How big is your tender?

[prv]

Last year I bought a second-hand Bombard AX3. At the weekend, we tried it out for the first time to get from the Itchenor visitors' pontoon to the Ship Inn. It seems like a fair quality boat, but it's a lot smaller when you're sitting in it than when you blow it up in the living room! With three of us on board we were lucky to get ashore without wet bums, even on a flat river.

I've chartered boats with even less convincing dinghies, but I just assumed this was the charter company being cheap. I'm sure I've also been in bigger ones, but a lot of this would have been a very long time ago and my memory may be faulty; go back much further and I myself would have been smaller and easier to fit in the boat!

So I'm curious where our AX3 fits on the scale of "usual" inflatable tenders.

Note that I'm not asking about dinghies used to routinely access boats kept on swinging moorings, but rather the tender that's kept rolled up in a locker (or wherever) for when anchored or moored elsewhere. Also not really relevant are the small RIBs etc that people with bigger boats are able to stow on deck or on davits. Just what folk on a typical 28 - 36 foot MAB or AWB have in their cockpit lockers.

Being a centre-cockpit boat, our stowage space is fairly pitiful. The stoop-through is under one side of the cockpit, and the heads and one of the stern bunks protrude under the other side from opposite ends. The locker is the space between them, and also holds the water tank and a lot of bulky plumbing. So I'm not sure that we can fit anything bigger than the current boat (lashing it on deck will be in the way and look terrible). But if anyone does know of an unusually Tardis-like tender, let's hear it.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[maby]

Ours is a 2.3m 3D Tender. I believe it's rated for two adults - three would certainly be a squeeze. We bought it to replace something quite a lot larger - quite simply because we were not able to inflate and launch the old one.

 

[Tranona]

Think you have to accept there are big compromises here. The Avon Redcrest was always the most popular tender as it was, and still is, the best compromise of size,carrying capacity and foldability, plus long life (mine is over 30 years old and still sound). The most popular sizes are 2.6 to 2.9 and of course now PVC. Roundtails are easier to pack down have larger internal capacity but not good under power. Solid transom are heavier, smaller capacity but better for both rowing and motor - and become heavy if you add floors. The 3D looks promising but has not been around long enough to know how well they stand up.

If I were buying now, for the kind of use you describe I would get a basic 2.6m roundtail with an airdeck floor - in effect a modern Redcrest, but at a fraction of the cost.

 

[maby]

We took the view that a 3D Tender at £500 that lasts three years and gets some serious use is better value than something heavier and more expensive that lasts ten years but stays in the cockpit locker because it is so heavy that we cannot launch and recover it.

 

[Tranona]

We took the view that a 3D Tender at £500 that lasts three years and gets some serious use is better value than something heavier and more expensive that lasts ten years but stays in the cockpit locker because it is so heavy that we cannot launch and recover it.

Agree, but you can get a 2.3m PVC roundtail with airdeck for under £350.

 

[maby]

Agree, but you can get a 2.3m PVC roundtail with airdeck for under £350.

Indeed you can, but my 3D Tender weighs less than 14kg whereas the £350 roundtails from Force4 weigh between 25kg and 30kg. That makes a big difference to the practicalities of launching over the stern of many yachts.

 

[prv]

Are these 3D things smaller (when packed), or merely lighter? I don't have any difficulty manhandling normal dinghies, I just lack stowage space.

(For what it's worth, I usually inflate dinghies laid across the foredeck, and throw them over the side from there. Launching over the stern seems like it would be rather awkward, given the lifebuoys, backstays, ensigns, etc etc that tend to congregate there.)

Pete

 

[alahol2]

For very many years we used an Avon Redstart (2 adults plus eventually 2 children). That is now in the loft and the latest compromise is to tow a 9ft 'hard' dinghy.

 

[maby]

Well, both our current tender and the one it replaced were solid transom boats and the 3D does pack a lot smaller. A 2.3m 3D Tender packs into a large rucksack. I've never owned a roundtail, but I am led to believe that they pack smaller than solid transom boats.

 

[BarryH]

I have the AX3, had it a good few years now. IIRC the plate on the transom says 3 people. I, on a regualar basis, have me the otherhalf and 2 teenage girls in it. Used mainly from the boatyard to the mooring which is about 1/2 a mile or so.
Seems ok ads never really suffered from a damp posterior. I use the max rated 4 hp on it, it planes with just me in it!

To row into any current/wind is a pain in the backside, just plain hard work. If loaded down with coolbox, bags etc then I will err on the side of safety and do a couple of trips.
I see the AX3 is almost 700 quid nowdays, so I feel a bit smug picking up an ex display boat for 280 all those years ago. The pump supplied is ****. I use a double action thing from Decathlon which cuts inflation time no end. I don't think I've ever taken the slats out of the boat since I've had it. I will tow mine for day sails, minus the engine, but deflate it and stick it under the cockpit if going for longer trips. Lucky in that theres loads of room under the cockpit in my Liesure 23 where the inboard used to reside.

