Dinghy RIB vs Catamaran

[qwerme]

I have a Highfield 260 Dinghy that is a bit small for us and I am curious to know what people think about inflatable catamarans as dinghies like Takacat and Aircat and such.

Would getting one of those be a downgrade or an upgrade?

[psk125]

The design of both the Takacat and Aircat look like they'd be vulnerable to getting swamped in oncoming waves. They don't have as much bouyancy forward as a standard RIB-type design with a tube running around or across the bow. They appear to target campers who are carrying them overland to rivers or small lakes so they can go fishing in nice weather. Don't know how well the pointy ends of the catamaran tubes will stand up to bumping into docks, rocks, and the mothership, or how well they'll nestle up against the topsides. The standard RIB design seems like it works well overall as a dinghy.

[JPA Cate]

What are your eventual plans for the boat? If you're headed for a circumnavigation, I'd think the inflatable ones too vulnerable to puncture, from nature (like oysters) or from splinters or hardware on older piers or docks. If you're mainly able to land it on soft river or lake sand, when you want to go ashore for an explore, or shopping, one could work out okay, and I'm sure the weight savings is attractive. Maybe you could just upgrade your Highfield to a larger one?

Ann

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by psk125

The design of both the Takacat and Aircat look like they'd be vulnerable to getting swamped in oncoming waves. They don't have as much bouyancy forward as a standard RIB-type design with a tube running around or across the bow. They appear to target campers who are carrying them overland to rivers or small lakes so they can go fishing in nice weather. Don't know how well the pointy ends of the catamaran tubes will stand up to bumping into docks, rocks, and the mothership, or how well they'll nestle up against the topsides. The standard RIB design seems like it works well overall as a dinghy.

I suggest looking into them a little more.

- They race them with 40-70hp outboards in big surf. More than capable in rough water.
- They are heavy (even if you drop back to a 15-20hp), so no you aren't taking them backpacking. Still lighter than comparable RIBs but heavier than standard inflatables.
- The bow & stern have hard plastic end caps and the bottom of the high speed ones have a hard rubber base, so reasonably good at handling rocks and docks...at least comparable to most any other inflatable.

We had a Dux with a 40hp (basically the same design). Great fun

Pros:
- Fast and maneuverable. We could run down jetskis. At full throttle, it could turn in it's own length (be careful as you can throw people out if you get too aggressive).
- Comfortable ride because the floor is ridding on a cushion of air. In 1-2ft waves, you are skimming across the tops of the waves.
- Shallow draft: When running on plane, pretty much only the prop is in the water.

Cons:
- You will get wet. The transoms are typically open, so if you do manage to punch into the face of a wave, it goes right out the back. Problem is when you drop off plane, your wake tends to wash onto the floor. There are some mitigations but never totally dry.
- When heavily loaded, getting on plane can be tricky. Because there isn't a hull directly in front of the prop, it can start sucking air if you push too hard.
- Really gives the best ride at full throttle. If you slow down, you lose much of the air cushion effect. OK if you are doing displacement speeds but slow plane isn't great (on the positive side, you make almost no wake at high speed)

If you can accommodate a dingy on your davits with at least a 20hp outboard, I would call it a good alternative for 1-2 people.

[torpnr]

+1 on Valhalla’s post.

We ran a Zapcat for many years (similar to a Takacat but more racy), with a Tohatsu 50hp for one design racing.

Pros: Amazing fun. Almost indestructible. Incredible seakeeping in the right hands. Could take a decent amount of load and very stable.

Cons: Very (very) wet ride. Open transom. You sit ‘on’ rather than ‘in’. Challenging to deflate and store. Vulnerable to bad piloting

I acknowledge the Zapcat is racier than what you’re looking at, so the cons may be fewer or less intense for you.

I always thought it would be fun to have one as a tender, but suspect it might be the less practical option for many.

