Honda Tender Advice!

Zagato

Zagato

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I have reserved a Sevylon inflatable kayak but am wondering how easy it will be to get on and off the boat from it even with a boarding ladder. My rigid kayak was dodgy enough...

Avon's and Lodestars are too expensive so I was wondering if anyone knows about the Honda range of inflatables. They look good on paper, slatted & air deck.

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/inflatable-boats-dinghies/honda/2-5m-slatted-floor-dinghy219961.bhtml

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/inflatable-boats-dinghies/honda/2-4m-air-v-floor-dinghy1816863.bhtml

Otherwise options will be Waveco or Wetline which I am also not sure about!

Thanks

If anyone has an old Avon for sale I would be interested :)
 
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Came across these, VERY light 14KG compared to 34KG for the Honda ones but not much cheaper!

http://www.piplers.co.uk/4961/3D-Marine-SUPERLIGHT-INFLATABLE-TENDER.html

Waveco seem to be cheaper and sold by many. I've always been put off by people saying don't buy a cheap inflatable it won't last 2 seasons - how cheap do they mean though? Honda anything is usually priced at a higher premium but then their products do justify it - mostly.
 
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I've got the 3.8 meter and a 4.0 meter slatted aluminium.

Both great tenders, tough and value for money, byt with the airdeck you must be able to get the floor pumped up hard enough (90% will not do). It can be done by hand/foot pump, but a turbo blower such as the Bravo is far far easier.

Have a look here.

Steve
 
Thanks Steve, I have just googled and another post on Ribnet came up which said "unfortunately you need the £100 Bravo Pump" More cost :(, I wonder if you can buy cheaper pumps to do the same as I am veering towards a 2.7 AirDeck. I wonder if I can adapt my car tyre pump to do the job? Best price £700 so far - good feedback on them and they do look good quality, although heavier due to this at 34KG.

Perhaps the 2.5 slatted fl0or would be better and it's £200 cheaper - folds up the same size also. 112x60x34

Have also come across ProWave inflables just for interest. I'm not interested but they are made of "Hytex" Decitrex what ever that is :confused:

http://www.prowaveinflatables.com/harbour.html

Excel also get good feedback. They use the decitrex material again... 1.6mm thick

http://www.excel-inflatables.co.uk/inflatable-boats/inflatable-boat-sd260.php
 
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OK a Quicksilver £30 inflatable stirrup pump will apparently pump up the floor on a 2.7 air deck Honwave - so this is still top of the list and should be got down to well under £700 with a haggle ;)

Anyone want to buy a 10' GRP tender £225? Bit scruffy, they always look better in pictures! I'll put it up in the For Sale section later - got to go to a Boxing Day drinks party - groan!

IMG_2673.jpg
 
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If you are going to assemble the tender onboard regularly then, unless you have enough absolutely clear deck space to lay out the tender without constriction, stay away from the slatted versions. The Honwave's have relatively large diameter tubes (good) but to get the slats in, you have to part inflate the tender and then insert the slats, then carry on. It's virtually impossible to do unless you can lay out the tender completely flat (no deck hatches etc.).

You can use a hand pump - if you're not very fit then you soon will be :)

I don't know whether you're looking to buy an outboard as well, if so Honda were chucking in the Bravo pump free with their tender / outboard packages.
 
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Ah thanks for that Steve, slats no good then as I was going to inflate from a 12v pump of some sort on the cockpit roof then finish the floor with a stirrup pump (or are all 12v pumps £100? :( Havn't time to research, got to go) but the 2.7 would be better for me - do you have to inflate the base as I only have a couple of hundred yards to go?
 
Zagato,

I have an Avon R280 with airdeck thwart stowage bag and electric ourboard which I am putting on ebay in the new year at a very reasonable price if not sold before. If you are interested PM me with your email address and will give details.
 
I have tried the Honwave airdecks and they are undoubtedly a good product and great if you don't have to move them about on land or want to fold them up a lot. They are stable well made and very heavy - great on the water as they have big tubes and V decks. I sold ours as we have to stow our tender now (changed our boat) and bought a lightweight 3D tender - only weighs 14kg - 2.5m long. Does the job well, but they are not built like the Honwaves. The tubes are smaller, they have flat air floors, so you get wet if there is any chop and you exceed about 3Kn! Otherwise as a run-about to shore and back they do a great job.
 
We bought a Honwave 3.2m airdeck and Honda 10hp earlier in the year and have, so far, been very pleased. We had to install lifting points on the floor to get it on the davits.

