Walker Bay Gensis

[SollaSollewSails]

Our dinghy is giving up the ghost and I am looking for user reports on the new Walker Bay Genesis line. Specifically, I am interested in:

-Overall build quality. Will this thing hold up? How is the plastic floor compared to fiberglass in a traditional RIB?
-How stowable is the dinghy? I am looking at the folding transom model so I can stow on deck on longer passages (yeah right). What about setup?
-I have the measurements but I am wondering about the functional size. Rigid air floor boats tend to be rather shallow whereas my Mercury sport boat has considerable interior volume. What about the Walker Bay?
-How does the dinghy handle? How wet is the ride?
-What do you love about it, what would you change?

Thanks much

Eric

[Whampoa]

Morning Eric,

Two months ago I purchased one of the Walker Bay Odyssey 310AFH models and an 8 HP Tohatsu outboard to drive it. That model is 10' 2" with 18" tubes and a high pressure air floor and aluminum thwart forward.

We recently spent a month up in the Chesapeake and the inflatable was great. At 88 lbs, we inflated her on the cabin top and lowered her into the water using the main halyard easily. The motor was lowered and mounted using a small motor crane.

It towed well even on occasion when we were overrun my some pretty severe and sudden squalls with 40+ knot winds. Not recommended but stuff happens out there!

I bought the hypalon version and was impressed with the rugged, high quality construction. I looked at a number of the higher priced options and for my money, feel the Walker Bay compares well.

The 8 HP does a pretty good job pushing her along even though the two of us that were in her are good sized lads "-). The 8 HP will plane the boat and I'm guessing we got maybe 15 mph out of her with our heavy load.

That model has a pretty good load capacity which I forget at the moment but it is over 1200 lbs.

As far as ride is concerned, the high pressure air floor is impressive compared to your normal plywood or soft floor but it is not a RIB. The convenience of being able to easily roll up the boat and store it ahead of the cabin or on the back deck was more important to me than the hard bottom. The HP air floor is tough as heck and has a diamond plate like pattern in it when inflated that makes wet traction pretty good.

Interior capacity is pretty good with the 18 "tubes. There are 4 internal lift points, two bow D ring tow points and a center tow handle as well. The oars and mounts worked well and were convenient to install and out of the way when not in use.

The rigid transom handled the 81 lbs of the Tohatsu easily but was easy to fold down when deflating and rolling the boat up.

The correct air pressure is important so be sure to get that right. If I recall correctly the hull chambers are pumped to 3.3 PSI and the floor to 11.3 PSI. The pump that comes with the boat is a good one but the 11.3 psi will make you work pretty hard. I picked up on of the 12V pumps that allows you to dial in the pressure you want and then shuts off when you bring a chamber up to that pressure. It also has the capacity to handle the 11 + PSI reqs. for the floor. Inflation is a piece of cake with the 12 V pumps. Deflation and rollup is easy also and there is a good carrying case included.

I bought both boat and motor from Defender during one of their warehouse sales. I'm not sure if our host sells inflatables or not so I'll stop here.

Hope this helps. I can't speak to the longevity of the boat yet but given the proper care I think it will be pretty durable and last quite well. The warranty is also pretty good especially for the Hypalon boats.

Regards, John

[rmtayloriii]

I purchased the 310 FTL Hypalon model this spring and have used it a little. I have a new 15 2 storke Yamaha with it.

I think it handles well on the water. It gets on plane faster than a comparable Caribe. Seems like a dry ride. The "plastic hull" does flex very slightly while underway. I don't see that as a problem. I like the removable floor. It keeps your feet and gear dry on the bottom of the boat. The tank can be strapped to the bow with a access near to run the fuel line under the floor to the outboard. The only negative I can see about the floor is that you have to remove it to clean under it. It could be hard to put it back together while in the water. Deflating the tubes may help but because the hull flexes a little I can imagine getting the floor back in might be a little difficult but nothing like the pain of an old wooden floor dinghy.

There is a lot of room inside. The seat can be moved from two positions. A grab handle is in the right place while motoring sitting on the tube.

I haven't had it a long time but the quality looks good.

What I like best are the floor, fast on plane, and the room. I don't like that there isn't a rope the whole length of the tubes. They help when two people pull the boat up on a rocky shore.

I believe the folding and ridgid transom are the same. Ridgid having attached some supports to the transom. No leaking that I've noticed.

As of now I would purchase again.

BT

[chef2sail]

We have the same size Odessey as Wampa with the exception of the PVC material. We added to it a 4hp Tahatsu with internal and external tank. It planes nicely and is easy to inflate as well. Like Wampa I like the ability to delafet and roll up in front of the mast not affecting the foredeck of the boat witrh clutter. It is easy to deflate also.

