Caribbean Cruising - Dinghy choice

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nicka

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Hi all
My wife and I are spending the winter in the caribbean and we are looking to invest in a new inflatable + Outboard... We want something good for carrying supplies and generally good for all round performance. I suppose the question is how long should the inflatable be.

We are investing in a 2 stroke 8hp Mariner as this is lighter and slightly more torque bottom end for getting the inflatable up on a plane - We have seen an inflatable 2.9M with inflatable keel and inflatable floor that looks the business - it has a spray hood and bow bag which should be useful.

Does anyone have any experience here that could help? dont want a dinghy that is too large for 2 people.

thanks
 
I'm far from experienced - only been in that part of the world once for a week-long charter - but I'd say you want to err on the bigger / more capable side as you often seem to be going a long way. The charter boats there towed hard dinghies and included outboards, whereas the same company in the Med provided inflatables and had outboards as optional extras.

Pete
 
How much money do you want to spend???

Hypalon boats are expensive are just about indestructable, PVC a lot cheaper and don't last anywhere near as long. My old Zodiac was in a poor state after a couple of seasons in the tropics. NB the floor isn't very well atttached and you can disappear like the baddy in a pantomime.

Where are you going to stow it? A lot of cruisers sail about with a Carib RIB upside down on the foredeck. This wouldn't work on my boat as I've got a babystay, and in any event I can't stand having a deck cargo!

8hp is quite a lump, unless you've got a crane and like posing on the plane through the anchorage. Plus an engine that size is quite atttractive to neer-do-wells.

After our experience a few years ago, for this trip (we're leaving in a month's time) we settled on a 2.80 Avon with an inflatable floor and a 3.3hp 2 stroke Mariner. Big enough to offer people lifts, yet easily carried up the beach by two.
 
When I was cruising the Caribbean, a few years ago now, the dinghy of choice was the Caribe, hard bottom inflatable. They certainly ticked all the boxes for me.
 
Have a look at the AB inflatables with aluminium hulls - they are lighter than fibreglass, and will take more of a beating.
And ally / fibreglass RHIBs should in general be more heavy duty than an inflatable with an inflatable keel.
http://www.abinflatables.com/i_producto.asp

The 8' (2.55m) model from AB only weighs 33 kg, but they do recommend a maximum of 6 hp.

There is a list of Dealers in the Caribbean on the left side of the page.
 
Hiya. We have done this a couple of times! Top tips:

See what room you have to store the dinghy upside down on deck, that is the size to get.

See what is the heaviest you can both mange lifting the engine on and off from the boat to the tender... we got a yamaha 4hp 4 stroke. Very rarely plane...though it will, anchorages just too busy mostly. Can carry us plus a good weight of victuals and water.

Inflatable floor and bottom is great.

We only towed the dinghy once in a bout of laziness, was not good. Lift out often anyway to clean underneath, you will be amazed how quickly stuff grows in the warm water.

We chained engine to dinghy and always used a long, plastic coated wire plus meaty padlock ashore. Theft can be a real nuisance and may well turn out to be pi$$ed yachties. Also padlocked fuel tank to dinghy too.

I don't think its worth cost cutting with this, you will use it a great deal more than expected, its your car.

Hope you have a great trip, its worth it !!
 
I went through similar deliberations (except for the Caribbean bit- I wish !) when thinking about a dinghy/engine combo. The issues I took into consideration were primarily foredeck space - I didn't want it cluttered and secondly reliability of the engine. In the end I settled happily for a small dinghy (as in all likelihood it would remain folded in its bag for most of its life) and a Yamha 2.5hp four stroke. These engines are great; ultra-reliable, clean (er) by a mile than a 2 stroke and although they come with the option of a 5 year warranty that is voided if you fail to have it serviced by a dealer. As these are simplicity itself to work on, I will run and service it myself for a half a dozen years and then sell it- buying a replacement with the money i've saved on servicing charges.
Clearly we all have different requirements, but that is how I settled on my package.
 