 

[TQA]

I have a 2.9m AB rib. One of the features I like is the big tube size. It rides MUCH dryer than dinks with smaller tubes.

 

[Ripster]

Ours is a 2.3m 3D Tender. I believe it's rated for two adults - three would certainly be a squeeze. We bought it to replace something quite a lot larger - quite simply because we were not able to inflate and launch the old one.

We bought a 3D250 when we went over to sail about 18months ago for the same reason. It only weighs 15kg and packs down into a large rucksack that comes with it. Fits away in a locker a treat and launches easily over our drop down transom. It replaced a 2.7 Honwave airdeck which was far more substantial but weighed 40kg. The Honwave was fine when it was on davits on a MOBO, but no good being folded up each time in a locker. The 3D has 37mm instead of 41mm tubes, the material is thinner and it has a flat air floor not a V. If you stick a 2.5hp on it, it goes fine with 3 peops, but you do get a bit of splash over the tubes if there is any chop - way more than the Honwave. For us it had to be about weight and ease of storage. That is why we bought the 3D.

Is the Honwave a better boat - definitely yes. But it was just too big and heavy in our new situation.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

The tender that lives on the boat rolled up is an old Zodiac 2.6m, but it is not used often. The tender to get to the mooring is a Waveline 2.9 thick tube; it is used all the time for everything. I find anything less than 2.9m too small.

 

[Seajet]

I had a Zodiac 240 roundtail for over 30 years and it was fantastic, but after lending it to a careless 'friend' it has never been the same; it has much larger tubes - orange rather than the modern grey must be a good idea too - than the average cheapo dinghy nowadays, but then it was expensive even then.

New Zodiacs are really expensive and I have heard doubts as to their being anywhere near as good.

I have a Seago 230 roundtail with airdeck which was excellent value from Force 4 and the best weight / space folded compromise I could find, which while having small ( standard ) tube diameter is OK for the average trip - 2 adults - and can be stowed under the cockpit, unlike a solid transom job.

I would say though that the standard Seago outboard bracket supplied is a nightmare to stow for virtually any boat, unlike the simple Zodiac thing, and will either be heavily modified or left ashore.

 

[laika]

We've got an AX3 with a 2.5HP outboard. Rowlocks are rubbish (I mentioned in another post about bending one badly rowing against the ebb at Dittisham). It's not something I'd like to have more than a couple of people in when it's choppy but we often squeeze 4 in for runs ashore in sheltered waters. Probably isn't, but I like to think having one of the more "modest" tenders tied up is a security advantage

 

[prv]

I would get a basic 2.6m roundtail with an airdeck floor - in effect a modern Redcrest, but at a fraction of the cost.

I'm not immediately rushing out to replace the AX3, but if I were then this sounds like a sensible suggestion. The protruding tubes behind a solid transom are basically just wasted length. I know they help support the weight of the engine, but my neat little 2hp 2-stroke only weighs 10kg so it's hardly important.

Mind you, a quick google doesn't seem to find any round-tails bigger than 2.3m...

Pete

 

[doug748]

....

Mind you, a quick google doesn't seem to find any round-tails bigger than 2.3m...

Pete

The Redcrest is dead, long live the Redcrest:

http://www.ronhalemarine.co.uk/superbasket/product/1545/Zodiac_MilPro_M9_Recon_Dinghy_Hypalon

 

[Deleted member 36384]

You can place 6 sons, or 3 dads in my dinghy, it's a middle aged spread thing, because the sons are all as tall as their Dads (14 to 15 year olds). I too remember being disappointed at the maximum capacity of my dinghy. This was after a long break from sailing.

 

[prv]

The Redcrest is dead, long live the Redcrest:

http://www.ronhalemarine.co.uk/superbasket/product/1545/Zodiac_MilPro_M9_Recon_Dinghy_Hypalon

Yeah, saw that, but it's about a grand more than Tranona's projected price for a basic PVC round-tail. I definitely lean towards the cheap-and-cheerful in this area because

1) It's not the end of the world if it gets nicked
2) By the time it's at the end of its life I'll probably be ready to try a slightly different compromise for one reason or another
3) I don't use a dinghy all /that/ often, so I don't need it to be of bombproof quality
4) I don't have a spare grand kicking about

Pete

 

[laika]

I definitely lean towards the cheap-and-cheerful in this area because

1) It's not the end of the world if it gets nicked
2) By the time it's at the end of its life I'll probably be ready to try a slightly different compromise for one reason or another
3) I don't use a dinghy all /that/ often, so I don't need it to be of bombproof quality
4) I don't have a spare grand kicking about

Don't forget 5) a small and precarious tender gives you an excuse only to ever be seen ashore with your willowy and glamorous friends, as the salad dodgers have to stay on the boat