Sailing inflatables

Greenheart

Greenheart

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Not sure if inflatables have been done to death of late...but not while I was watching, anyway...

Avon inflatables used to make a sailing rig for their Redcrest, in the eighties. I can't help thinking it must have sailed abominably, with the wobbly rubber floor and a rudder attached to the outboard bracket. Did it have leeboards?!

But, with a rib-hull, and a permanent daggerboard slot built between one thwart and the hull, and a mast-gate or pot built into a forward seat adjoined to the fibreglass floor...there's the possibility of respectable performance under a Laser Radial-style unstayed rig, and reasonable shove from a not-so petite outboard, whilst retaining all the stability and rugged practicality of the RIB design...I'd buy a tender that versatile, if somebody makes one.

Should I apply for the patent?? :rolleyes::D
 
Something like this you mean?

WB8_PP.jpg


Got one, its fabulous.
Just working on a secondary mounting for the outboard when its sailing, as the rudder/tiller gets in the way.
 
There's a niche in the market, here...

I like Walker Bay's boats more than their prices, but I get the feeling the strap-on inflatable sides are a consequence of the sailing kit, rather than inherent to the standard boat. And, I was thinking of the rather larger outboards that a 12' RIB can carry; I think the bigger of Walker Bay's designs is limited to 4hp?

I'd quite forgotten the sailing Tinkers. Does anyone use one now, or recall if they were any good, or if they only impressed persons who'd never sailed anything else?

I'll Google them of course, but I have a feeling it may be another midwinter garage project...find cheap elderly 12' RIB with damaged hull, then cut a slender letter-box along the keel-line and build up a ply/GRP daggerboard case...then, Ebay or Apollo Duck for Laser bits and pieces and an antique two-stroke Evinrude...

...and at some time next March, prepare to stand stand back in awe!

..."Is it a 20hp speedboat with a steadying sail? Is it a strangely cobbled-together Castaway-style liferaft? Or has one of the Weymouth Olympic entries been hit by a safety-boat? No! It's Dan's pride and joy...just smile and wave..." :):rolleyes::)
 
I have a tinker foldaway with sailing rig. Don't use it to much as the malta is quicker to set up!

Is it for sale - NO. I intend to try and use it more this year if I get out sailing.
 
Boathook said:
I have a tinker foldaway with sailing rig. Don't use it to much as the malta is quicker to set up!

Is it for sale - NO. I intend to try and use it more this year if I get out sailing.
Click to expand...

Interesting! Is that the foldaway rib that you have got, if so, so have I.

I had not heard of anyone else with one. I find it excellent, though heavy to row. When I tried to sail it, it went fine. Not exciting but good enough. Unfortunately I had become too fat, old, and stiff to fit under the boom easily so I only sailed it a few times!

Nice to hear of another.

Mike
 
Colin Jones, an occasional contributor to PBO, wrote a full article on the Tinker foldaway about 2 years ago.

The original version (Traveller and Tramp) are excellent pieces of kit, but sadly no longer produced by Henshaw Inflatables of Wincanton. I think they sold the templates to a small company near Lymington ?


There's an active 'forum' for Tinkers, and ones for sale are snapped up very quickly.


Just watch these ones on eBay !
 
I love that Coniston Tinker video! Reminds me of the Youtube footage, of Optimists in big swells and lots of wind.

Shows what's possible with 'only' a boat-in-the-boot, too.

It never occurred to me that even a real RIB might be totally dissembled!

Maybe for the ultimate all-rounder tender, I should think about hull form. A planing hull for the hefty Mercury or ambitious unstayed sailplan (Finn?! :eek:) to profit by, whilst still a rock-steady base for crew or cargo (dory style, maybe?) and all that buoyancy in the tubes.

Sounds damned ugly! :D:eek::D
 
Perhaps I mis-phrased my original question;

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’d prefer to have a very traditional tender, for my yacht (when that’s finished…) but I’m disappointed to see that the grunt delivered by a modern eight or nine horse-power four-stroke is vastly too much for little boats like the Gull or Heron, whose gunter rig otherwise makes them great little multi-purpose sail & oar boats.

Is there any way to rebuild a traditional sailing design, to a specification able to withstand the bigger outboard’s thrust? If a Heron were built-up (or built new) to carry a Honda 9.9hp or similar, granted she’d have to gain a few kilos (just thicker plywood?), but is her hull-form inherently unstable, pushed so hard from behind, or is it just the question of upgraded robustness?

I can see myself in some entertainingly catastrophic ‘Scrapheap Challenge’-style experiments coming up in the late summer…
 
dancrane said:
I’m disappointed to see that the grunt delivered by a modern eight or nine horse-power four-stroke is vastly too much for little boats like the Gull or Heron, whose gunter rig otherwise makes them great little multi-purpose sail & oar boats.

Is there any way to rebuild a traditional sailing design, to a specification able to withstand the bigger outboard’s thrust?
Click to expand...

Obvious question, surely, but how about a smaller outboard?

Pete
 
FullCircle said:
Something like this you mean?

WB8_PP.jpg


Got one, its fabulous.
Just working on a secondary mounting for the outboard when its sailing, as the rudder/tiller gets in the way.
Click to expand...

Ive got one as well, great little craft, Ive got an Torqeedo electric OB on mine, have the same issue, would be really pleased to see what you come up with.

Cheers.
Roy
 
QUOTE: Obvious question, surely, but how about a smaller outboard?

re. Pete's question above, I began the sailing-rib question because I believe they'd be stiff enough to sail well, given a rig, rudder and drop-keel, and they're already able to carry substantial engines. Which is fun.

But conversely, if a sailing dinghy were coincidentally built (or rebuilt) with enough solidity to carry a big (ie 10hp) outboard, it would likely be more amusing than one that's forced to trickle along with 2hp. I'd enjoy the speed.

They're all planing hulls, after all; why shouldn't one hull do both? The builders of McGregor yachts seem to have made it work.

Truth is, I've no idea what's the construction difference between something like a little Plancraft speedboat that can easily carry 40hp, and something like a Wanderer/Wayfarer, similarly proportioned and also built from GRP.

I'm not asking or expecting that a single design should break any records in both areas, or even in either...I'm just wondering why, or indeed whether, sailing dinghies are almost always limited to the least exciting engines.
 
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