Small Dingy advice

[thejonesey]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a good small dingy that packs up into a bag (relatively) easily please? We would use if with a 3.5hp engine and would want move two adults, two kids and a dog to and from the beach or similar. The plan would be to keep it stored and then blow up (with electric pump!) when needed.
I would also be interested to hear from anyone who does this and how well it works in terms of inflating/deflating etc. We currently have a dingy on the platform but my fishing mad daughter wants more space....!

 

[CharlieAlpha]

I had a 2.3m wetline on the old boat with exactly that intention, though it would struggle to carry more than 3, but it hardly got used because pumping up on board has it challenges (time, effort & space). I'm now lucky as have a small RIB and a passerelle to lift it so we use it all the time. But it does take over the bathing platform so I simply leave it on the pontoon on the days when I know I will not need it.

 

[lisilou]

We used to do the same but it was such a faff that we got rid in the end. Was a great little tender though. We now keep 'Bob' on the platform or, as CA just said, keep it tied to the pontoon.
Stowing and inflating when required is great in theory but in practice...just a pain.
Sorry but your daughter is just gonna have to move to the foredeck
L

 

[Tranona]

There is a wide choice of inflatables that potentially meet your requirements. Yes, it is quite normal do do what you plan. Perhaps you need to define what capability you want in terms of payload and degree of sophistication in layout and equipment (plus budget of course) and look at a range.

Just to get you going a common type is a hard transom, inflatable floor, 3 person boat of around 2.4-2.6m in length, which will take your outboard. Price from around £400 up. bigger boats have bigger capacity but are heavier and more bulky, smaller the opposite.

 

[thejonesey]

We used to do the same but it was such a faff that we got rid in the end. Was a great little tender though. We now keep 'Bob' on the platform or, as CA just said, keep it tied to the pontoon.
Stowing and inflating when required is great in theory but in practice...just a pain.
Sorry but your daughter is just gonna have to move to the foredeck
L

I thought this might be the case with both you and CharlieAlpha reporting what I suspected regarding the faff factor... time to think again!

 

[Shuggy]

I'd give a thumbs-up to the Seago 270 (http://www.seagoyachting.co.uk/ranger-270-p-25.html)

It has proper glued rubber 'rowlocks', not the fiddly/breakable plastic jobs. It's also light and can comfortable accommodate the 5 of us (2 adults, 3 children), although technically I think we're overloading it.

It's easier to blow up with a decent foot pump than the electric one, so I've retired the electric one.

It's not as good quality as our old Avon (by some way) and I reckon we'll only get 6 or 7 seasons out of it (we're on our fourth), but for £400 that's not too bad.

 

[gjgm]

This is not going to small or light, tbh. The big advantage of keeping something pumped up is you dont to lug an enormous weight around an obstacle filled boat.
2.6 maybe, 2.7m, minimum, I think. Remember , it might look ok all piled into a little tender on a millpond, but it is something different in the sea, or with some wake from a boat 500 metres way.
Or make two journeys to the beach, of course.
A cheap £15 pump will do 80 pct of the volume, and then finish with the footpump. It is not the pump/deflate that is the issue, it is the damn size and weight of the thing.

 

[dpb]

We use a dinghy like this quite happily but it would be a pain without an electric pump. We keep it in a seat locker when not in use.

 

[thejonesey]

We use a dinghy like this quite happily but it would be a pain without an electric pump. We keep it in a seat locker when not in use.

Could I ask what you have?

 

[thejonesey]

This is not going to small or light, tbh. The big advantage of keeping something pumped up is you dont to lug an enormous weight around an obstacle filled boat.
2.6 maybe, 2.7m, minimum, I think. Remember , it might look ok all piled into a little tender on a millpond, but it is something different in the sea, or with some wake from a boat 500 metres way.
Or make two journeys to the beach, of course.
A cheap £15 pump will do 80 pct of the volume, and then finish with the footpump. It is not the pump/deflate that is the issue, it is the damn size and weight of the thing.

It would sit in the locker on the transom so, theoretically it would be a lift out and blow up job. Would rather go smaller and make two journeys if we can make it work.

 

[gjgm]

Fair enough..have been looking online myself and there seems little info. Better ones seem 1100 dernier materiel and I prefer inflatable floor. Have a look at Seago and Europa 240 size.about 500 quid level it seems.

 

[darrenw]

I recently bought a Sun Sport ARIB230 (with air floor) with a 3.5HP Mercury.

I had originally thought about storing in the bag and inflating on the boat, but as we've only a 7m cuddy I soon realised that that would be impractical. So I figgured I'd need to strap fully infalted to the swim platform. I was therefore limited to 2.3m due due the width of the boat (I didnt want an overhang).

We've now used to transfer from anchor to the beach at Priory bay and all was good. But the 2 of us and a picnic filled it up, so I think you'd struggle at that size.

We bought from ABC Marine, a small family independant (no affiliation), who I'd certainly recommend...
http://www.ifitfloats.co.uk/sunsport_arib.html