Avon inflatable hard bottom or soft bottom best for speed

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Decided to upgrade the dingy today so ive got a tohatsu 9.8 hp 27 kilos to power and am trying to decide on either soft or hard bottom for dingy the hard bottom is 30 kilos heaver than the soft will this affect the speed and will i still be able to get on the plane
Will i be able to pull one of those rings for the kids or will i need more power
Does the great computer brain known as the forum have the answer ?????????????

 

[Callisto]

Not had one myself, but the inflatable floor types seem pretty good and I could get my mates 2.7M up on the plane with two up with only a 5HP behind it. Quite a lot of fun actually.

The type I'm talking about actually give you a vee underwater profile to assist in planing.

Probably more experts on here than me but just my thoughts anyway.

Cheers

JH /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Wiggo]

We could certainly get a 270 airdeck to plane with an 8hp, and we used it to tow the kids round on an inflatable. It was OK, but then they started to want to go faster and faster...

Questor had pretty much the same set up, but with a RIB, and that went a good deal faster. The downside being that he said the hard bottom was uncomfortable on his soft bottom...

 

[Questor]

No Graham, that was the seat, not the floor. And what do you mean " it was a good deal faster", it was bloody miles faster. The bruised botty is just part & parcel etc I suppose, errr so to speak

 

[Wiggo]

I thought you were complaining that it knocked seven bells out of your knees, as well. Anyway, it may have been miles faster, but I've got you beaten now, though, eh?

 

[KevB]

I can just manage to get a quicksilver airdeck 280 on the plane with a 4hp 2 stroke.

The beauty of the airdecks is you can fold them away for the winter and are of course much lighter than a proper RIB.

 

[Questor]

Questionable, I reckon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tenders at dawn, maybe?

 

[Questor]

[ QUOTE ]
I can just manage to get a quicksilver airdeck 280 on the plane with a 4hp 2 stroke

[/ QUOTE ]

And could win races too, if you didn't pull the kill cord when approaching the finish line /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[KevB]

Yes, that was fun. you have a bigger engine now though, don't you?

 

[tcm]

10hp will plane with you plus one small person, probly not plane with more than two people. The extra 30 kilos is signifcant depending on er fat a git you are. As wiggo says, in your situation i wd have the inflatable keel thing which means you can fold it or at least get the damn thing in a car to overwinter off the boat. With hard keel it will never be deflated so will stay on boat overwinter so won't last as long, praps.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Mark, is this dinghy to be hung from your davits or lifted with a crane? Some soft bottom dinghies dont have davit lifting points and those that do don't sit very securely in the davits IMHO. RIBs are much better in this respect. Also I had a Zodiac 285 inflatable V bottom dinghy on a previous boat and I thought it was pretty crap. It was much less stable than a RIB for getting in and out of and felt very skittish at speed. Again a proper RIB is much better in this respect
IMHO, you should be looking at a lighter weight RIB, something like the Valiant Dynamic 300 which has a max engine rating of 10hp so should be fast enough to pull a ring with a small kid or 2 in it

 

[rwoofer]

I have the same engine on a 270 Suzumar RIB and it will plane quite happily with two heavy blokes. I reckon it does about 20 knots at top whack.