Retrofitting 2.5m slatted floor Honwave tender with airdeck?

[Sgeir]

Anyone done it?

As the years roll on, I am finding it increasingly difficult to get our 2.5m Honwave on and off our yacht without the valuable assistance of Mme Sgeir.

To reduce weight, I was wondering if there are airdeck floors that might replace the crappy plywood slats.

We also have a 2m 3D tender which is very easy to lift, but it's small for two people and feels a bit unstable.

Or, should I just resign myself to continue towing the Honwave everywhere, probably losing the better part of a knot of speed?

 

[Boathook]

Would the airdeck floor be any lighter than plywood slats ?

 

[Sgeir]

The Honwave plywood slats were of poor quality and we've gone through two sets (or maybe three) of them. Like some others on this forum, I eventually gave upon them and replaced them with composite slats that are much more robust and don't absorb water. However they are heavier. An air deck would probably be lighter

 

[dunedin]

Not sure the size of your boat, but if use a dinghy a lot there is no substitute for davits

 

[lustyd]

Definitely check the weight. The Cadet aluminium floor is lighter than their identical air floor and slats are much lighter than either. Yours may be different but id be surprised if that were the case.

 

[Stemar]

An air deck is a good idea to keep your feet dry, but for keeping the dinghy on the boat, far and away the best solution is davits.

 

[lustyd]

far and away the best solution is davits

Very debateable. There are multiple downsides to davits, so although many prefer them, it's always a compromise of what's important to you. We prefer our dinghy on the foredeck upside down, meaning it doesn't fill with water (and we don't need to use the drain plug, which on Cadet dinghy's doesn't work at all). It doesn't block our stern lights or visibility, and it's more secure. It also doesn't contribute to the cost of a night in a marina.
There are downsides to what we do too, of course. The halyard is not as easy for winching it up, our foredeck has a dinghy on it which gets in the way when sailing, and it's less convenient to use.

There's rarely a "best" solution where boats are concerned.

 

[Stemar]

As you say, it's a matter of what works for you, and you're right, an absolute best solution is a rare beast anywhere.

If a marina wants to charge me extra for my davits, I'll put the dinghy in the water and fold the davits. I'll grant you the sternlight issue, and the visibility of Jazzcat's name, though that's easy enough to fix, and we almost never sail at night.

In spite of having a huge foredeck, there isn't room for a fully inflated flubber aboard Jazzcat, because the forestay is carefully positioned to get in the way, and, even partially deflated, the dinghy would cover the windlass.

 

[fredrussell]

I replaced slats in a flubber with air floor. Not for a weight saving - which is negligible - but because I found kneeling on slats to get OB sorted was very uncomfortable. Blow up floor very comfortable and, as stated above, makes for a drier dinghy floor.

 

[DAKA]

Anyone done it?

As the years roll on, I am finding it increasingly difficult to get our 2.5m Honwave on and off our yacht without the valuable assistance of Mme Sgeir.

To reduce weight, I was wondering if there are airdeck floors that might replace the crappy plywood slats.

We also have a 2m 3D tender which is very easy to lift, but it's small for two people and feels a bit unstable.

Or, should I just resign myself to continue towing the Honwave everywhere, probably losing the better part of a knot of speed?

Going back a few years now but I replaced 2.7m wet line slatted floor for air deck( I just bought an inflatable floor for the old dinghy with rotting slats)

Felt significantly lighter and far more balanced, very easy to handle and the floor can be stowed separately making the rolled up dinghy very easy to handle

Far easier to get into , felt more stable.

Only slight downside is the thicker floor means that your feet are slightly higher and in rougher weather you feel like you could easily tip out if trying to plane in choppy conditions.

Don’t know if you ever have pets on board but inflatable floor is ideal for dogs.

To help steer / row in a straight line I added a length of pipe insulation under the inflatable floor

 

[Iliade]

Worth the change for rigidity, comfort and dryness alone. Plus you could treat the floor as a separate item for handling purposes. We also used the floor as a sunbathing mat once ashore. Also means you are carrying your own 'Carly' float!

 

[Minerva]

As a side thought, could you go hi-tech PBO and replace the slats with 5mm foam and a couple of layers of carbon & epoxy?

Other than that I’d second Dunedin and think about David’s

 

[Crowblack]

If you decided to go for new - lightest inflatable floor I found was 3D Twin V-Shape Tender

Got a good V shape to it so rowings OK, the 2.3 I got weighs just 16.6kg so easy for this elderly gent to hike back on board.

 

[Aquanaught]

I needed a new air deck for my tender and found just the job on Aliexpress. Here