.
So my gf and I think a
inflatable rib is the next best thing for fishing and
diving. Weight being a huge concern now, we are leaning towards an
aluminum AB 10’6” hypalon model which weighs 128 lbs. https://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?name=ab-10-al-aluminum-hull-inflatable-(rib)-10-6inch-gray-hypalon-2019&path=-1|215570|1794282|1831365&id=4463132
That all said, my gf works at west
marine and with the discount have the ability to buy the
fiberglass 310 double floor model weighing 130lbs for about $2,000.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--rib-310-double-floor-rigid-inflatable-boat--15044209?recordNum=11
Basically the same
boat except one is fiberglass and one is
aluminum. The AB has excellent
reviews, the WM boat not very good
reviews.
My question to you who have experience, is the AB really worth more then twice the
price? I’m all about doing something right the first time and avoiding the hassle of warranties etc... but for me more then double the
price makes me cringe inside a little. Please help!
Sorry for the lengthy post but I wanted to be as informative as possible.