[Jim Cate]

When in use as a cruising tender, keeping passengers and (especially) cargo dry is far more important than maximum speed. Hell hath no fury greater than that of an Admiral bringing fresh laundry back to the boat who has shipped a big wave... I know from experience!

A cruiser's dink is more of a ute than a sports car, and IMO a critical part of one's kit.

Jim

[Chenega]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

When in use as a cruising tender, keeping passengers and (especially) cargo dry is far more important than maximum speed. Hell hath no fury greater than that of an Admiral bringing fresh laundry back to the boat who has shipped a big wave... I know from experience!

A cruiser's dink is more of a ute than a sports car, and IMO a critical part of one's kit.

Jim

[emoji106][emoji106]

[Americat3014]

I have a Takacat 300 with a 6 hp outboard. I haven't used it for snorkeling yet but bought this because it is easier to climb aboard from the water. It rows much better than a flat floor dinghy with just me aboard, but I plan to order longer oars than the 5 foot ones with which it came.
It planes with 2 people, but I bought too much stainless chain for securing the dinghy to the dock and that weight makes a planing difficult.

ddh

[SailingHarmonie]

I think it is amusing how many people are willing to tell someone what the best dinghy is, when they have no idea how it will be used. The OP hasn't given us ANY idea, other than they want something with more room. It's not even clear WHY they want "more room". Are they a family of 8? or two very large people? Or maybe just two people who like to stretch their legs?

Where are you sailing? How much are you sailing? What do you use your dinghy FOR????

The perfect dinghy for someone who wants to land on and explore remote coral beaches is NOT going to be the perfect dinghy for someone who only ever takes it into a dinghy dock.
Do you need a dinghy light enough that your regular crew can haul it up a soft sand beach?
Do you need to be able to launch it in surf?
Are you going to fish from it?
Carry it on deck? In davits?
Etc, etc, etc.

For ME:

A soft floor is not useful. The first time we haul up on a beach in the Bahamas it is likely to get sliced open on a sharp bit of coral or shell. We need something light enough that two normal people can drag up the beach and launch in small surf. We don't want "wet" much less "very wet" (or very, very wet). Having to pack all the groceries in dry bags to get them back to the mothership every time is just annoying. Planeing is nice, but we are not racing jetskis for fun, and why on earth would I want to spin around in a circle at high speed? We just crossed an ocean at 6 knots, we don't need to cross the harbor at 30. It needs to be stable enough that getting in and out is not risking a swim. We store on deck, so small is a good thing--up to a point. A flat floor for easy footing on boarding is a very nice thing.

But that is ME. Unlikely to be what anybody else wants or should want.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

I think it is amusing how many people are willing to tell someone what the best dinghy is, when they have no idea how it will be used.

........

For ME:

A soft floor is not useful. The first time we haul up on a beach in the Bahamas it is likely to get sliced open on a sharp bit of coral or shell. We need something light enough that two normal people can drag up the beach and launch in small surf. We don't want "wet" much less "very wet" (or very, very wet). Having to pack all the groceries in dry bags to get them back to the mothership every time is just annoying. Planeing is nice, but we are not racing jetskis for fun, and why on earth would I want to spin around in a circle at high speed? We just crossed an ocean at 6 knots, we don't need to cross the harbor at 30. It needs to be stable enough that getting in and out is not risking a swim. We store on deck, so small is a good thing--up to a point. A flat floor for easy footing on boarding is a very nice thing.

But that is ME. Unlikely to be what anybody else wants or should want.

I went back and read all the posts. Didn't see anyone telling the OP what the best dingy is. I saw lots of pros & cons and some clarifications.

Then you bring up issues that aren't relevant to the dingys in question.
- The floor isn't soft in either RIBs or Tunnel Hull designs.
- As mentioned, they have a hard rubber shoe on the bottom that can handle dragging up on a beach.
- Actually, because they settle down into the water when stationary, they are extremely stable for getting in and out. Probably better than your average standard inflatable or RIB.
- If you are just going to putter about the harbor at slow speed, you could close off transom (with one way drain valves) to make it pretty much as dry as most any other dingy but at least it rows better.
- They do make different sizes, so if space is a concern, that can be addressed.

