Tender Dinghy Advice

[D and G]

Hi,
Trying my best to convince the wifey that a swing mooring on the Cleddau is a good idea,so will need to buy a tender Dinghy, I know Suzuki have just dropped the price on their smaller outboards so will prygo with one of them, but I'm built more like a Rugby Player than a dancer so am I better with an inflatable tender with solid Ali floor for regular use or get a small grp tender. Looking for any tips and advice please

 

[MontyMariner]

How do you envisage usage?
These factors will affect best advice:

• Stored onsite or transported in car
• Left on mooring or hauled aboard or towed
• Distance from launch site to boat

 

[john_morris_uk]

Hi,
Trying my best to convince the wifey that a swing mooring on the Cleddau is a good idea,so will need to buy a tender Dinghy, I know Suzuki have just dropped the price on their smaller outboards so will prygo with one of them, but I'm built more like a Rugby Player than a dancer so am I better with an inflatable tender with solid Ali floor for regular use or get a small grp tender. Looking for any tips and advice please

We’ve got an Airdeck (so reasonably solid) and I’m 95 kg and over 6’2” and it works well. However if I had the choice again we’d have a solid floor. Storage ashore and launching are factors that need accounting for.

 

[pandos]

I am 110kg... and not 7 foot tall.

I use a 2.7 inflatable with plywood slats and plastic wheels on the transom. Easy to put into car. Easy to put onto roof of XC90, easy to hoist on board and easy to roll up on deck so as an all rounder it's excellent.

Given a choice I'd leave a solid fiberglass tender on the shore and maybe an electric outboard. And keep the ice outboard and inflatable on board.

A few guys I encounter do this and it seems very civilized. Charging the battery in the boot of their cars and no petrol smell...

 

[Sandy]

I replaced my old dinghy with plywood slats this year as it finally had given up the will to live with an airdeck and wish I had done it years ago. Plywood and sea water don't mix.

If I replace the outboard it will be with an electric one as they are almost silent.

 

[B27]

If you can store a GRP dinghy on the shore, and leave it on the mooring when you go sailing, that has a lot to recommend it.

 

[billyfish]

I have both, grp tatty 10 foot I leave on the mooring and the beach, and airdeck avon to take with me.

 

[john_morris_uk]

If you can store a GRP dinghy on the shore, and leave it on the mooring when you go sailing, that has a lot to recommend it.

True. Except choose your grp dinghy with care. We bought one once that was so round bottomed it was VERY wobbly and unstable. We sold it and I picked up an old Dory instead which was brilliantly stable but it proved to be waterlogged and extremely heavy. (Another story)

 

[D and G]

How do you envisage usage?
These factors will affect best advice:

• Stored onsite or transported in car
• Left on mooring or hauled aboard or towed
• Distance from launch site to boat

Thanks for your reply, I would transport it via car and it would be on the davits when we are on the boat and distance from shore to mooring if we got the permission approx 400m

 

[D and G]

We’ve got an Airdeck (so reasonably solid) and I’m 95 kg and over 6’2” and it works well. However if I had the choice again we’d have a solid floor. Storage ashore and launching are factors that need accounting for.

Thanks for your reply, probably easier to get an inflatable as could travel in the car when not in use

 

[D and G]

Thanks all for the response, think an inflatable with ali floor and a new Suzuki 2.5bhp ice outboard would suffice, will pop into Dale Sailing and have a look

 

[RivalRedwing]

If you didn't spot it:
Honwave Inflatable Disintegrates - Shame on you HONDA!

 

[Stemar]

What you need depends on where you'll be using it and where you can store it. My sailing club has storage for dinghies, rigid and inflatable. Mine lives deflated and under cover, but, at 2m30, it's a bit small. If I had a bigger one, I'd probably settle for outside storage, as even the wee one gets heavy after a long day. Having had both, for an inflatable, I'd definitely go for an inflatable floor. It does wonders for keeping you and your kit dry. For less sheltered waters, I'd prefer a RIB.

