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Final Dinghy Choice - does this make sense?

19K views 73 replies 18 participants last post by  souljour2000 
#1 ·
So... I've read all the threads I can find and understand there is no right answer here but some input to my decision logic would be much appreciated.

Parent Boat: Bristol 38.8
Use: Extended coastal cruising inc Caribbean and perhaps Newfoundland
Requirement: Basic tender but capable of supporting snorkeling and perhaps Scuba diving
Pax: Normally 2, max 4
OB: 3.5HP

Remaining options:
Porta-bote 10' 8" with ladder
Achilles LSI-260

Here is my logic (not in particular order of importance):

Parameter_________Porta-bote______________Achilles____________Winner

Length:___________10' 8"____________________8' 6"_____________A
Listed capacity:____3________________________4 _______________A
Weight:___________67lb (w/o seats ladder etc.)_66lb all up________A
Max motor wt:_____56lb______________________66lb_____________Draw
OB protected?______No (hull damage potential)___Yes______________A
Cost:_____________$2,359 (w req accessories)__$2,046 all up______A
Deck assay/infl?____Possible__________________Possible__________Draw
Towing?___________Questionable______________Possible__________A
Diving etc?________Possible (with acc ladder)____Easy_____________A
Packed size:_______V small and easily stored____Moderately large___PB
Rowable?_________Yes______________________Barely____________PB
Sailable?_________Yes ($849)_________________No______________PB
General robustness___________________________________________PB?
Stability during boarding_______________________________________A?
Confidence in company / warranty etc.__________________________A

Looks like the Achilles is winning this one pretty easily for me (despite Porta-bote's ads of sinking inflatables :)

Is my logic remotely sound?
Am I missing anything important?
Can you do tables in this thing?.......:confused:

Thanks a lot
 
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#50 ·
So - crunch time. We need a dink pretty soon and we are still not completely clear. The Bristol is tricky for on-deck storage. There is only 5' 6" between the mast and the traveller and storing foreward of the mast will cover the V berth hatch which is the only fire escape. This makes a hard dink problematic. We tried a Porta-bote but were not thrilled with stability or build quality. Where we are now is a SMALL aluminum RIB. Probably the AB8. This only needs a small OB. For Maine sailing we would either leave it on the mooring or tow it. Once we head south it would be davits for island hopping or deflated on deck for passage making.
Does this approach make sense? Amy i missing anything obvious? There really are no perfect solutions are there?

Thanks
 
#51 · (Edited)
Closest thing to a perfect solution to me is an Avon Lite, which is a hard bottom inflatable with a folding transom... That feature makes all the difference, my tender stows in a fairly low-profile package up forward on my 30-footer... I've tried just about every variety of tender over the years, and have found the hardbottom with the folding transom to be the best solution, by far...



Hard dinks involve way too much drama, IMHO, and only really work for coastal/local cruising where you'll be towing them all the time... I took a beautiful nesting Spindrift south one winter, and came to quickly detest the damn thing. Minimum payload, very wet ride, incredible PITA to bring back aboard and stow, and even nested, represented a gigantic ugly box on my foredeck which could have spelled real trouble with with a boarding sea sweeping the deck... Hell, it probably would have been better just to cruise with the bow section, alone... (grin)



I'm of a different mind than most regarding power, I'd suggest going smaller and slower, as opposed to larger and faster... My little 2 Hp Honda can be lifted aboard with one hand, and stows easily in the lazarette of even a boat as small as mine. That all translates to less Crap on the Back, no need for engine hoisting davits and all the other gear related to SUV dinghies... I think "range" is one of the most overrated features in a tender anyway, and once you get out in the boonies, lots of folks appear to disregard the notion that you really shouldn't be venturing too much further away from the mother ship than you'd care to row back, anyway... But, these days, that's probably just me...

