Sea Change
Well-known member
I'm seeing an increasing number of these lightweight inflatable twin-sponson tenders going around. Takacat appear to have been the original design but True Kit appear to be doing something similar.
It's certainly an interesting idea. Our current RIB is an AB 8.5UL, with an 8hp Enduro. It's pretty good, and light enough that SWMBO and I can just about dead lift it and stagger a few paces. Most of the time it's ok to just drag it. It will do 14kt with just me onboard, and 12kt if I add the cabin boy. But if we try to carry a total of more than about 100kg, we're not going to plane and we're down to 6.5kt with a huge wash.
The much lighter and more easily driven Takacat might offer the possibility of getting on the plane with all three of us aboard, ideally using the existing 8hp but if necessary I could upgrade to a 9.8hp at no extra weight.
I expect the major downside is durability and carrying heavy loads- but we have our sailing dinghy for that, and it's very good at it. So we'd have one slow utility dinghy and one fast, light dinghy.
Anybody on here using one of these new styles of tender? Crucially, will I get one to plane on <10hp with three people aboard?
It's certainly an interesting idea. Our current RIB is an AB 8.5UL, with an 8hp Enduro. It's pretty good, and light enough that SWMBO and I can just about dead lift it and stagger a few paces. Most of the time it's ok to just drag it. It will do 14kt with just me onboard, and 12kt if I add the cabin boy. But if we try to carry a total of more than about 100kg, we're not going to plane and we're down to 6.5kt with a huge wash.
The much lighter and more easily driven Takacat might offer the possibility of getting on the plane with all three of us aboard, ideally using the existing 8hp but if necessary I could upgrade to a 9.8hp at no extra weight.
I expect the major downside is durability and carrying heavy loads- but we have our sailing dinghy for that, and it's very good at it. So we'd have one slow utility dinghy and one fast, light dinghy.
Anybody on here using one of these new styles of tender? Crucially, will I get one to plane on <10hp with three people aboard?