Just a vote for a Zodiac RIB with a an inflatable floor. Ours is about 3m in length and will plane with a 6hp two -stroke. Big advantage is that it folds down and stows on deck or in a locker when deflated. We used it in the Med. and it meant we could anchor well away from town and still speed in to get the groceries. We always chained it up when leaving it unattended
 
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The better your tender the more likely it is to be stolen. If you want one your going to keep buy something old and scruffy and paint your boat name all over it. If you do go for an expensive new boat don't leave it in the water over night on busy anchorages. You will need more than 2hp if you want to make headway against the wind but remember your need to be able to lift it.
Lots of tenders get lost when towing and you will need to be able to stow it when on longer passages. Have a fab trip!
 
If you have the room on deck or davits I would go with Bajan sailor’s advice and get an 8’ AB Aluminium rib. In fact we bought one 6 weeks ago from Budget Marine in Granada. We found an inflatable floored dingy was not robust enough for the everyday use that living aboard involves. Regarding security the engine is padlocked to the rib and the rib padlocked to either the dock when ashore or alongside at night.
 
We have had our Caribe RIB for eight years and have used it extensively in Europe and the Caribbean. Its the L9 model and we have a Mercury 15HP on it. Its brilliant! Looking pretty scruffy now (and had a fair few punctures over the years) but we consider that a good thing as who will nick the tattiest dinghy? - we also 'roughed up' the engine casing and sprayed it bright flourescent green as an additional anti-theft measure.
It tows pretty well on a long line and can be lifted on deck by us both (middle aged husband and wife). Don't forget that once the tubes are deflated it takes up far less space.
It has enabled us to explore lots of places and to anchor in more remote places than if we had a less powerful tender.
And you wouldn't believe tha amount of stuff we can pile in it!
Quite a few cruising friends and aquaintances have bought one after trying ours.
 
saltwater_gypsy said:
Just a vote for a Zodiac RIB with a an inflatable floor. Ours is about 3m in length and will plane with a 6hp two -stroke. Big advantage is that it folds down and stows on deck or in a locker when deflated. We used it in the Med. and it meant we could anchor well away from town and still speed in to get the groceries. We always chained it up when leaving it unattended
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+1.

With the strong trade winds, you want something which will handle the big chop even in sheltered areas. Easy to row is also a requirement.

Regarding the OB, I cannot think the weight will be more than my Honda 5HP 4 stroke... I use a halyard measured to keep the engine head out of the water, then TOTMBO eases it down with a winch.

Tricky in choppy water. GL
 
Jabamusic said:
I went through similar deliberations (except for the Caribbean bit- I wish !)
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The Caribbean bit is relevant - there is a small tidal range so you are not going to need to drag/carry the tender a long way up or down a beach. Hard-bottomed rib-type tenders are therefore popular, but would be less so in an area with a large tidal range.
 
Monique said:
+1.

With the strong trade winds, you want something which will handle the big chop even in sheltered areas. Easy to row is also a requirement.

Regarding the OB, I cannot think the weight will be more than my Honda 5HP 4 stroke... I use a halyard measured to keep the engine head out of the water, then TOTMBO eases it down with a winch.

Tricky in choppy water. GL
Click to expand...

+2

When we were there we had a tinker which was a complete disaster, not enough room or freeboard for the not-always-sheltered anchorages.

We now have 3.7m fastroller with a 8hp on the back. This will plane with two up plus vittals. As others have said you can roll in up on the deck for passages, or if you have the room, lash it up front, Other than for the shortest of shletered passages I wouldn't recommend towing a dink in the carib. The water between the island is way too rough for safety plus you'll have to make provision to keep the thing safe if you pit stop for the night without going ashore.
 
Just remember that your tender is going to get vastly more use in the Carib than in UK waters, for the following reasons:

1. You will spend almost all your time at anchor.

2. You will dinghy miles, sometimes, from your anchored boat to either interesting places or to pick up supplies.

3. Often the only way to replenish water tanks is to carry jerry cans in your dinghy. Just four standard jerry cans full of water weigh as much as a largish person.

4. Ditto with fuel.


SO: You will want the most capacious and seaworthy and powerful dinghy which is reasonable to stow. That means you will probably not find an air-floor dinghy to be optimum; you will want a RIB if you can possibly manage it, and you will want more than 5 horsepower if, again, you can manage it.
 
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