Walker Bay 310 dinghy thoughts

[Courageous]

Hi, we are in need of a 310 rib dinghy for the Key's &/or Bahamas cruising. We recently saw a Walker Bay 310 with the plastic bottom. Does anyone have any comments on the good, bad or ugly about this dink or any other brand for that matter. Our current west marine dink was damaged and needs to be replaced (someone ran into the dink while it was in the davits at a marina)

We would appreciate any and all comments.

Cheers

[ranger58sb]

We have the 310 FTD, and like it very much. Dry sole (even if there's water in the bilge), good built-in storage, stable ride. Actually will deflate/fold to fit inside our Suburban for winter storage (although we actually use a small trailer now). The hull hasn't seemed to suffer any significant damage from dragging ashore.

We only have a 5-hp 2-stroke on it right now, so I've only successfully gotten it up on plane twice, and that was with just me and the First Mutt aboard... and with a little help from a nearby boat (small) wake that we climbed over. I'd been shopping for a 15-hp 4-stroke, but I'm coming to think a 9.9-hp 4-stroke will reliably plane the boat.

-Chris

[Calypso52]

Talk to Third Day about their Walker Bay.
Happy B-Day Jason | SV THIRD DAY

[GeoPowers]

We love our new 310 FTL. It planes easily with two adults and two ninos with our 9.8. Very dry ride. We ha initially also considered a 310 SLRX, but all the weight trimming gave it a cheapo appearance. Great value.

Frank

[DeborahLee]

You might want to do a search here for Walker Bay Warranty.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Calypso52

Talk to Third Day about their Walker Bay.
Happy B-Day Jason | SV THIRD DAY

Is there a way to find pertinent comments without wading through years of blog?

-Chris

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Is there a way to find pertinent comments without wading through years of blog?

-Chris

(click here)

To search a website in google, just put site: infront of the website's address and after the address type what you are looking for.

Example:

site: cruiserforums.com walker bay

without the space between "site:" and "cruiserforums"

[Redcoat]

Don't they come with some kind of training wheels.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

(click here)

To search a website in google, just put site: infront of the website's address and after the address type what you are looking for.

Example:

site: cruiserforums.com walker bay

without the space between "site:" and "cruiserforums"

Thanks for the easy link. I knew about the Google site search option, but had been thinking I needed to do something special to search only that specific blog

On topic, for the OP, the most germane comment in there seems to be "Our dingy is only 4 years old, but the number of parts and pieces on the dingy that have broken and failed is almost too large to mention. "

Unfortunately, that doesn't give me much insight into which parts or pieces broke or failed.

FWIW, we've not had anything break or fail. OTOH, ours is a 2009 model (theirs was a 2007), so not that old... really only 3 full seasons... and we don't use the dinghy anywhere near as much as full-time cruisers would... so our experience may or may not be representative.

His follow-on comments about ALL inflatables, including RIBs, would seem useful for consideration... although given our 90-lb First Mutt, the additional stability from an inflatable is key for our requirements.

We actually looked at WB's 10' rigid dinghy as our initial preference, partly because of the option to outfit it with a sail kit (for occasional playtime), and also intending to add the optional inflatable collar. Turns out the WB beam would have been more than we could handle on our cantilevered mount system; it would have eliminated some walk space the dog sometimes needs for boarding...

Hence the Genesis.

-Chris

[Courageous]

thanks for the comments, i have decided to keep looking. an after Christmas present for the boat... seasons greetings to all