prv
Well-Known Member
Overall Ariam is a very nice boat, but she does have one or two weak spots. One of those is the cockpit locker space, which is distinctly limited. So my search for the impossible combination of a tender that we can stow neatly on board but also use to carry the crew ashore continues.
The current solution is a Bombard AX3 airdeck and a Suzuki 2.2hp 2-stroke. These are both excellent pieces of kit, within their limits, and if I only had myself to transport then I think they hit the sweetspot of stowability versus capability. They also work acceptably, if not quite as nippily, with a passenger.
However, I like to sail with at least two friends on board, and when said two friends were with me in Alderney the other week they declined to share the dinghy. They insisted that I play taxi-man and transport them back and forth individually, as they reckoned they would get a soaking if all three of us went together. I suspect they may very well have been right. I should point out that neither I nor one of my sailing friends are by any stretch of the imagination lightweights.
This back-and-forth ferrying turns what should be a quick run-ashore into a major logistics operation - and that was from one of the closer-in buoys at Braye. It would be a real drag across, say, Salcombe.
I can't really fit anything bigger than the AX3 in the locker. So I'm thinking that maybe the solution is to keep the AX3 as the always-available standby but, when cruising further afield to places where I expect a lot of dinghying (I'm thinking particularly of the West Country), strap something bigger down on deck. I'm actually thinking of one of the flollopy but expansive old large Avons, like the Redshank - though of course the quicksand floors would necessitate either wellies or bare feet. Traditionally you also get a wet bum from the tubes, but with the Redshank there should actually be enough thwart space for nobody to be perched on the edge.
Of course, enlarging the dinghy brings thoughts of uprating the engine. I can't imagine an undulating old Avon will plane however much power you throw at it, but I guess a 4hp will at least shuffle it along faster than a 2?
I don't really want to spend too much on this project, since I already have a dinghy and outboard that do their limited jobs well. And you can buy a lot of water-taxi trips (where available) for the money even some second-hand dinghies are asking. Though I always rather resent the loss of independence of the taxi option.
As an aside, my mate keeps threatening to buy a zap-cat (I keep reminding him that he already has a 150hp speedboat) and reckons it could be packed deflated on Ariam's deck for use as a local runabout (bit more than a tender). For example, for exploring among the rocks in the Channel Islands where a fin-keeled visiting yacht fears to go. I'm prepared to entertain the idea if it really does pack small enough, but I strongly suspect there's a lot more rigid structure in those things than he thinks. In any case, the actual buying of it is something of a pipe-dream and he really ought to get on with emptying the rainwater out of the speedboat engine first.
I'd still like to be able to get three or four of us ashore, dry, in one trip.
I guess I don't really have a question. I'm just musing.
Pete
The current solution is a Bombard AX3 airdeck and a Suzuki 2.2hp 2-stroke. These are both excellent pieces of kit, within their limits, and if I only had myself to transport then I think they hit the sweetspot of stowability versus capability. They also work acceptably, if not quite as nippily, with a passenger.
However, I like to sail with at least two friends on board, and when said two friends were with me in Alderney the other week they declined to share the dinghy. They insisted that I play taxi-man and transport them back and forth individually, as they reckoned they would get a soaking if all three of us went together. I suspect they may very well have been right. I should point out that neither I nor one of my sailing friends are by any stretch of the imagination lightweights.
This back-and-forth ferrying turns what should be a quick run-ashore into a major logistics operation - and that was from one of the closer-in buoys at Braye. It would be a real drag across, say, Salcombe.
I can't really fit anything bigger than the AX3 in the locker. So I'm thinking that maybe the solution is to keep the AX3 as the always-available standby but, when cruising further afield to places where I expect a lot of dinghying (I'm thinking particularly of the West Country), strap something bigger down on deck. I'm actually thinking of one of the flollopy but expansive old large Avons, like the Redshank - though of course the quicksand floors would necessitate either wellies or bare feet. Traditionally you also get a wet bum from the tubes, but with the Redshank there should actually be enough thwart space for nobody to be perched on the edge.
Of course, enlarging the dinghy brings thoughts of uprating the engine. I can't imagine an undulating old Avon will plane however much power you throw at it, but I guess a 4hp will at least shuffle it along faster than a 2?
I don't really want to spend too much on this project, since I already have a dinghy and outboard that do their limited jobs well. And you can buy a lot of water-taxi trips (where available) for the money even some second-hand dinghies are asking. Though I always rather resent the loss of independence of the taxi option.
As an aside, my mate keeps threatening to buy a zap-cat (I keep reminding him that he already has a 150hp speedboat) and reckons it could be packed deflated on Ariam's deck for use as a local runabout (bit more than a tender). For example, for exploring among the rocks in the Channel Islands where a fin-keeled visiting yacht fears to go. I'm prepared to entertain the idea if it really does pack small enough, but I strongly suspect there's a lot more rigid structure in those things than he thinks. In any case, the actual buying of it is something of a pipe-dream and he really ought to get on with emptying the rainwater out of the speedboat engine first.
I'd still like to be able to get three or four of us ashore, dry, in one trip.
I guess I don't really have a question. I'm just musing.
Pete
) that matters.
nowadays we have a 10ft Rib in davits on the stern of our Oceanis 36CC and a 10hp Mercury 4 stroke that will take it up to around 20kts if we want
