3m tender, RIB alternatives?

[vas]

hello all,

following the first two seasons with MiToS, I've had the "pleasure" of experiencing first a non-rib inflatable with slats 2.2m and then a Valiant 2.7m rib. Both borrowed from friends, first practically new, the valiant v.close to EOL. Cannot say I've enjoyed them and only used them a few times to move ppl to dry land with their clothes on all other shore visits were swimming or mooring to ports.

Now, I'm contemplating what I should get on my own
I've seen quite a few ribs and I've seen the latest trend of ali ribs.
I do have a decent sized bathing platform approx 1.2m long, no chokes (dead easy to built a couple) and a 3.8-4.0m transom.
I do have a limiting factor that makes things rather complicated which is the ram for the passarelle which is fairly low and means that I either have to have a dingy that is "shallow" or I have to shift the dingy aft with just the keel sitting on the bathing platform. If I go to a 3.3m rib, I'll probably have to fabricate chokes that sit low (or actually slide out from under the bathing platform) to keep the dingy low enough so that the front tube is not rubbing on the passarelle ram.

Enough of an intro, so I have various options:

A. get a 3~3.3m rib but NOT with too large tubes. Fabricate chokes, fit my longshaft 9.9 Mercury and be done with (tiller)
B. use my bright yellow Snark which is 3.3m, fit for two, has a sail et al, but cannot (easily) fit oars to it
C. find a decent design of a ply flatish tender around 10ft and built it (surprise!)
D. get a Valiant small tube rib and be done with

I can handle A and D myself, I have to search for a way to fit oars on the Snark for B, but on C I'm slightly lost. I've seen a few that could be interesting, but nothing really clicked or looked good enough to have at the back of MiToS. If I go the ply tender solution, I'll get Alekos to paint it the same grey colour as mothership.

A few of my options from more to less interesting are:

http://www.ptwatercraft.com/ptwatercraft/PT11_Spear.html

http://www.sailingcatamarans.com/in...cats-and-dinghies/420-duo-10ft-sailrow-dinghy

http://www.newfound.com/tender.htm

So, question is, any other opinions along these lines, or any interesting low ribs (as in not deep vee ones) I should have a look at?

cheers

V.

 

[rafiki_]

Sorry Vas, difficult to add much value here, but are you clear on your proposed use? Is this tender for fun, or to ferry people? What issues will you have launching and recovering a wooden boat? A small sailing dinghy, designed for speed and fun, is not going to be great for moving more than 1 person at a time. Apologies, more questions than answers.

 

[vas]

P.,

use will be mostly ferrying ppl it seems. Not too interested on zooming around, although if I go for a new 3.3 it will be tempting to get a larger than the 2-stroke 9.9 and try and get the kids to ski (but I give that a 20% chance of happening...)
To put it another way, if I find a wow ply tender I'll built it and use it, if a ply tender ends up costing as much as a decent rib, I'll go for the rib

V.

 

[Bouba]

Well, the newfound is the best looking, that is all the value judgment I can make. But have you seen seastoke's thread on life rafts? If you carry a lift raft then the tender can be anything you want for your enjoyment but if the tender doubles as a life raft I would go for a rib or an inflatable. Those dingies don't look like they would be good in an emergency.