Is the Portabote the best folding dinghy?

lyralicious

lyralicious

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Since we bought Esper five years ago, we've never been truly happy with our dinghy...

We started with a "toy" Plastimo flat bottomed inflatable, which came with the boat. It was un-affectionately known as "the blancmange" and was little better than a li-lo. We moved on to an ancient Tinker Traveller, needing much tlc and attention, which we gave it in bucket-loads... literally, as we bailed all the way from Turkey to India.

Being a highly over-rigged ketch -- with a baby stay between the staysail and main mast -- there is little space for us to store a decent rib on deck. We have a Windpilot windvane on the transom which leaves no room for davits. Any tender on Esper must be foldable.

As we headed on our 4,500 mile journey to India our Tinker sprang leaks and got punctured going into rocks, coral and fierce jetties. Most of our companions punctured their dinghies too. All, that is, with the exception of one yacht. They had a Portabote and whipped around the place, scraping across the hostile terrain, or tied up to unforgiving African pontoons, without a care in the world.

So now we've got one. It looks good and fits neatly on deck. I wonder how we'll get on with it? We've written about it on our blog and made a short film: http://www.followtheboat.com/2011/01/06/portabote/

Can anyone come up with a better choice?
 
That looks great if you want a sailing dinghy, but Liz's post was all about a practical tender for the boat and I'm not sure the K2 could be classed as that. Nice design though!
 
The banana boat (made by a German company - I saw it at SIBS, but haven't got the website here) is another choice, as is:
the origami (http://www.woodenwidget.com/)(plug-ugly though)
and the K2 (http://www.stowawayboats.com/),
and the seahopper (http://www.seahopperfoldingboats.com).

If you are interested in making your own, there are a number of plans, of which the flapdoodle is the most thoroughly thought-through (http://www.flapdoodledinghy.com). Do a google on folding dinghy and you get some good (and less good) ideas.

Nestaway stacking dinghies look great but they wouldn't fit where we wanted them to (http://www.nestawayboats.com)

We are making our own (about 6 ft long, based on the flapdoodle) - I'll post pictures when she's finished.
 
Looks fantastic

Looks fantastic, and not expensive compared to other knock-down tenders. I'm not a fan of inflatables (our's dominates the port cockpit locker deflated and packed-up). I'd go for the 8ft version (I wonder if there's room on the foredeck of our 27ft cutter to put the thing together?) and I'd buy the optional sail rig. But I don't NEED one right now..

Happy sailing.

Babs
 
Sighmoon: I don't know. I was just going from websites. I did a lot of googling a few months ago to see what was available. Several of the others were at SIBS and we had a good look at all of those, mainly to get ideas for making our own. Nothing fits with our requirements - that's why we are making our own - it looks good so far - quite difficult, but fun!
 
I've got the original plywood version. It's very good and looks the business with varnished wood, but is very difficult to store on my boat (a 20ft trailer sailer). It rows very well, but is a bit wobbly without the inflatable collar. Will be selling it on eBay shortly (unless someone here is interested?)
 
Gwylan: If you buy the plans for the flapdoodle ($50 reduced to $30 when we bought them) you get access to their forum - lots of experience from users there, some in the UK and Europe. I'll let you know how she floats when she's finished!
 
Re Chameleon

I designed and built a smaller (7'6" long) version of the Chameleon, and I am very happy with it.
It rows like a dream with one on board effortlessly overtaking inflatables with 2 hp outboards; 2 crew is ok, but there is literally only a few inches of freeboard with 3 on board.....

Here are a couple of other interesting Chameleon links :

http://www.sailorgirl.com/s/v303_robbie.htm

http://dory-man.blogspot.com/2009/08/chameleon.html

The Stasha and Origami dinghies from Wooden Widget really do look the business - for some other dinghies in the same ultra-light theme, have a look at http://www.gaboats.com/
 
Last edited:
Danny Greene Chameleon

robinsondb said:
Anyone built or used a Chameleon designed by Danny Greene and shown on the Duckworks site?
Click to expand...

Hi, we recently built a Chameleon (chined plywood, epoxy/glass sheathed) to establish whether we could build it commercially, alongside our range of fibreglass nesting dinghies with wood trim (see www.nestawayboats.com).

The guys who did it know what they are doing with these materials and had full workshop facilities. Total hour count went a bit over 200 - with patterns, jigs and experience that would come down but none of those savings apply to one-off home builders. That did include a lot of time achieving a very good finish (most people assume it's moulded grp until they look inside the bow buoyancy tank); the amateur builder might be able to cut back there if willing to accept a lesser cosmetic appearance.

For the record materials came in around £750, for Robbins Elite marine ply, teak gunwhales and other visible wood trim, stainless fastenings, glass cloth/tape, West epoxy and fillers, two-pack primers/paints, consumables (gloves, brushes etc). That was to complete the sailing version ie hull plus daggerboard case, rudder and tiller but not mast/sail. If you value your time there's really no point using cheaper stuff, although you could probably halve that bill.

Our conclusion was unfortunately that even fully productionised a ply/epoxy Chameleon would not be viable commercially, ie at a price that anyone is likely to pay.

It is a very nice dinghy however, as somebody in another thread mentioned you could often row it faster (and with occupants staying much drier) than most inflatables with 2hp on the back, in any kind of headwind/waves. Apparently it's a lot of fun under sail too, although we haven't tried.

Hoping I'm not breaking forum rules by mentioning that in light of the above the boat in question will be for sale soon, if anyone is interested.

Ian Thomson
Director, Nestaway Boats Ltd
 
There is only ONE skiff.
The Porta-Bote.
My PB is 17 years old, has been run over by a truck, and is still going strong. (I bought it used).
It is stable, dry, and absolutely indestructible.
PB owners know!
 
p.s
You know the black, crumbly sides? Those can be fixed by covering the sides with whatever you please. I used vinyl. Just lift the black surround up, fold part of the material over the gunnel and clip the black surround back on. Et voila! An upgraded PB!
 
Seahopper

sighmoon said:
Is he still in business? I tried buying one from him once, but failed.
Click to expand...

His website is still active and when I rang him up a few months ago he offered me a substantial reduction on the list price of a new Seahopper. Unfortunately I got cold feet... (search this forum and Google for comments on 'Seahopper', not be confused with Mark Walter's breakaway company which sells a GRP version called a K2).

Irrespective of whether a new Seahopper would be any good, Mr Rea certainly used to make fantastic plywood sailing folding boats. I eventually bought an old Seahopper from eBay and I love it.

Perfect for evening sails to the pub (and then storage in the garage over the winter).
 
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