New Tender - Airdeck or Slatted?

nickd

nickd

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Hi
I need to buy an new tender and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to advise me on the pros and cons of airdeck versus slatted floors
Many thanks
 
I changed from slatted to airdeck this season and so far very happy. Floor feels much more stable and any water that gets in the dinghy lies under the floor not round your feet. Also if you are working on the boat from the dinghy, its much more comfortable.

Only downside I have found is that if you throw something into the dinghy, it is likely to bounce and could come out.

As mine is only an airdeck and not an inflatable keel type, there is no difference in performance with the outboard or when rowing.

Hope this helps.
 
Inflatable keel more stable in a chop and there's quite a difference as well between a 2.3/4 and a 2.6/7, latter (usually) having much bigger tubes...
 
Airdeck for me

A resounding vote for airdeck, much safer, more stable, drier and with an inflatable keel very directionally stable, quite unlike previous experiences. Also folds up nicely too into a roll.

Had slatted before would say now no competition.
 
The floor does need to be firm-which isnt as easy to achieve as it sounds, so if you are pumping it up each time, its even more of a pain! That said, I wouldnt even consider the slatted floor.
Two tips.. go for big tubes, and check where the oars lie when folded on the tube. If its right under where you sit, it's not too comfy;)
 
Agree with previous posters, inflated floor much better than slatted, with an inflatable keel giving V bottom is better still making your tender handle almost like a RIB. Additional work in inflating isn't much. I have a Lodestar tender which has inflated floor and keel and it's excellent. We dinghy ashore in conditions we wouldn't have dared to in our old slatted-floor Bombard.
 
If we were buying again I go for airdeck and inflatable keel. The slats are OK but they hold the dirt and the sand. An inflatable keel provides for a much more seaworthy tender. It is faster, less wet and with much better directional stability. The only problem is that they take up more space when folded up but with hindsight I consider that a small price to pay.
 
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As everyone else has said, the difference is astonishing. Airdeck makes an enormous difference to a dinghy.

Make sure yours has the type that is made from smooth material with oval non-slip pads, not the quilted stuff. The former is the replacement for the latter, which degrades after a while. This applies to Quicksilver and Avon to my knowledge, probably others too.
 
When looking make sure you compare weights as different manufacturers vary wildly.
We looked for almost 12 months and it was down to two manufacturers, Lodestar was favorite and from many reviews was also favorite, with outstanding writeups.
Honwave look good but are extreamly heavy, Zodiac make a good lightweight tender (lightroller) but we ended up with a very lightweight Zodiac 220rib.

Problem with inflatable floor has been mentioned before, they need to be kept ridged to be effective although given the choice it would be lodestar NSA 3Dv range.

Take a look at RonHale Marine, can highly recomend, pleasure to deal with and very reasonable prices.

http://www.ronhalemarine.co.uk/superbasket/category/11/New_Inflatable_Boats_&_RIB's

If you fancy something a bit different try a converting your tender to a sailing dinghy ( lodestar )
http://www.lodestarinflatables.com/Sailstar.html
http://www.lodestarinflatables.com/Home.html
 
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Hi pressure air floor is great. One trick I learned the very first time we took her out for a spin: get some outdoor carpeting and cover the floor. It's great nonskid, and keeps the floor cleaner. It does pick up sand, but is easily cleaned. We had a plywood slat floor on an earlier dinghy, pain to install. If however you're going to keep it inflated all year round or for the season, doesn't make much difference. If you have a dog, you may want to consider a slatted floor.
 
Another vote for airdeck, for the various reasons given above.

We went to SIBS 2009 with a new inflatable dinghy on the shopping list. Having previously seen the Lodestars I expected to buy one. However it seemed sensible to look at all of the inflatables on display. As we wanted the dinghy to sit upside down on the foredeck, forwards of an inner forestay, it needed to be short. But we still wanted big tubes, for stability and relative dryness, and a solid transom to make outboard mounting easy.

Whilst the Lodestar dinghies are fine they're not absolute bargains. So we looked across the whole spectrum, from hypalon Avons etc down. There are quite a few decent dinghies of the Lodestar type. I expect most are made in China.

The final choice was an Excel SD235 which we bought for about 40% less than the Lodestar equivalent. So far the dinghy has been very good. Only time will tell how durable it is.

Do look around. There's quite a lot of choice, apart from the few well known names.
 
Replaced Bombard (slatted floor) with Avon (air deck) has much bigger tubes and I bust a slat or two on the Bombard
Well worth the higher price
 
Inflatable floors are warmer too. SWMBO will vouch for that!
If you need to kneel or sit on the floor, you can tolerate a little water over the beam before you end up in cold water. No leeway with slats at all :-((
A little lighter if you stow it inflated on the foredeck much of the time - and man-handle from there.

Graeme
 
bitman said:
can some one explain what a slatted floor is?

thx
Click to expand...

basically planks of wood, usually 3 of them that fit snugly between the tubes to re-inforce the base of the inflatable boat.. when the tubes are inflated the boards are held tightly in place to form a floor

Personally, I think the slatted floor variety beats the airdecks hands down!! I've just purchased a Quicksilver 270 airdeck with inflatable keel purely because I want to downgrade from my utterly awesome SEAGO 270 superior slatted floor inflatable as I couldn't stand all the overly admiring looks when bobbing about in the SEAGO last summer.. I'm a very private unassuming soul ;)

It just so happens that my SEAGO is for sale on this forum :)
 
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oGaryo said:
basically planks of wood, usually 3 of them that fit snugly between the tubes to re-inforce the base of the inflatable boat.. when the tubes are inflated the boards are held tightly in place to form a floor
Click to expand...

thanks for that.

well i think i like more planks of wood as then you don't have to worry about when installing the outboard.
 
dogs & slats?

Stu Jackson said:
Hi pressure air floor is great. One trick I learned the very first time we took her out for a spin: get some outdoor carpeting and cover the floor. It's great nonskid, and keeps the floor cleaner. It does pick up sand, but is easily cleaned. We had a plywood slat floor on an earlier dinghy, pain to install. If however you're going to keep it inflated all year round or for the season, doesn't make much difference. If you have a dog, you may want to consider a slatted floor.
Click to expand...

Stu
I have a dog (several in fact) and can't think why you recommend slats. I agree with the others and wish I'd bought an air deck - next dinghy definitely will be. Wots your angle on dogs and slatted floors?
Nick
 
nickd said:
Hi
I need to buy an new tender and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to advise me on the pros and cons of airdeck versus slatted floors
Many thanks
Click to expand...

Here's another rec for the Lodestar NSA260 (Airdeck +keel) - even 'tho it wasn't cheap and we subsequently bought a Walker Bay(+sail kit) for swinging mooring duties, I'm not selling it.

A man can never have too many tenders.
(The Lodestar & O/B will be chase boat when the kids start sailing the WB on their own ;-)
 
Thanks very much for all of your replies
An airdeck it is then with a keel.
Now all I have to do is decide on size and make, so off to the boat to measure the cock pit locker so I lnow the max deflated size I can get
Thanks you all again
 
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