Air floor v's solid floor

[Tideline]

Air floor v\'s solid floor

Having ever dived from inflatables with solid floors, and wanting our own small inflatable for general family use I am cautious of getting something with an inflatable, or air floor. Are these floors as bouncy as they sound? The intended use is essentially for carrying family and a picnic, with fishing/snorkelling secondary, and scuba just very occassional if at all.

 

[robbieg]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

Generally they are stiff and solid and an improvment on the panel type solid floors found in many small dinghy's-also tend to help keep your feet dry. Airdecks are generally more expensive than the equivilant solid model. For the ulitmate go for an air keel for better handling.

 

[bluedragon]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

Once installed and inflated I find them pretty rigid, and do the job just fine. For us it saves stowage space on a small yacht vs. rigid floorboard tenders, and I've no reason to say they're inferior in any way...but it'll be interesting to see what others say.

 

[rich]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

No problems with my wet line,it must be nearly 10 yrs old now.
ps it gets inflated at the beginning of the season, and topped up as needed.

 

[domlee]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

I too was undecided about a wooden floor/airdeck inflatable but having used a Quicksilver 340 Airdeck combined with a 4hp Mariner 4 stroke for a number of years and I am very pleased with my final choice.

I use an electric inflator and top-off the floor (due to the higher pressure required) with the supplied manual pump. The ride is not bouncy at all (presumably assisted by the inflatable keel) and the vessel handles well in all sorts of conditions - at all times it feels a safe and comfortable platform for 2 adults and 2 (ever growing) kids plus associated kit! The inflatable floor is really an ingenious design and works exceptionally well.

Depending on your needs I would consider a larger engine but 4hp suits my needs - an 8 to 15hp and you would have a very versatile wee outfit. However, the small mariner has an integral fuel tank which runs for about 45 minutes on one fill but can be fitted with a long-range, remote tank. The 4hp is light enough for one person to lift. The engine and boat fit in the boot of my car so transport and storage are convenient although sometimes I chuck everything into a small trailer which is also handy if carrying other gear etc.

Four adults can stand on a side tube and the boat hardly tilts so I assume it would provide a stable enough platform for scuba etc. I think the diameter of the tubes are just right in that it is handy enough to scramble onboard after a dip - on some inflatables with larger tubes I have found this a bit difficult or maybe this is just me doing my impression of a wimp.

The materials of construction, quality of the valves etc seem of high quality but then again after every use I try to clean and dry everything off and store the boat out of direct sunlight (I would be interested to hear how prolonged exposure to strong sunlight effects the outer skin).

Incidentally rowing is also a feasible option which is something I can't say about some inflatable designs - that inflatable keel seem to assist directional control and the supplied paddles are comfortable and efficient enough.

 

[charles_reed]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

Having had both, I'd reckon the inflatable one wins on points.

Having said that it does need to be pumped up really hard and is prone to leak.

Compared to a "solid" floor it's far less yielding, packs up smaller and is a lot lighter.

Whilst you might not bounce, lighter things you drop in certainly do, so watch out for carelessly tossed shoes leaping overboard.

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

Got 2.4m Zodiac with inflatable floor. Very happy with it. With 6hp two stroke it planes in calm conditions.

 

[RAI]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

Any tips on how to get the floor fully inflated. I can't get to the recommended pressure with the supplied foot pump.

 

[vyv_cox]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

I use an electric compressor to do most of the inflation, then one of the manual double-action pumps to top off to pressure. I rarely bother to take the floor up to the recommended pressure, about half that seems to be enough to give the required stiffness.

On the original question, I prefer an inflatable one to a solid floor by a considerable margin. I always struggled to assemble the solid floor in my Zodiac and would not like to do it too often. Never had a slatted floor so can't comment. A really big advantage of an inflatable floor is the inflatable keel, making rowing the thing far easier and more directional. My Zodiac had one also but it was never as good as my current Quicksilver.

 

[yankee1]

Re: Air floor v\'s solid floor

on my zodiac, you have a plug on the pump which when you take it out allows you to pump up the floor to very high pressure. I very rarely have to top it off once it is pumped up.