How should I store my small PVC inflatable tender on board?

[Vega1447]

My old (20 years) PVC 2.4 metre tender finally 'died', i.e. it failed to stay inflated for more than an hour (due to the coating on the tubes becoming brittle) so I've replaced it with a new one.

I've received a lot of advice to the effect that rolling the new one transom first into a tube and then storing the rolled dinghy below deck in the bag provided is a Bad Idea - this is how I stored the old one.

Apparently it accelerates the deterioration of the coating on the tubes?

Storing the uninflated and unrolled dinghy in the fore-cabin (Albin Vega 27) is just possible but sacrifices a lot of space.

Storing it inflated on the foredeck is just possible but exposes it to UV damage as does towing it.

Of course I could bring the dinghy home after every use but that would be a pain.

So how bad an idea is it to roll it transom first into a tube and then store the rolled dinghy below deck in the bag provided?

Thanks for any comments.

 

[Tranona]

A PVC inflatable should last for many years in our climate whether it is rolled up and kept below or stored on deck when you are using the boat. The biggest enemy is UV so not good in places like the Med, but UV even in summer in our climate is not a big issue. The longest exposure is when you are not using the boat so it makes sense to put the dinghy below when not using the boat.

 

[Sea Change]

I heard Noah chose an Avon as a tender for his ark, and that the dinghy is still going strong somewhere on the west coast.

 

[LittleSister]

For storing a dinghy on a (relatively) small boat I have favoured round-tail inflatables, because they roll significantly smaller. My previous boat had a vast cockpit locker, so the inflatable just lived in the bottom of that. My current boat has two smaller cockpit lockers, and it fits in one of those, with the boat's various ropes on top of it. The oars and outboard bracket were/are stored elsewhere.

Eventually I found my rare use of the outboard more trouble and effort than it was worth, so left that at home, and only used the inflatable rowing. (Also saves in gym membership!)

I did buy at one point a Plastimo 1.8m round-tail inflatable, which was very light and rolled very small, but I found it too small to take both a passenger and stores/luggage, so two trips often required, and the side tubes were too small for efficient rowing (oars would foul my long legs) or to want to use it anywhere but the most sheltered places.

Another round-tail inflatable I bought second-hand was too large (2.7 or 2.8 metres?). It rolled up small enough (very flexible material, not like (most? all?) current inflatables) for storage, but inflating it was a pain - time consuming and too large for either the cockpit or the foredeck.

So I ended up buying IIRC a 2.3m round-tail, which has proved a practical compromise.

I don't know what the locker situation is on a Vega. If that's not an option you could store it on the foredeck, but protect it form UV with a vinyl 'tarpaulin', or better still, a stout vinyl bag with carrying handles (don't make it too small - sometimes you won't get the inflatable rolled as tight as at other times). I got one of these with the over-large inflatable mentioned above, and kept it after I'd abandoned that inflatable. It's very handy for dropping my current inflatable into the locker and getting it out again, and for transporting it to and from the foredeck for inflation.,

 

[LittleSister]

I heard Noah chose an Avon as a tender for his ark, and that the dinghy is still going strong somewhere on the west coast.

Yes, and didn't Tacitus mention that the Romans used to hear Noah's Seagull outboard puttering away, leaving a trail of smoke behind him?

 

[RivalRedwing]

Covers are readily available if you are worried about UV degradation

 

[vyv_cox]

There is PVC and there is PVC! My PVC Quicksilver dinghy spent 6 months of every year in Greece inflated either on deck or in the water astern. I bought it in 2004, towed it most of the way from The Netherlands to Greece, sold it in 2015 because we wanted something slightly smaller and it lasted another two years before the glue failed.

I am guessing that given the same treatment in UK it might still be going strong.

 

[ashtead]

We have a large (perhaps too large) quicksilver from circa 2001 which lives all year in locker until hauled out for summer cruise cross channel etc but has survived well. It’s far too heavy to manoeuvre on deck really but a halyard serves to haul it from its resting place . I don’t think being kept deprived of light etc has caused any issues.

