Tender you can row, add outboard or sail...

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You can't really compare a Tinker with a Redstart. When I had to motor > 1 mile to my mooring in Langstone Harbour the Redstart would have been totally inappropriate (in fact I am very suspicious of fitting any outboard to the Redstart).

The Redstart is great as a compact little dinghy for rowing ashore in a quiet harbour but it struggles against any form of current or tide (even in the Beaulieu River) which makes me very wary of using it even to row ashore when anchored any distance offshore.

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My Avon sat on top of the boat uncovered - just folded and lashed down for years ... when needed - I would unfold, pump up and use. The Mariner 2 would push it fine in Langstone, Yarmouth ... Beaulieu even ...
When I first got it - it came with a 4.5 Johnson twin on the back ... now that was daft !! But the guy had made solid floor for it - which transformed the whole dinghy .....

I was in Langstone at Tudor for a number of years ... have motored in dinghy to Hayling ferry pub in good and bad weather .... (not always from Tudor !)
 
Who says you can't make any inflatable sail? I have a Campari sailing conversion that I have put on a number of different barrage balloons.

They don't sail well, but they do sail! They point about as well as any square rigger despite loose footed lug rig. Main problem is that the size of the barge boards is too small for larger tubed rubber ducks so absolutely TONS of leeway.
 
We had a redstart on LizzieB. It motored fine, though obviously not as well as a mini rib or similar. The two main factors for good motoring we found were
1. Pump the tubes up really well

2. Put any heavy bags or gear length ways in the bottom of the boat.

We bought an Avon airdeck with inflatable keel which had far superior motoring capabilities.
Ended up selling it as it was heavy, harder to stow and too much bother to assemble and inflate.

The redstart would have us in the pub before we got the smart jobby in the water. So out of retirement it came.
No Contest /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
There have been a number of reports of boats like the Redstart doing a backflip under power - so I haven't dared put my heavy 4HP on the back. I keep meaning to get a lighter weight 2.5HP job and try that but at the moment I use it so rarely that it is hardly worth the cost or the storage space.
 
As an ex-Tinker owner and I can confirm that they sail, sort of. Like searush I found that they sail in spite of, rather than because of, their form and in winds over 3/4 tacking back into the wind just doesn't happen, the leeway cancels out any forward motion.

I know that some love them; personally, I found that they try to be too many things (tender, sailing craft and liferaft) and fail in all respects other than that, for an inflatable, they row quite well and plane tolerably well without many HPs.

You'll probably guess that I wasn't too upset when it was washed off the foredeck in a gale /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
"You'll probably guess that I wasn't too upset when it was washed off the foredeck in a gale "

I would be unless I got Insurance money for it - then I'd be ecstatic !!

Your post basically agrees with what I found with them .... luckily I knew someone who had one, he raved about it (apar from cost !) and I wanted to see why ... we used to ferry people around one time and I can say that probably more than half reckoned it was not quite what they read about .... Ummmm basically got the thumbs down.
Interesting that next time people got their own dinghys out and pumped up !

I believe that Tinker are not allowed to advertise their stuff as Life-saving anymore ? And may have stopped production of the one in question - that people refer to as the Life-Raft ?
 
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There have been a number of reports of boats like the Redstart doing a backflip under power - so I haven't dared put my heavy 4HP on the back. I keep meaning to get a lighter weight 2.5HP job and try that but at the moment I use it so rarely that it is hardly worth the cost or the storage space.

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I'm sure I could find a home for it if you wish ?

Let's be honest ... ANY inflatable will back-flip given enough ... even those with transom sponsons .. Any person NOT sitting forward in an inflatable in any wind is risking it. I have a broom handle extension for my outboard and with my 100kg feel quite safe in mine.

In fact some years ago in Yarmouth Hbr ... boats were breaking free ... I snapped one head rope ... we were tied up to pontoon and needed the dinghy to get to and from shore ... it was a serious Severe Gale ... never seen the harbour like it before ...
Because we had the Avon - Svet and I used to motor across to shore and later back .. dinghy would be absolutely swamped to gunwhales in water .. engine getting soaked ... but still it plugged through it all ... If I had a rigid dinghy ... I would never have attempted it.

Backflips are often due to improperly loaded, over-pressed inflatable ... not the fault of the dinghy.
 
I think they do still make that kit - but it has never been described as a life-raft. It is an interesting concept but having evaluated it in some detail I felt that it was flawed in that it took a bit of effort to convert the boat from tender mode to survival mode which seemed to make genuine dual usage fiddly.

Given the choice of abandonning ship to a tinker traveller with the survival kit and a standard liferaft I would certainly choose the tinker (especially if I had the sail with me /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )
 
I never felt there was any risk of flipping the traveller - however it was loaded and whatever I did with it. You could even stand on the sponson without any problem. I do find the Redstart a lot less stable
 
I think we can safely say - we will never agree on this ... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

But if everyone only liked one thing - would be a strange boring world.

Have you tried the Redstart with a solid floor ... not slats ... it transforms it amazingly.
 
Portland Pudgy?

Anybody tried the Portland Pudgy?

www.portlandpudgy.com

If you can get over the name and initial apperance of the red/yellow ones, it does seem quite interesting - especially the fact that all gear (including mast) is stored away on board, even when rowing/motoring.
 
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