I'm over inflatables boats!

[Cal28]

try looking at a porta-boat Porta-Bote Folding Boat Makes Inflatables Obsolete Also Portaboat

as sailingdog suggested

compact .. easy to assemble .. stable .. and cute (well I have a Cal28 flushdeck .. and believe her to be beautiful) ..

also .. if you look around .. you can find one fairly reasonably

paid $400 for mine (with Minn-kota motor) in excellent shape

[southshoreS24]

i got a watertender 9.4 for work around the marina last year and a 5hp for it this year. it works great, one person can easily launch it from a dock. it is taking some scraping on the bottom and if the hull punctures I am not sure how to patch it as nothing will stick to the damn plastic. but for not its great! look into the walker bays, the wb8 is a great little dinghy also!

[2Gringos]

I was just looking at some porta bote videos on youtube. That "4 inches thick" claim is a little bit misleading. that's just the boat hull itself. the mass of the other stuff you need, seats, transom, etc. doubles the mass, doesn't it.

Still, looks like a nice little boat. No way ever as stable as an inflatable, but also no air leak issues. Easy to hide on the big boat.

What do you do when you rub a hole in the keel of a porta bote?

[chef2sail]

Chef

Ealker Bay makes a sailer. I have a WB Odessey and love it.
One thing I have notice is that people do no cover their dighys.

The reason ours has lasted so long and still is in goodshape is we reliously keep its cover on it. My wife custom made our cover from a commercial on to put on it while the dinghy hangs in the davits. It keeps the rain out, and most importantly the run off of it. It adds 3 minutes to our rouotine when exiting the dinghy to climp up the steps back onto the boat. It has an electic rim sewn into the bottom edge so it can go aound the tubes and i put 3/4 on before getting out of it. the bottom edge also has loops so I have lines installed so i can pull the cover tight after it is lifted up on the davits and the lines go under the dingy so the cover is secure no matter how much wind. When have reinforced "slits" where the dingy lifting straps come through the cover. We put a cheap air filled beach ball (wilson) in the dingy to "tent" the cover so the water runs of when it rains and doent collect in a low spot.

The cover is the savior of the dingy.

Dave

[T37Chef]

The Porta Bote is a good suggestion, but not for me. The smallest one they have, 8' which has even less capacity then the Water Tender, plus I don't see them sailing very well. I must say they are also ugly as sin

bljones, nice looking boat there! Tell me more...

Dave, you're absolutely right about covering the dingy, the sad thing is I have a cover for ours and have never used it...its working nicely covering our outside furniture though...someone say duh! (btw, you going to be down the boat anytime this week, I would like to see your chart-plotter and dingy set up?)

[Cal28]

T37Chef

I hear what you say about ugly ... but then I have heard that about my flushdeck ...

To me .. they both possess a certain ... je ne sais pas quoi ... style and simplistic grace ... that most do not see ... nevertheless appreciate ...

but then ... I spent many many years in the auto industry ... drove an AC bristol ... owned my share of classic corvettes ... all while working for Ford ...
the only 'modern' car to me that has any styling is the Audi tt (because it looks like the cockpit of a Folk Wulf 190) .. and my ideal is a GT 40 .. although I'd never be able to get in and out of one .. pity what age will do to a body ...

[Fstbttms]

My 25-year-old Avon takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Never buy PVC junk. Hypalon only.

[Lookin4Freedom]

Hey now! Who says inflatables can't sail?

[xort]

I have a 1987 Avon Hypalon rib. still going strong.

[CaptKermie]

Is there a rubber compund paint available out there that we can paint the sticky PVC dinghies with to get another couple years out of them.