 

[Stemar]

It’s far too heavy to manoeuvre on deck really but a halyard serves to haul it from its resting place

I think this is the issue. You want the dinghy to be easily available, especially if it doubles as a liferaft.

Ours lives rolled up in the dinghy store of our club when we aren't on board and, because there's nowhere to put it conveniently on deck, we tow it. I'd do something else crossing oceans, but if the weather's too bad to tow the flubber safely, we aren't going anywhere!

 

[steveeasy]

I towed a small Avon redstart from the Hamble to West Country when we got there my mate was adamant we would have got there quicker without towing it. I thought he was talking utter rubbish but worth some thought. Perhaps!!
Steveeasy

 

[Sea Change]

You just have to feel the drag on the painter to realise how much it is slowing you down. I only ever tow the dinghy on very short runs.

 

[RivalRedwing]

You just have to feel the drag on the painter to realise how much it is slowing you down. I only ever tow the dinghy on very short runs.

agree, I didn't buy a feathering prop just so I could then be slowed by towing a dinghy

 

[PetiteFleur]

I used to store my small 2.3 transom dinghy in its bag in a cockpit locker but it was a b***** to get it in(and out). Now I have a 2.8 transom dinghy which I store in a bag I made, lashed to the deck, just forward of the mast.

 

[ashtead]

It’s much easier to store the dinghy in the locker if you have a powered winch of course to pull the halyard

 

[samfieldhouse]

My Seago 240 is in a bag that I had made up and sits neatly in front of the spray hood on my 28ft Cobra.

 

[mrming]

Likewise I had my sailmaker make a nice bag, and I keep the dinghy rolled up, lashed to the deck, just forward of the spray hood. Looks like there might be room in the exact same place on the Vega perhaps?

 

[Stemar]

You just have to feel the drag on the painter to realise how much it is slowing you down. I only ever tow the dinghy on very short runs.

That wasn't an issue for us. Off the wind, our Snapdragon would quite happily do hull speed towing, and, she wasn't the best upwind, so we'd motor. Jazzcat's a motorsailer, and we're both of, shall we say, mature years, so we aren't in a hurry. I also have to use the dinghy to get the boat and put her back to bed, and don't want the faff of deflating and re-inflating the dinghy.

 

[Supertramp]

It depends on your boat and space priorities, but I would protect against UV before worrying about rolled up. I bought an old dinghy cover and use that to cover the dinghy inflated or deflated on deck, where it lives all year round except when cruising when it lives in davits or afloat. Is it worth trying to protect it? Mine is well over 20 years old and still holds air well despite spending the vast majority of its life folded (usually badly).

Manhandling it below doesn't bear thinking about for me, and I might never get it back out again....

 

[Graham_Wright]

On my boat, a Countess 33 bilge keeler, we stowed it rolled up on the foredeck. Very handy to deploy but was forever catching the gyb sheets when tacking. In the Caribbean, on a charter boat, the norm was to hoist it bows upwards against the mast. Again, great for deployment not so good in a breeze.
I have now made a cover which is lashed to the handrails and completely envelopes the dinghy. It sill lifts a little with the wind, but the latest mod should fix that.
I'll post a photo if I can find it.

 

[ctva]

My old (20 years) PVC 2.4 metre tender finally 'died', i.e. it failed to stay inflated for more than an hour (due to the coating on the tubes becoming brittle) so I've replaced it with a new one.

I've received a lot of advice to the effect that rolling the new one transom first into a tube and then storing the rolled dinghy below deck in the bag provided is a Bad Idea - this is how I stored the old one....

Wer have had two Seago PVC cheapo tenders in the last 20+ years and stored exactly how you do when not in use. The first onle lasted 10years then I had to replace it due to a puncture at an inoportune moment (later repaired it and sold on and is still going strong). Got a new seago and it is still as new 10 more years on.

Lets be honest here, 20 years for a tender that would today cost about £600 is not bad going, That's a couple of nice bottles of wine per year!