The large diameter tubes make for a stable ride and we get a family of four plus all the shopping back and forward to the boat in comfort.

The 10hp is probably a bit overkill but it has plenty of grunt to cope with tides and chop.
 
Waveline 2.3m

We bought the Waveline round tail airdeck floor inflatable from Mailspeed Marine just over 5 years ago. It suited our purposes as we wanted to stow it in the cavernous cockpit locker of our Westerly Storm 33 and launch it when at anchor or on a mooring when cruising:

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/infl...eline/2-3m-inflatable-dinghy-round-tail.bhtml

The airdeck floor was for us a big step improvement over slatted floors making the boat much easier to row over a tidal current - a lot less energy is dissipated creating drag inducing ripples in the flooor, so more of the work you are doing is left for propulsion. It frankly takes no longer to inflate/ assemble than a slatted floor dinghy and is easier to stow, particularly if you use the pump in reverse to suck all the air out. The inflatable remains in service on our current Moody 425, and has given us no quality concerns as yet. It clearly has a much easier life than the tender for a mooring based yacht which is likely to spend a lot of every season exposed to the sun in a toast rack or similar ashore.

We are generally reluctant to load more than 2 adults into this tender and often contemplate upgrading to a 2.7m version now we have a bigger yacht, but we have made do with this smaller one for cruises to the West Country, the Channel Islands and N Britanny with great success. Of course, the smaller size /weight helps for getting it in and out of a locker as well as leaving space for other gear in the locker.

Hope this helps

Peter Wright
Wild Thyme
 
Zagato said:
Anyone want to buy a 10' GRP tender
Click to expand...

It's possible I might, in due course. The new boat's not really suited to a mud berth, so if the yard don't have a deepwater one available then we'll be on a midriver mooring. If so, we'll be able to keep a dinghy by the water, so a biggish GRP one seems a good idea.

Fraid I can't commit to buying it just now though, as the berths for next year haven't been sorted out yet so don't know if we'll need it.

Pete
 
We have a Waveline (same as Wetline) 2.9 with inflatable V floor, large tubes, very stable, stored outside for the last 6 years and has been abused excessively.

No holes, no problems, still good, will go on the plane with a 3.5 hp and will go pretty fast with a 6hp. Eventually when it will have to be replaced I will buy another the same.
 
Iv'e had my Honwave T27 airdeck for two seasons. I fit a Tohatsu 8hp for fun or an electric if tendering. I mostly keep it on an old mirror trailer with the 8hp mounted.
Everything said is true: heavy, safe and dryish and airdeck needs to be hard. It planes with 8hp if one or two up.
 
Thanks for that ZikZik.

Looking at an old thread it says the Waveline, Wetline and Honwave are all made in the same factory.

So that would agree with with what Capt Fantastic says that Waveline and Wetline are the same (what about Waveco :confused: Edit - answer is the matarial they use is thinner etc, it's more of a budget boat at £100 less!)

I believe Tom Cuncliffe uses a Wetline looking at a year old picture of him with one but they are £200 more than a Waveline and £100 cheaper than the Honwave.

http://www.marinescene.co.uk/view/6173/wetline-265ad-air-deck-inflatable-dinghy

The Wetline also has a detachable air deck floor to aid packing it up!
 
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£250 for a Wetline 260 ECO :eek: Bargain, OK it has a slatted floor but the air deck is another £250 and I'm only going a few hundred yards to the boat mostly on my own, very occasionally with wife, once twice a year. The slats stay in you just blow it up!

Storage size isn't an issue as I won't be filling up draws with knickers, shoes and kitchen gadgets :rolleyes:

Hope my ramblings reduce the footwork for others...

Edit - It looks as though the Wetline 260 is the same as the Waveco 260 (always a reason something is cheap!) it has 750 gram PVC or Polyester - the specs on many of these sites are not accurate...
 
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With the Boat Show coming up there willbe deals on inflatables. The Honwave (I have a t32 airdeck) have a QA doc from a Chinese company inside (Sun Sport or something similar?) I needed big tubes as my mooring is a fair way out and wet doesn't cut it. I got my T32 for nearly £300 off list at Southampton two years ago.

The Bravo BP 12 pump is a revelation, and the whole thing is inflated within four or five minutes, and much less hassle than a foot pump. Got mine from BMC Inflatable Boats - they have an eBay store - and will do a better deal by phone. As I recall mine finished up sub £70, and I now use it for the Redcrest as well...
 
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