Stumble874171 said:
Finally carry the biggest boat you possibly can.
Uhhh, within reason, of course... (grin)

 
#53 ·
Hi Graham -
The Bristol is a beautiful boat. You're a lucky guy! I largely share the views expressed by CD and CCrider, both of whom have more experience than me, but my budget might be more in line with yours so I thought I'd chime in. Over the past year I have used a couple of different dinks with my Cape Dory 330 in a range of waters from the Chesapeake Bay to the ICW to the Bahamas and a few multi-day offshore trips. The 8'6" Mercury RIB (PVC because it was cheap at $900) which I have now has been, by far, the best solution. It was inexpensive, it planes with 2 people and an 8hp 2 stroke, tows well, rows better than expected, takes much more of a beating than any soft bottom (and the beating is inevitable). It is not perfect - I have lousy storage options with a windvane on the stern I can't use davits and since I have a staysail boom on the foredeck it can't go there either. So, by default, it stores between the mast and the traveller. Raising, lowering (via halyard) and storing or inflating it is not fun, but I have managed it myself in winds up to 20knots. In the bahamas, I would have been miserable without a planing dink and the ability to cover distances and also power through chop. This very affordable RIB did the job. Nothing is perfect: If I was sailing different waters, perhaps a nesting strip plank would work and be fun to row. If I had a bigger boat and could fit it, a fat high-end RIB with a deeper V and bigger tubes sure would be a nice luxury. But this was a good compromise for us at a price point which was managable. Most importantly, it fit on the boat!
Good luck! be sure to tell us what you decide on and how it works out.
Matt
 
#54 ·
Hum...my 2 cents...over the last 10 years we have cruised the east coast Maine to Acklins in the Bahamas and have met a lot of first time cruisers. Almost everyone has said they wished they had a bigger dink...imagine you and your wife riding with the freshly washed laundry across GT harbor in a 3' chop with 20 kts on the nose...get the biggest one you can afford, used or new...and you may save your marriage....we are on our 2nd AB rib. Good luck and stay dry.
 
#55 ·
What is the material ?
thickness?
MDA sheets ?
the process FEMA for production?
actual production at ? and not placard placement ?
glue and stick or ?
glue manufacturer ?
curing process?
state side repair facility?
all uv PVC test data ?
define the warrenty ?
material used ?
componet content ?

tks paddy
 
#58 ·
The issue is not cost. It is haul weight, space on deck, outboard size and weight, all that practical stuff. It feels at the moment that, given that 90% of the time there will be just the two of us, the clear benefits of increased dinghy size don't outweigh the downsides. We could well be wrong.....
 
#59 ·
Happen to have any friends with dinghys you could borrow for a couple of weekends? Before heading to the islands, try living with one for a few weeks, and use it at least once to load food, water, and fuel for the boat. If possible try and borrow a bigger one and do the same thing. Also take a nice day and go head out into some chop on the different sized ones.
 
#60 ·
Here is a suggestion for the weight ting....get a Milwaukee right angle drill with a winch bit....we call ours the 'teenager'...can send any average size man to the top of the mast, immediately 'electrophizes' (sp?) every winch on your boat...check e-Bay and be sure to get the newest model..the older ones came with NiCads but could be changed over to NiMH...as we get older we need every bit of help we can find...
 
#63 · (Edited)
Another option for those like me who like to keep it simple, is to configure a 2:1 spinnaker halyard run through a ratchet block at the base of the mast, instead... This arrangement will soon prove its utility in a variety of ways, not the least of which can be as a MOB hoisting device, always at the ready...

With a 2:1 halyard, I can easily manage to get my tender back on deck by myself... Proponents of much larger dinghies might have difficulty doing so, and I'm a big believer in the notion that most essential tasks aboard a typical Mom & Pop cruising boat (reefing, anchoring, dinghy and engine deployment and retrieval, and so on) should be able to be managed by either crewmember, unassisted either by their partner, or the flow of electrons... But, hey, that's just me, and relatively few cruisers I see out there today subscribe to such a notion... (grin)

I also think you really want a setup in place that allows you to easily hoist your tender clear of the water at night, or when not in use... In some places this will be done for security, but it's always a good idea anyway, certainly keeps the bottom cleaner. Again, with a 2:1 halyard, I can hoist my tender with engine and all the usual gear it carries unassisted, something I doubt many of us could easily manage alone with the sort of much larger, heavier overall boat and motor package that some are advocating...
 
