I currently
sale in 30 foot
monohull sailboat with a hard shell
fiberglass dinghy it's almost impossible to dive out of and I am considering a small
inflatable maybe 8 or 9 feet or the tandem SOT
kayak and would be curious to know if anybody dives out of either of those off of a sailboat and how it works for them.
I have done plenty of
diving from sot kayaks and inflatables so i am more concerned with issues, plusses and minusses with their suitability as a
dinghy.
Some points that concern me are getting from the sailboat into the dinghy and back into the sailboat from the dinghy. My sailboat has a fair bit of freeboard and an undercut transome it is a bit of a climb from my glass dinghy and requires good balance to not dump it. I know the
inflatable will be rock solid and i could practically just jump down into it. But i never did try standing up in a SOT kayack. How much of a circus will it be entering and exiting the
kayak from/to the sailboat.
With the kayak i will basically be limited to paddling. The bonus being not having to bring gas onboard (sailboat is diesel) and no
engine to breakdown. The downside beingdealing with
wind waves and
current.
The inflatable with
outboard is louder and needs gas and
engine maintenance but has the
power to deal with more
current and
wind and could push the sailboat in the event of engine failure
Right now i am a weekend/extended weekend cruiser with sailboat living on a
mooring and adedicated dinghy dry
dock. Whilie i am away. I use my dinghy for
boat access with almost ahalf mile row between dinghy
storage and
mooring.
I am wondering about beach launching and beaching in light surf. I have launched inflatables but no yacks through the surf yet.
Wondering on
storage aboard. I like the idea to be able to deflate the dinghy to take up less space but how much of a pain in the butt is it to mess with, vs an always ready but always in the way 15' kayak on the
deck of a 30' sailboat
Very interested to hear from folks that are willing to share their thoughts and opinions on kayaks and inflatables as dinghys. Also if there is another dinghy option that can also be a decent dive platform i would love to hear about it.
Thanks
Kenny