[qwerme]

Thanks you everyone, this has in fact been very informative. We are a family of 5, we could manage with the smaller dinghy but now that the kids are growing it's starting to be pretty cramped.

I am hoping to get more dinghy for the same weight as I have now, as I don't want to overload the stern on my boat, I've been curious about these catamaran dinghies for that reason.

They seem great, except for the wet ride... I know that a wet ride will be vetoed by my wife.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by qwerme

Thanks you everyone, this has in fact been very informative. We are a family of 5, we could manage with the smaller dinghy but now that the kids are growing it's starting to be pretty cramped.

I am hoping to get more dinghy for the same weight as I have now, as I don't want to overload the stern on my boat, I've been curious about these catamaran dinghies for that reason.

They seem great, except for the wet ride... I know that a wet ride will be vetoed by my wife.

We have a TrueKit Discovery 3.3m inflatable catamaran dinghy https://truekit.net/collections/boat...39983377809488.

It has a closed transom, so no backsplash as with the open transom boats. The bow is raised enough that we don’t ship any water over the bow. The only wet is from the water splashing off the sides of the tubes - no different from any RHIB.

It is the most stable dinghy we’ve ever had - you can stand anywhere on it and it doesn’t tip/rock at all.

We run it with a 15hp 2-stroke and it planes with 4 adults. For your family I’d advise the 4.0 model and run a 20hp motor.

It is half the weight of a comparable hard-bottomed RHIB. We do have beach wheels and avoid dragging it with wheels up.

We like the easy entry from the water, the extreme stability, and the fact that we can fully deflate it for passages.

[SV Confianza]

The supply shortages during the pandemic gave us a whole lot of time to explore different dinghy options, and we ultimately went back to Highfield.

While I didn't take the takacat for a spin, I got to sit and walk around in one. And the biggest fear (including from what we saw from the videos) was how wet the ride would be, including how wet the ride would be loaded full of groceries. The carrying capacity was also a concern with performance.

We also *thought* we wanted something as light as possible to give us more capacity as well as be easier to handle, but ultimately we decided that having a bow locker and a double floor were worth the weight tradeoff.

If interested, I documented our whole dinghy exploration process, including the options we considered, weight, cost, etc etc here: Why we DIDN'T Go with the Best Lightweight Carbon Dinghy - Carbon Dinghy vs RIB.

And also we did a full review on our final decision here: Highfield CL310 Full Review - the Great, the Bad, and the Downright Ugly

Overall, we are pretty happy with our choice. The rubrails are just way too soft to be durable, though, and it's also kind of ridiculous that you need to go online and register the dinghy to actually get your warranty.

[jim1711]

I would be interested see your dinghy review.

Thanks

[jim1711]

Originally Posted by SV Confianza

The supply shortages during the pandemic gave us a whole lot of time to explore different dinghy options, and we ultimately went back to Highfield.

While I didn't take the takacat for a spin, I got to sit and walk around in one. And the biggest fear (including from what we saw from the videos) was how wet the ride would be, including how wet the ride would be loaded full of groceries. The carrying capacity was also a concern with performance.

We also *thought* we wanted something as light as possible to give us more capacity as well as be easier to handle, but ultimately we decided that having a bow locker and a double floor were worth the weight tradeoff.

If interested, I documented our whole dinghy exploration process, including the options we considered, weight, cost, etc etc here: Why we DIDN'T Go with the Best Lightweight Carbon Dinghy - Carbon Dinghy vs RIB.

And also we did a full review on our final decision here: Highfield CL310 Full Review - the Great, the Bad, and the Downright Ugly

Overall, we are pretty happy with our choice. The rubrails are just way too soft to be durable, though, and it's also kind of ridiculous that you need to go online and register the dinghy to actually get your warranty.

I would be interested on your dinghy review.

Thanks