Inflatable dingy with slatted floor..

[groundhog]

I found this dingy for sale that is made of hypalon and it has like wooden slats in the floor instead of one or two large pieces as a floor.

The nice thing is that I can roll the whole thing up.

But does anyone have experience with a dingy with slatted floor?
Does it try to curl up on you from bow to stern when you get into the dingy?

thanks,
gh

[Islander30Bahama]

In my quicksilver I have three sections of wood. These are kept from curling up with a slotted rail on each side. If it is missing these rails it would be really easy to make new ones of modify the floor to accomplish this. That is only if the price is right and you are willing to put the time into it. Also are you going to be pulling your dinghy onto rock laden beaches.. If so a hard bottom or rigid dinghy might be the way to go. A soft bottom will damage a lot easier.

[Faster]

Our 7.5 foot zodiac is a slatted floor 'rollup' dinghy.. it works very well for us. We store the dinghy in the forward berth most of the time, unless using it daily when we tow it. It's fairly compact but not too light so it takes some wrestling to get it below and out again. We use a 3.5 hp mercury kicker on it - a nice combination.

We prefer it to having a dinghy on deck. The downside of doing this is, of course, if things go REALLY bad the dinghy is not exactly ready to step into.

In actuality, since we got our two 9.5 foot plastic kayaks, we only use the dinghy when we have company on board and need to transport more people and gear to and from the beach.

[JimsCAL]

The inflatables with a 3-4 piece solid floor are a pain to assemble, but are more substantial and typically have an inflatable keel which improves tracking under power. The ones with slatted floors are much easier to inflate and deflate, but don't perform as well under power because the bottom is flat. Also since the floor is flexible, when you step in any water in the boat will run to your foot. Tradeoffs.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by JimsCAL

....... Tradeoffs.

Very true!

In our case all we ever use the dinghyfor is to run a shore line or a trip to the beach for a walk/hike whatever.

If you intend to use the dinghy as a far-ranging explorer, or dashing off 5 nm to the nearest place to buy some beer or groceries, these roll-ups are not for you. A slow put-put or paddle to a nearby shore, no problem.

And, as is with any non-RIB boat, they are highly susceptable to oystershells and barnies while being beached.. another reason why we have begun to rely so heavily on our kayaks.