We also installed an new gerhaeur davit system (6:1) which makes it very easy to lift when not passagemaking on our C&C 35. My wife customized the boat cover with proper reinforced holes for the lifting straps and we use to webbed belts with slide locks to pull the dinghy covered (to protect it from the UV) to the back rail and it doesnt move or make a sound even if heavily heeled or in large ocean swells. The WB is well buildt and the 4 lifting D rings along with the 2 +1 for bridal towing are a nice addition. The diamond plate like floor is firm and non skid. We bought an extension handle for the motor also for easy of gunkholing here on the Chesapeake.

Walker Bay is a quality build I would recommend to anyone.

Question: What are some good inflkatable 12V or stand alone inflators which work for the correct pressures?

Dave

[Whampoa]

I bought the Scoprega BST 12 HPP model and it works great. Capable of up to 11.7 psi at approx 17.5 cu ft/min. It has variable pressure settings that you select and it runs in high volume mode until it reaches some level of pressure then automatically shifts to low volume/high pressure mode to finish pumping up to the level you have dialed in.

I have put it through about 20 full cycles now and it seems durable.

Note that the wires have battery clips instead of a 12v cigarette lighter plug. Its a horse of a pump and in HP mode it will draw some amps.

Regards, John

[SollaSollewSails]

Thanks much to all. I was particularly interested in the Genesis but what folks said about the Odyssey speaks to WB's overall quality. My outboard is a 6hp four stroke which will get my mercury 310 up on plane in flat water with me sitting amidships and my 80 lb son at the bow. My guess is I won't do too much better with the Genesis give the size of the motor but it's a secondary concern.

I also have the Garheur morotr lift and am astounded that everyone else charges nearly double what they do for a motor lift.

Eric

[ebs001]

We purchased the Walker Bay Genesis 2 years ago. It's the 9ft model. We have a 9.8HP Tohatsu and it moves it along very nicely with my wife and me (About 18 knots according to Practical Sailor). We love the false floor as it keeps everything on the floor fry. The plastic hull does not attract barnacles which is a nice bonus. Its bow shape helps make the ride a little dryer than some other dingies I've been in. All and all we enjoy our WBG very much.

[Drpolitics]

I purchased a Walker Bay 10ft Odyssey. It says that you should push in the yellow valve and turn it counterclockwise to inflate. I have the yellow valve out but for the life of me it won't turn 90 degrees counterclockwise. what am I doing wrong?

Originally Posted by Whampoa

Morning Eric,

Two months ago I purchased one of the Walker Bay Odyssey 310AFH models and an 8 HP Tohatsu outboard to drive it. That model is 10' 2" with 18" tubes and a high pressure air floor and aluminum thwart forward.

We recently spent a month up in the Chesapeake and the inflatable was great. At 88 lbs, we inflated her on the cabin top and lowered her into the water using the main halyard easily. The motor was lowered and mounted using a small motor crane.

It towed well even on occasion when we were overrun my some pretty severe and sudden squalls with 40+ knot winds. Not recommended but stuff happens out there!

I bought the hypalon version and was impressed with the rugged, high quality construction. I looked at a number of the higher priced options and for my money, feel the Walker Bay compares well.

The 8 HP does a pretty good job pushing her along even though the two of us that were in her are good sized lads "-). The 8 HP will plane the boat and I'm guessing we got maybe 15 mph out of her with our heavy load.

That model has a pretty good load capacity which I forget at the moment but it is over 1200 lbs.

As far as ride is concerned, the high pressure air floor is impressive compared to your normal plywood or soft floor but it is not a RIB. The convenience of being able to easily roll up the boat and store it ahead of the cabin or on the back deck was more important to me than the hard bottom. The HP air floor is tough as heck and has a diamond plate like pattern in it when inflated that makes wet traction pretty good.

Interior capacity is pretty good with the 18 "tubes. There are 4 internal lift points, two bow D ring tow points and a center tow handle as well. The oars and mounts worked well and were convenient to install and out of the way when not in use.

The rigid transom handled the 81 lbs of the Tohatsu easily but was easy to fold down when deflating and rolling the boat up.

The correct air pressure is important so be sure to get that right. If I recall correctly the hull chambers are pumped to 3.3 PSI and the floor to 11.3 PSI. The pump that comes with the boat is a good one but the 11.3 psi will make you work pretty hard. I picked up on of the 12V pumps that allows you to dial in the pressure you want and then shuts off when you bring a chamber up to that pressure. It also has the capacity to handle the 11 + PSI reqs. for the floor. Inflation is a piece of cake with the 12 V pumps. Deflation and rollup is easy also and there is a good carrying case included.

I bought both boat and motor from Defender during one of their warehouse sales. I'm not sure if our host sells inflatables or not so I'll stop here.

Hope this helps. I can't speak to the longevity of the boat yet but given the proper care I think it will be pretty durable and last quite well. The warranty is also pretty good especially for the Hypalon boats.

Regards, John