The argument over inflatable v rigid is more nuanced. I don't trust a small rigid dinghy's stability. I've seen one tip its user into the 'oggin when getting onto the pontoon, and I understand that a lady drowned in Portsmouth Harbour doing the same thing a few years ago. If you manage to tip an inflatable, please video the experience, because, entertainment value aside, I want to know how you do it. A bigger rigid dinghy will be more stable, but one I looked at was far too heavy to get in and out of its storage rack.

When our current dinghy gives up the ghost, probably not too long hence, I'll most probably be getting a 2.6-2.8m inflatable with an inflatable floor.

Whatever you get, fit wheels to it. Which ones will depend on your budget and the surface you intend to use it on, but I have these - cheap(ish) and cheerful, and the springs didn't last all that long, but they still do the job. Probably not much good on shingle, but they work fine on most other surfaces.

 

[D and G]

What you need depends on where you'll be using it and where you can store it. My sailing club has storage for dinghies, rigid and inflatable. Mine lives deflated and under cover, but, at 2m30, it's a bit small. If I had a bigger one, I'd probably settle for outside storage, as even the wee one gets heavy after a long day. Having had both, for an inflatable, I'd definitely go for an inflatable floor. It does wonders for keeping you and your kit dry. For less sheltered waters, I'd prefer a RIB.

The argument over inflatable v rigid is more nuanced. I don't trust a small rigid dinghy's stability. I've seen one tip its user into the 'oggin when getting onto the pontoon, and I understand that a lady drowned in Portsmouth Harbour doing the same thing a few years ago. If you manage to tip an inflatable, please video the experience, because, entertainment value aside, I want to know how you do it. A bigger rigid dinghy will be more stable, but one I looked at was far too heavy to get in and out of its storage rack.

When our current dinghy gives up the ghost, probably not too long hence, I'll most probably be getting a 2.6-2.8m inflatable with an inflatable floor.

Whatever you get, fit wheels to it. Which ones will depend on your budget and the surface you intend to use it on, but I have these - cheap(ish) and cheerful, and the springs didn't last all that long, but they still do the job. Probably not much good on shingle, but they work fine on most other surfaces.

Thanks for the tips now I'm armed with more knowledge thanks yet again to this amazing forum will go and see what Marine Superstore has for sale.

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for your reply, probably easier to get an inflatable as could travel in the car when not in use

You will find taking an inflatable back and forth pumping it up each time and particularly deflating and packing away each time you want to use the boat a real chore. see what storage facilities there are there and see if you can get a cheap used 2.7m to start with. Outboard of course is easier to take back and forth.

 

[lustyd]

Looking for any tips and advice please

Under no circumstances buy a Zodiac Cadet. Search my old posts for the extensive list of reasons but suffice to say they are not worthy of their reputation and much of their design is plain bad in the real world.
I wholeheartedly endorse alu floors though, really nice to throw whatever into without worry. We have a 2.7 which manages the two of us plus 4 x 20l tanks (2 fuel and 2 water). Worth noting though that a RIB version is just 5KG heavier

 

[B27]

What people want from a 'tender' seems to differ greatly.
Some people seem to need a minimum of carry 3 bicycles and a dog at 15 knots.

I quite like to have a light dinghy which we can potter to the beach and easily carry it above the high water mark while we go ashore. I'd choose differently if I wanted to anchor the yacht a mile from the pub.
Some people have quite different needs from their 'home tender' to their 'cruising tender' so the two are different boats.

 

[D and G]

You will find taking an inflatable back and forth pumping it up each time and particularly deflating and packing away each time you want to use the boat a real chore. see what storage facilities there are there and see if you can get a cheap used 2.7m to start with. Outboard of course is easier to take back and forth.

Great advice,it was pre emptying my Mrs going for the swing mooring but after tonight's conversation think now it's a none starter, to be honest I talked her out of a caravan into buying the boat so will have to give in and moore her at Tewkesbury Marina for a year until we get a mooring at Neyland Yacht Club, I can feel my testosterone levels as I type

 

[MontyMariner]

I don't trust a small rigid dinghy's stability. I've seen one tip its user into the 'oggin when getting onto the pontoon

not necessarily

 

[D and G]

not necessarily

Would not look pretty hanging on the davits though