High pressure inflatable floor dinghy

[Tony Benoit]

Hi,

Practical Sailor did a review of high pressure inflatable floor dinghies a short time ago.  Apparently the HP floor give some of the stiffness and tracking of a RIB without as much weight and with the option of deflating and rolling up.

I have a slat-floored inflatable now that is light and easy to use.  But, it is slow, tracks poorly, and seems inordinately wet in the slightest chop.

Does anyone have experience with an HP floor boat?  I wonder if it would be any better in a long ride back to Helen C after dark against a wind and chop?

Thanks,

Tony

#903 '89
Helen C

[Stu Jackson]

Tony

It's not only the floor, but the length of the boat and the size of the tubes.

We have a Cadet Fast-roller HP air floor 10-2 Zodiac and we like it.  Sometimes wet, but chop will do that to almost any dinghy.

The floor is stable when motoring with our 9.9 hp outboard, and can plane with three or four people in it.  We like it very much.  Another member bought a plywood floor of the same size boat because he fishes and didn't want to ding the floor!  We put outdoor carpeting on our floor.

A large 6 gallon gas tank was too much, so I bought a transom mount 3 gallon this winter, have yet to try it out.

[Tony Benoit]

Thanks Stu,

I hadn't thought about size as a factor.  I was hoping to stick with a smaller boat for ease of handling.

Do you tow the 10 footer?  Do you ever store it on deck?

On long passages, I like to lash my inflatable in front of the mast.  It's nice to know where the dink is in the middle of the night and I figure an inflatable would be better than nothing in the event of a disaster.

Tony
#903 '89
Helen C

[Roland Gendreau]

We used to have an 8' slat floor dinghy that like yours, would always get my admiral wet.

Last summer we purchased a no-name 9.5 foot high pressure floor dinghy with inflatable keel. The combination of the inflatable keel and large tubes means it rides quite high in the water, so the admiral is always dry. She loves it.

With the keel, it seems to row, tow and track well. It is light enough that I can haul it aboard and stow it on the bow if the weather turns.  We had a C30 last summer so it barely fit on the bow. It will fit fine on our C34 bow this year.

By the way, my C34 came with a 1994 10' BoatUS hypalon RIB that has a fiberglass bottom.  It is in very good shape but is a bit heavy for our needs so I am advertising it for sale on catalinaowners.com. Pictures are available here:  http://photos.yahoo.com/ferllyr

Roland Gendreau
C34 Gratitude

[Stu Jackson]

Tony

Discussed very recently, go here:  http://www.c34.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2042

Roland, there' a for sale section on this board, too.  Click on C34 Forum Index above, scroll down.  So many websites, so little time...

[Tony Benoit]

Hi,

Thanks Roland and Stu for the info.

Roland--Do you know the specs of your "no name" dink?  Eg, max motor size, cargo capacity, tube size, favorite brand of soft drink?

Where did you buy it?  

The annual Defender sale is this weekend, BTW if anyone is interested.

Thanks,

Tony
#903 '89
Helen C

[Ron Hill]

Tony : I've had both a 8.5 and 9.5 inflatables with a hi pressure floors over 10/12years.  The 9.5 tracked better because it also had an inflatable keel.  Both were light weight and easy to deflate.  The bad new is that they tended to flip over in hi winds - because they were light weight and the "D" rings pull out.  Everyone gets caught is a blow - just like going aground!!

I finally went to an 8.5 RIB and love it!!  Tracks well, hi bow to splash less and I can carry it inverted on the bow if I want.  

[Roland Gendreau]

Tony

I bought the no name dinghy on Ebay. I emailed a bunch of people that had previously purchased them and all responded positively about it.

It is 9-6, has 16 inch tubes, is rated for a 10 hp engine

Although this ebay ad is from a different seller, I think it is the same one I purchased.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15266&item=7146541520&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Roland
Gratitude #1183