Advice on what tender (row boat?)

You don't "need" an electric pump. They come with foot pumps, driven by leg power. That's all I've used for the past 25 years. Of course, bought an electric pump last year, haven't used it, yet.:) You might want to take it step-by-step. Get a small dinghy, like the redcrest, and use it without a motor if your anchorage(s) is condusive to rowing.

As in the famous book: "First You Row a Little Boat." :cool:
 
djbreeze said:
Another vote for Avon Redcrest (or Redstart if big enough). I bought my Redcrest for £260 on ebay, it's in very good condition and will last a lot longer than a cheapy. Also folds smaller and inflates quicker. Here it is folded and stowed just in front of the mast...
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Might stow in front of the mast on 27 foot boat but not going to be very convenient if even a practical proposition on a 18 ft boat !
 
Okay this has been going round in my head all day, what to do?

Everyone says inflatable of some sort.

You also say an inflatable will tow even less well and with more drag than a rigid tender.

So with my size boat, an inflatable would have to be inflated, then deflated. That's time and effort and not necessarilly very easy.

So lets play devils advocate, and explore my original idea further of a rigid tender of some sort.

Storage ashore is not a problem.

The only two real problems put forward are drag when towing it, and the risk of it capsizing under tow.

The drag issue I'm sure we can cope with. I suspect I could probably arrange to borrow a rigid tender to take out for a test tow to see just how much drag it creates, and see for myself if that is going to be too much of a problem. You have already said drag of a rigid tender would be less than an inflatable.

So that comes to the risk of capsize issue. Is that a real serious risk? would a capsized rigid tender sink and pull my boat down with it? or is it just a mere inconvenience of having to right it and bale it out?

The more I think about this, I am just not liking the idea of an inflatable, and if this can't be done with a rigid tender I'm inclined not to bother.

And just to show you what started this thinking, here's a picture of Sunday's anchorage, ours is the boat top left of the photo. We were anchored in about 4 metres, we could probably have anchored a bit closer to shore if we had wanted to, but was just being cautious as my first time anchoring.

picture.php
 
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I have had the unenviable experience of a rigid and very tender tender getting swamped on a beach landing. Twenty years later the experience still gives me the occasional nightmare...

The boat in question had internal buoyancy, but not enough to maintain the swamped boat afloat once a small (miniature seagull) o/b was fitted. We eventually recovered the dinghy, but I lost all confidence in her and reverted to an inflatable:

Rigid - easy to row/sail, average to motor, can sink, sometimes all to easily, cannot puncture, can be holed by stuff (harbour walls, beaches, dropped stores etc.) often unstable.

Semi-rigid/inflatable - mares to row/sail but motor very well, unlikely to sink, can be punctured, but redundancy exists, difficult, though not impossible to significantly hole with harbours, stores, other boates etc. Effectively a very big fender, can be inflated inside a sinking yact to give buoyancy of about a tonne. Very stable in the water.


and so on...
 
SAPurdie said:
I have had the unenviable experience...and so on...
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Late in the day, so please excuse the preeviuz spelinz.

P.S. I had an Avon S250 for years, bulky but I would trust it in a F9 in the Channel. Nowadays reduced to a Wetline 2.9m. Still too big for the boat but as I don't own a liferaft...

Always either towed or stored on deck, *behind* the mast as not enough foredeck.

The Avon was lost on a quiet night passage from Bembridge to Shoreham many years ago, so if anyone finds her, please dump the motor and tell me from where to retrieve the boat :D
 
ProDave said:
...
The only two real problems put forward are drag when towing it, and the risk of it capsizing under tow.
picture.php
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Portabote have an inflatable collar around the gunwhale which should prevent it from capsizing. Being heavier and a bit more streamlined they should also track better through the water.

I think my main concern would be getting the towing line caught up in the outboard prop.
 
vyv_cox said:
At least three people have said Portabote and I even provided you with a link to it. Did you look? Portabote is a folding boat that is completely flat in the folded condition and will probably stow along your guard wires.
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I did look, and stopped looking when I saw a price tag of about £800

Certainly a good contender if I can find a basic one (don't need the mast and sails) second hand at a reasonable price.
 
ProDave said:
The thing I was trying to avoid with an inflatable was having the palava of inflating / deflating each time...

Is there any half way house? an inflatable that can be partly deflated?
I'll take a tape measure to the boat next time, but I really can't think on my little boat there is anywhere to transport an inflated inflatable.
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Dave, there is a solution. Think again of folding dinghies, with perhaps buoyancy tubes or bags for extra safety.

Seahopper (www.seahopperfoldingboats.com) and http://www.shorebase.co.uk/boating/sailing/hoppy/hoppy.asp in your your part of the world make a 7 and an 8 foot version that erect within one or two minutes, and they have buoyancy tubes that take 6 minutes a side with a small 12V air compressor. These 2 models are 700 and 755 pounds, with shipping very reasonably priced. Shipping to Australia isn't too expensive either! They are very well made. I bought one of each!