#64 ·
Jon,
That pretty much sums up our philosophy. Our goal is that, to the extent possible, either of us should be able to handle any requirement of cruising (although I suspect maintaining the engine will be a special case.....). We have talked this over a lot and concluded that the loss of some dinghy luxury is a price we are willing to pay.

Graham
 
#70 ·
I like this tender better only because it can take a larger motor. At that weight and legth, you will plan out with a 6. I know that because I had a 10'2 HPIB Avon (still do) and a Mercury 6 hp 4 stroke that would plane.

I would not buy the 6hp motor. If I am not mistaken, it is exactly the same 4 stroke that is in the Mercury. I think Taihatsu builds all the 4 strokes for all the manufacturers (except Honda) under 15hp.... at least that is my understanding and excuse me if I am wrong.

THe Mercury 6hp 4 stroke has ben very unreliable to us. It is rebuilt EVERY year, sometimes twice. It does not perform well even when running. The 8 is a better choice... or better than that, start shopping for a 2 stroke. You will get a lot more bang for the buck and a engine that is a lot lighter. Since weight is your primary concern, that makes sense. I would also put the largest 2 stroke allowed (8 in your example). Worst case scenario, you don't use the full 8. Better to have it and not need it, etc.

All in all, I like your choice. I really like that aluminum one too (AB). We almost got that instead of the Walker Bay Genesis.

Brian

PS Maybe you would not have the same issues with the 6 as we did. Just giving our experiences.
 
#72 ·
This was a great thread...

Plusses and minusses of several options discussed, and it didn't degenerate into a pi$$ing contest! :)

Just to add to the mix, here is what I did;

WM had a "special" sale on their SB-275 (<$750).



I like it in that it has a hard floor, yet I can roll it up into about a 2'x3'x4' 75lb package. I can also get it, up onto a plane with my Merc 3.5HP 2 stroke. I have had 3 people aboard no problem, and two are no problem in moderate chop.

Assembly and inflating it is a pain, however. I have been keeping it assembled, but deflated, in the bed of my pickup, under the tonneau cover. When cruising, I tow it inflated with the OB on the stern rail (I love that the motor weighs 30lb WITH a full tank of fuel :)).

In total I have <$1500 invested in the dink & motor.
 
#73 ·
So,
In the end we did get the Achilles HB270 LX folding transom RIB. We may end up regretting the size but at the moment it feels fine. It 'happily' carries my wife, myself, our 270lb nephew and some gear and it planes easily with just me onboard at half throttle (still running in the OB).

The folding transom is great. It packs down really flat (even after inflation...) and goes comfortably on the front deck without blocking the front hatch. We sailed back from Westport Pt. with it mounted there and it was no trouble at all. I know... The life raft is not going to work too well from under it but I'm not at all convinced a life raft makes sense for coastal cruising anyway so it might be coming off until we do some 'serious' voyaging and I see davits in my future for coastal stuff.

Not sure about the boat bag. It keeps the RIB somewhat protected but it is a royal PITA, particularly if there is some wind.

Thanks for all your great input and advice and apologies to those we ignored......





Graham
 
#74 · (Edited)
In your case I would start with an achilles or the like in the 10-foot range with 15 hp outboard...and then when finally underway cruisng I would find an 8-foot hardshell dinghy and a 3.5 merc or the like for it....and put it on the foredeck...and have the achilles folded away or towed when you get cruising and for use when you arrive where you plan to be awhile...a good small hard dinghy is very useful...durable...and rows well and easily....great for setting anchors/general utility...the achilles is faster...tows well....and a great boat for getting in from far-out anchorages quickly...but they row like dogs...having the extra little hard dinghy on foredeck with it's own small motor would be a great addition to the achilles-type if I were you...just my take..
 
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