Tenders: inflatable or folding?

[Metabarca]

I have recently bought a 27' sailing boat which I sail in the northern Adriatic at weekends and longer cruises. A tender is a must if I anchor for the night in one of the many bays here and for trundling to the shops.
However, inflatable dinghies are a bore to tow, more of a bore to inflate and don't enjoy the company of the sharp rocks of Dalmatia. There's not the room for tying one on deck and I certainly don't want to deflate it every day. I've been considering one of these folding boats - either Stowaway (UK) or Porta-bote (USA), which in theory address all my concerns, and would fit beneath a bunk or strapped to the stanchions.
However, does anyone have any practical experience of these as tenders? What are they like to fit together in the narrow space of a cockpit? Do they last? Will other yachties (or worse!) laugh at me?! Any information gratefully received!

Boributai

 

[SloopJohnB]

I saw a wooden folding job at the Southampton boat show last year. It was about 2metres long and looked well made. I was tempted for the same reasons as you but they were over 500 quid. Looked solid but not sure I would have wanted to use in anything other than fairly calm conditions. