Best dinghy for the Med?

[Nikia]

Hi all,
Now busy prepping the lovely "Nikia" for the Med, in readiness for the day we can sail away
One item on the list is to change our plasticky dinghy for a Hypalon (Avon or similar) to cope with the UV.
Nikia is 37ft, crew of 2, and we will be mostly at anchor.
What do those of you out there doing it suggest as the optimum size? and should we go for basic, air floor or RIB?
Fully expecting lots of differing opinions, but hopefully not as many as on one of THOSE threads - you know - heavy things on the end of a chain !

Thanks in advance

ps no davits,

 

[NornaBiron]

Hi all,
Now busy prepping the lovely "Nikia" for the Med, in readiness for the day we can sail away
One item on the list is to change our plasticky dinghy for a Hypalon (Avon or similar) to cope with the UV.
Nikia is 37ft, crew of 2, and we will be mostly at anchor.
What do those of you out there doing it suggest as the optimum size? and should we go for basic, air floor or RIB?
Fully expecting lots of differing opinions, but hopefully not as many as on one of THOSE threads - you know - heavy things on the end of a chain !

Thanks in advance

ps no davits,

It really depends on what your plans are. Up until this year we have mostly anchored year round for nine years, getting water in cans from shoreside taps. A RIB suited us better as it is a more stable platform for carrying heavier loads in inclement weather. However, we are 49' and have davits. We have a Caribe, excellent but pricey.

 

[Monique]

I have an AB 9.5 with 15 HP 2 stroke woohoo... Yamaha Enduro. Works great for us but we are a RTW crew and our dinghy is our Daily Driver so to speak. VG in rough water when you need to go to shore a considerable distance for food or drink. Stored on foredeck during long passages.. otherwise nested into the stern davits.

However, I would suggest a smallish inflatable floor Hypalon ... lighter, you can lift it fore or aft with a suitable halyard or by hand. Choose the BIGGEST tubes avail.. they make the ride drier in heavy seas. Get a 2 str if you can at the maximum rated power for your new dinghy... SWMBO will thank you forever. GL with your search

 

[duncan99210]

Without davits you'll need to lift the boat on to the deck for long passages, so what you can comfortably lift between you will give you a weight to work to. From that, get the longest dinghy you can with fat tubes: skinny tubes lead to wet bums!

Go for an aero deck with an inflatable keel. That'll give you some directional stability: we've got a flat bottomed one at the moment and it skids rather than turning.

As for the motor, I agree with Monique. Get the maximum horsepower for the dinghy but scratch round and get a 2 stroke if at all possible. We've found that starting a four stroke engine is beyond the mate's muscle power: no matter how much tuition and practice, she couldn't manage to start the damn thing. We sold it and resorted to reconditioning an ancient Suzuki DT2. Lighter, simpler to fix when it goes wrong (and it will go wrong) and the mate can start the thing, first time every time.

Last thing. Our dinghy is pvc but we made a cover for the tubes and deck from acrylic canvas. Took us a few days to do with the dinghy in the living room but it looks quite smart and stops the tubes going manky in the sun. If you can't do it yourself, then the cost versus a hypalon dinghy probably won't be worth it.

 

[Tranona]

Most people who use inflatables use PVC, simply because the choice of Hypalon (new) is very limited and expensive, although there is a new Seago on the market that is around £1000. No reason why a good PVC on should not last well if you take care of it - covers make a big difference. As already suggested an inflatable floor and keel is worth having if you intend using the motor a lot. However, unless you opt for anchoring all the time you may find the dinghy gets relatively little serious use - very different from, say the Caribbean. So ease of lifting and stowing is probably more important than speed and load carrying.

 

[jordanbasset]

A lot of med boats store their dinghy inflated between the mast and the bow's, so would personally get one that fitted comfortably there and still allowed you to get to the bow's.

 

[sailaboutvic]

This could easily turn into an anchor thread
Fact , no davits , only two on board , 39 foot boat .
You need something that not only going to store on deck but also that two people can lift ,
That limits you a bit , also the cost factor , not every one want to pay the cost of an Nypalon althought it has to be said , they are the best for the Med .
Honda do a resonable dinghy , our last 8 years , and while you still in the UK you can get them at a good price , compleat with an engine , I not keen on the inflatable floor type as they very thin and hard to repair . Although the wooden once are heavier , we ended up buying a cheap dinghy in Greece after our died , 500 euros as it was going to cost to much to have a Honda sent out , and they were silly price in Greece , we didn't expect it was going to last long , but we surprised, it nearly four years old now and still going strong , just goes to show , even a cheap dinghy can last if you look after it .
the secret is to make a cover for it and keep it covered ,
also don't roll it up over winter but keep it partly inflated under cover . Ours is use mostly everyday nine months a years .
also another dinghy to concider is the rideye , not cheap but a good dinghy .

 

[Richard10002]

If I had my Med time again I would get a Honwave 2.7m, and a lifting tackle thing from Salty John, of this parish.

 

[RupertW]

We have a 3m 15 year old Caribe and will be looking for another Caribe when we change it next year as it has started to slowly deflate.

Heavy rib allows pulling up onto stony/rocky Greek beaches where no easy landing spot, it sits upside down on the foredeck all year round when we are not using it and fine in the sun.

Don't worry about the weight for two of you - that's not an issue if you have a winch on the boat. We use the spinnaker halyard to a permanent rope with a hoisting loop on the dinghy and my wife hoists it up whilst I push the dangling rib about to settle it on the foredeck. There is no way the two of us can lift the dinghy up a beach or whatever so we just beach it with anchor out the back on bungee with painter to shore

 

[TQA]

Hypalon RIB for sure. The smallest ones can be directionally unstable at speed but you can get accustomed to driving them.. At least a 10 hp OB if you want to plane everywhere.

Until recently I would have recommended an ali floor but there have been a spate of corrosion related failures sometimes after as little as 2 years so GRP.

 

[doug748]

I would buy a more robust boat, secondhand, One of these perhaps:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Avon-3-15...484992?hash=item3aef099200:g:xVkAAOSww3tY6EUe

They are starting to come up regularly now, if it is too large for your foredeck there are smaller models.

If that is too much of a lump then maybe:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Avon-Rove...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I have a feeling that is not 2.5 but 2.8 metre.

 

[RobbieW]

A lot of med boats store their dinghy inflated between the mast and the bow's, so would personally get one that fitted comfortably there and still allowed you to get to the bow's.

+1 - also agree that weight isnt really an issue with the use of a halyard either to an internal set of lines to lift horizontally (easier in strong winds) or vertically from the bow or towing lines. Where a handy bllly / crane is useful is for handling the outboard, I have a 4HP 2ST which is about as heavy as I want without that arrangement and its on the list for a refurb over the next year or so

 

[GrahamM376]

Our pvc Waveline 2.9 with ply floor & 9.8 Tohatsu has been good for 5 seasons of daily transport 8/12 but it's now got to the point where the fittings are suffering glue failure although the tube seams are fine as it's covered with chaps. Hyperlon is best but sometimes 3 x the cost of pvc.

Browsing inflatables recently, it seems max engine HP is in many cases reduced. Ours is plated for 10hp whereas a new one now is only 6hp. Is this because of 4 stroke weight?

 

[RupertW]

+1 - also agree that weight isnt really an issue with the use of a halyard either to an internal set of lines to lift horizontally (easier in strong winds) or vertically from the bow or towing lines. Where a handy bllly / crane is useful is for handling the outboard, I have a 4HP 2ST which is about as heavy as I want without that arrangement and its on the list for a refurb over the next year or so

Solved the engine weight issue 3 years ago with a Torqueedo which is liftable one handed with battery and shaft locked together once on dinghy - and never any need to find petrol.

 

[Nikia]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.
Quite a lot of consensus which is good!
Looks like max size which will fit on foredeck, with large tubes, is the way to go
I think I prefer the idea of a solid floor (ie RIB) rather than airbed, more robust maybe.

Thanks again

 

[westernman]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.
Quite a lot of consensus which is good!
Looks like max size which will fit on foredeck, with large tubes, is the way to go
I think I prefer the idea of a solid floor (ie RIB) rather than airbed, more robust maybe.

Thanks again

Don't under estimate the airbed type.

We have one of those from Accastillage Diffusion (the biggest one in that range 2.6m I think - made in China like most of the others). It folds up small enough to go in the corner of the top bunk in the front cabin, and the floor when blown up properly is surprisingly rigid. It does not sag at all when all 17stone of me jumps in. It will also take 5 people in calm weather, or even rough weather if some passengers don't might getting their bum's wet (I always manage to keep mine dry! ;-). We use it with the smallest Yamaha 4 stroke outboard (so it won't plane).

It was bought a few years ago as a cheap throwaway. And it is lasting very very well (no thanks to the way we treat it).

 

[Garold]

Solved the engine weight issue 3 years ago with a Torqueedo which is liftable one handed with battery and shaft locked together once on dinghy - and never any need to find petrol.

Can I ask you how well the Torqeedo copes with your 3m Caribe?

We also have a Torqeedo which pushes our 2m inflatable just fine but as I'm considering getting a larger tender, I was wondering if I will have to change the engine too.

I really like not having to carry petrol, and the the fact that the engine can be stored anywhere on the boat.

Garold

 

[RobbieW]

Solved the engine weight issue 3 years ago with a Torqueedo which is liftable one handed with battery and shaft locked together once on dinghy - and never any need to find petrol.

Whats the charging regime like for a Torqueedo ? How long do you get for each charge and how many amps does the charge consume ?

 

[Saguday]

We have an AB 3.2m GRP RIB (which is a tad heavy but gorgeously robust) and a Tohatsu 9.8 4-Stroke - yes, also a tad heavy and unfashionable amongst true-blue rufty-tufty sailors but we love it. Not had any problems starting it (the kids can do it easily) plus it's clean, quiet and efficient. Planes with 2-3 on board, used to plane with all 4 of us until the boys became big fat late-teenagers. RIB is defo the best way to go for going long distances and lugging food/fuel/water/wine around on long cruises.

We have davits for the RIB, plus crane for the outboard, not much help to the OP, although we can deflate the tubes and nestle the RIB under staysail boom on the foredeck if needed (37ft cutter).

At some point I'd like to go electric and replace the O/B with a Torqueedo but only when LiPo batteries are a sensible price. If I was to replace the RIB I'd consider aluminium cos it's lighter but a bit worried by corrosion reports ooh err. AB are very good boats, Caribe likewise (our first choice, favoured by US Caribbean cruisers) but the local Ribeyes from Dartmouth are gorgeous and I'd be really tempted if I had the money.

 

[Goldie]

Maybe consider an Avon Riblite? They're hypalon, the tube sizes are good and the transom folds flat so that stowed, it's only a few inches deep with the other dimensions being dictated by the size of the grp hull - you have a choice of a 2.6m or a 3.1m RIB, the smaller one packs down to about 1.8m in length. They're still available from Zodiac (I think they call them the 'RIB Compact' or similar) but good Avon versions are often available s/h and at a fraction of the new price.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.
Quite a lot of consensus which is good!
Looks like max size which will fit on foredeck, with large tubes, is the way to go
I think I prefer the idea of a solid floor (ie RIB) rather than airbed, more robust maybe.

Thanks again