The Perfect Tender....???

[Tom Spohn]

Near as I can tell Sorensen doesn't have a web site, but the URL I provided has their phone number. If you call them they can give you whatever info you need. Small town easy to talk to folks!

[David_Old_Jersey]

I have followed every thread on Dinghies religously, noting the pros and cons of each in the search for "the perfect tender" that I could use day to day for BOTH pottering to and fro accross the harbour and as a Tender cum Liferaft for extended voyaging abroad that fits neatly on a 30 foot boat........so what have I done?

I wandered down the harbour for a simple looksee over the sea wall, and then on the spur of the moment popped into the boat yard/chandlers and bought what they had on the shelf, simply on the basis that delivery was thrown in (over the harbour wall!).......



Plastimo Rigid tender PRS210

Mine is in a fetching shade of Battleship grey and it has a wheel on the back

I will defer search for THE tender for voyaging abroad for another day!

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by Yachts66

Looks great.....errrrr....but what happens when you tie up next to a dock full of barnacles and the inflatable part deflates? How does it perform then?

No offense, I had to say that....as I think that's the one major problem with all inflatables...they leak and are subject to puncture. Now if you could make one that wouldn't deflate you'd really have something!

Regards,

TJ

This is one of the reasons for us to make the rigid part higher than normal even if a hypalon leak makes one air chamber empty you can still tkae the rib and use it.
Just look how high it sits in the water

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by Seeratlas

That's a really nice looking RIB, do you have a price sheet on the site somewhere I can't find?

Also, is it strong enough to do this?

I'm building one of these

seer

Yes it is strong enough to withstand a fall from 2 meters high without problems and has the added advantage that it actually weights 40 kilo,s less using a smaller motor or a bigger payload.
When designing the new rib , the flying rib was in my mind

Greetings

[eskfreedom]

So have we ruled out walker bay? Anyone else have one? I thought I had my dink picked out and now I just don't know. The W.B. 10' lookes realy stable on the web site motors good and sails good. So what's the problem? I think I will compromise some performance for virsatllity. I don't think I want my dink to be my liferaft to. Lifesaving equipment needs only to be used to save lives not to dink around in.

[Hubec]

I don't want to make a rep as a hater, I also don't want people to make the same mistake I made. Let me put it this way; it's difficult to overestimate the importance of getting a true planing dinghy. Right now I'm in the Key West mooring field which is 1.25nm from the dinghy dock (the anchorage is even further). I would not be able to stay here if I still used my Walker Bay 8. It's just that simple. The WB did about 5kn with just me in it. My current Mercury Oceanrunner 320 with a 8hp engine does 3 times that speed. What this means is the difference between a 5 minute joy ride and a 15 minute wet ordeal.

When I was originally dinghy shopping I convinced myself that it didn't really matter if the hull is a true planing design. I figured anything would work if the engine was reasonably powerful and the dinghy was light. I was wrong, it's no accident that all planing dinghys look alike.

Also consider that while the WB 10 "looks" stable it doesn't have anywhere near the same initial stability of a "traditional" RIB of the same width. The reason being that those tubes aren't displacing water until the dinghy tips about 15 degrees. i.e. They don't stabilize the boat until you've lost your balance.

Just to show I'm not totally down on Walker Bay they're Genisis line or RIBs look fine.

[Badsanta]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Kind of like asking "what's the pefect car?" I used to think that an 8 foot Naples Sabot was the pefect dink. I rowed it, used it for a dive platform, sailed it, motored it with my old British Seagull and it fit on my cabin top just under the mainsail boom just perfectly. It would carry 3 reasonably sized individuals. When I was young I could carry it over my head. During my youth that was the pefect dink. Now I've got an 11' nesting dinghy. One section is lighter but totally its heavier but takes up less space. Carries more but takes longer to put together. Oh well. Economics.
JohnL

What kind of nesting dinghy do you have, Did you build it? I am trying to find a good nesting one and dont want to miss a good one. Thanks

[fastcat435]

I strongly agree that a planing RIB is a must but they are not all alike.
Take a look below at our new and much improved design , it planes better , is more stable , is dryer and it weigths almost half of comparible sized RIBS The fron starts out as a deep V and it chnages into a cat like hull in the rear, the shaft is short because it sits between the 2 hulls and it planes well with a 6 HP 4 cycle motor or even with a 2 KW Torqeedo electric outboard.
A total weight of 30 kilo,s ( 66 LBS ) for the 12 ft version .
or 26 kilo ( 57 LBS) for the 10 Ft version.
It has a bottom build in epoxy resin infused basalt fiber with divinycell foam and the tubing is made from Lightweight Hypalon

[muskoka]

We bought a Walker Bay Genesis Folding Transom Light (310) and are very pleased with it. I've kitted her out with a 15hp Yamaha - if I were to do it again I'd probably just go with a 10hp as she goes like a greased weasel at 1/2 throttle.

[c.spots]

How much of a load do you have when you do the greased weasel?

[muskoka]

3 adults no problemo.

[gmeredith]

Originally Posted by Microship

Yes, I would have to question the term "perfect tender" - it is so dependent on the application, personal preferences, cruising grounds, budget, and other variables!

Cheers,
Steve

(who carries a 10' kevlar Gig Harbor Navigator dink with forward-facing rowing system, high-performance sail rig, and inflatable "Dinghy Dogs" for those times when maximum stability is really needed... as well as a Hobie i12s pedal-powered inflatable kayak as a zippy lightweight alternative)

How do you like your Gig Harbor Navigator? I'm thinking of getting one, but maybe in fiberglass as opposed to Kevlar.