Zodiac/Avon 285/310 required engine sizes

[davebiggs]

I''m planning to purchase a 285 or 310 high pressure inflatable dinghy. I would like to know how much Hp is required to get these to plane with one or two people. Does anyone have any experiences with these dinks with or without the HP inflatable floor? Thanks!

Dave
80 Cal 35 #32 Runnin Late
San Francisco

[Denr]

I''m certain the operators manual has all of this information in it....RTFM

[Silmaril]

I have a Zodiak 310 with the HP floor and keel. I went with an 8hp 2cyl 4-stroke Honda. With two people, the thing FLIES!!! (Probably could pull a water skier!!!) A little scary with just one person, if you hit the throttle too hard, you could flip! The Honda is the max weight (90lbs) the boat can handle, if you went with a 2-stroke, you could go to 10hp, but I decided against that for environmental reasons.

There are folks who would go less power, thinking the size of my motor is overkill. However, it is nice to have the "punch" needed to cary 4 people, and gear, back to the boat after the wind and waves pick up! I have seen dingy''s with smaller motors have to wait out a 20kt breeze to get back to the mother ship.

The HP floor and keel are great as well. The whole thing rolls up into it''s carry bag and weighs in at about 70lbs or so.

[jkumin]

We also have a Zodiak 310 with the HP floor. On the other end of the horsepower spectrum, we ran a 3 hp Johnson on it. It would plane out easily with one person if you moved forward (steer by leaning). No way would plane with two but in displacement mode could get through plenty of weather if you are patient. We decided didn''t need to plane out for our use and bought a 2 hp Honda last year, and are satisfied with the choice. We watch the weight, a few pounds here and there and the next thing you are raising the waterline. It''s also easy to handle. Amazingly the thing will still plane with one 160# person. Not a good choice for long dinghy expeditions though.

One nice thing about this dinghy is how well it rows (I know, we aren''t supposed to row anymore, esp. in inflatables). I extended the stock oars to 7'' or so with some closet pole. The handheld gps has it at 2.7 or 2.8 knots without a lot of effort and 3 if you want a workout.