A similar thing to the Seahopper is the Flapdoodle folding boat, whose plans have become free, although I don't know where to find them (apart from my copy on this computer). Build time would be in the order of 30 hours. Made of plywood ( six mm?) and the truck(lorry) curtain material, with silicon(e) bathroom caulk and then another 6mm plywood panel held on with 12mm screws or copper nails.

The wooden widget (origami model) (www.woodenwidget.com) is another set of plans, but it rows slower because of the flexible floor and poor entry shape, but it certainly does a good job. Mine is 4 years old and has wear only where I've dragged part of it on the beach, and I should get around to fixing it one day - bit of silicon(e) and glue a small square of ply on top. It too takes only one minute to erect, and fits in the car or on the side of the yacht.

The pages : http://www.microcruising.com/ding1.htm and http://www.svensons.com/boat/?p=RowBoats/HandyAndy are other alternatives to help show you how these folding things work.

There are inflable buoyancy bags that can be inserted to these dinghies, such as those that are made for the sabot type of dinghy, and my sets of these are easy to inflate with the mouth - no aircompressor needed.

So if you're interested in these types of dinghies, depends on whether they fit the bill for storage, and erection/inflation time, and cost/longevity concerns, and whether you'd make or buy one.
 
ProDave said:
I did look, and stopped looking when I saw a price tag of about £800.
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Then probably you won't be looking at the Seahoppers for roughly that same price? I dunno - I don't know what is an average British wage to compare it to. I know that I couldn't afford one years ago, but now the exchange rate has gone from 40p/$ to 65p/dollar, and that they are quality things. Maybe part of that assessment is based on how happy I've been with my WoodenWidget folding thing - it fits within my car, so no roofracks needed; and on the yacht it is dismantled within one minutue and goes between the guardrails and the cabin top. It just rows and motors slower than the Seahopper, but for 4 years, and counting, it's been very good.
 
Thanks for all the links.

I'm warming to the idea of a folding boat, but buying one new ready made is not an option. I'm just too tight to pay £800, or about half what my Frolic 18 cost me, for a folding tender.

So I'll keep my eyes out for a second hand one, or failing that I might have a go at building something over the winter.

I will probably buy one of the cheaper inflatables linked to earlier in the post, on the basis they are not much money, and you never know I may turn out to like it. In any event if I later replace it with a folding tender, the inflatable can remain in the boat for emergencies.
 
I quite happily used a 6' grp tender for many years BUT it was only really capable of carrying 1 adult and 1 child or 1 adult and 2 dogs, I did have 2 adults in it a few times but no-one too heavy and on very calm water. It did swamp when being towed once but fairly easily turned on edge and dragged aboard to empty but after that I usually carried it on deck. (Couldn't stow it on the yacht and SWMBO, wisely, wouldn't go in it so now use a largish inflatable and outboard :()
 
ProDave said:
Thanks for all the links.

I'm warming to the idea of a folding boat, but buying one new ready made is not an option. I'm just too tight to pay £800, or about half what my Frolic 18 cost me, for a folding tender.

So I'll keep my eyes out for a second hand one, or failing that I might have a go at building something over the winter.

I will probably buy one of the cheaper inflatables linked to earlier in the post, on the basis they are not much money, and you never know I may turn out to like it. In any event if I later replace it with a folding tender, the inflatable can remain in the boat for emergencies.
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Before you get too cosy with the idea of a folding boat, check the size of them folded. Imagine what that will be like stowed on your side deck. Id not want one on mine thank you very much!

I think maybe too small for you but I came across this little "proper" inflatable

http://www.compass24.com/web/catalog/shop/technics_motor_boat_equipment_dinghies/4855962.

It's the sort of thing I should have bought instead of my 2.4m Avon... just could not resist a barely used Avon for under £100.
 
VicS said:
, check the size of them folded. Imagine what that will be like stowed on your side deck. Id not want one on mine thank you very much!
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I thought that. Something that rows OK and can carry 3 folk or 2 and shopping without having to make a few ferry trips in attractive, but it would have to fit inside the boat where the Bombard goes now.
 
RobF said:
What do you reckon about this one?
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Apart from the name, it's the same as the Seahopper that I wrote about. Apparently Seahopper and Stowaway were once in business together, now they've separaed.
Six foot or seven foot, it's much the same, or exactly the same dinghy.
Same shape, same finger joins, same brackets, same centre thwart but slight shape change, same skeg, same bow & rear thwarts, same bow & rear transom plates, same buoyancy tubes, same o/b or rudder bracket.... Six foot might fit the OP's situation better that the 7 foot model though.
 
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When I had an 18 footer on a mooring I bought an elderly 'Gremlin' dinghy, not unlike an Optimist but slightly more boat-shaped. It did me for going to and from the mooring and would take 2 at a pinch in flat water. Towing it on the odd occasion I might want to go ashore wasn't too much of a problem but I had quite a lot of sail area.
 
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