sportyak bic = best tender ?

I gave a description of Sportyak disappointment elsewhere in the YBW forums. If I come across it i'll link to it here.
The be all and end all of it was they used to be my heroes but now they are my doubts.
 
A friend has one which he uses on his fishing lake. Fine for that, but I wouldn't be keen using it on open water.
 
i have one and have to say they are very stable for stepping in and out of.
they are ok with 2 adults max, but anymore and they are a bit iffy.
i have a nasty stretch of water between the slip and my boat and i have to say it stands up surpringly well to it with just me in the dinghy but would be less inclined to have two in when its choppy.
wheels are excellent and stand up well to the thugs jumping up and down on them where i keep it on the slip
 
Anecdote from 19hundred and frozen to death. Picture, Penzance Harbour (the drying one). My mate and I were going out to his dad's Iroquois in a 2metre Sportyak. Got there, he said " you ready? I'm getting out". I prepared myself for the athwartships movemnet I was expecting, he got out, Sportyak bows went vertical, I went for a swim. They are the work of Satan and to me fit in the same category as beach shop inflatables.
 
I use the smaller plastimo dinghy - nice and light for slipway, has wheels, can take 2 adults, will accept an outboard, can be rowed reasonably well, and is relatively cheap, its also quite stable ro stepping in and out, but has no bouancy, and with 2 adults, the amount of freeboard is not as much as I would wish. river /small lake ok, rough water a real no-no.
 
That's the thing about Sportyaks they won't sink. I've rowed out through two foot surf with a second person in the Sportyak when one wave came right across us but we were able to keep rowing out to the anchorage while my mate used a bowler hat to bail.
I have often used a Sportyak in stormy conditions, really choppy water is not a problem, when on your own. I could row a Sportyak in conditions when I am sure I could not do so in an inflatable. I have also used Sportyak as a mud sledge, with crew sitting inside and me pushing from behind or both pushing but using the back as a support in case sinking in too deep.
I'm still a fan but my new one broke and it p****d me off when the supplier brushed me off. So much for loyalty to a brand I would say don't buy a new one, they are not manufactured as well nowadays, get an old second hand one.
 
in reply to botheras- it suprises me because never had an expierience like that, my dad is a portly 19 stone and im 16 and its never done anything like that when we are in it.
it just sits a bit bows down.
never had any probs with the toughness of mine either, its been well abused over the years as well
 
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That's the thing about Sportyaks they won't sink. I've rowed out through two foot surf with a second person in the Sportyak

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Horses for courses. I wuld not dream of exposing the plastimo to those conditions, thats why I have a zodiac. But for the job of launching on a rough old slipway and getting out to the boat abt 50m away, and for standing up and getting out onto the pontoon, I reckon the plastimo takes a lot of beating.
 
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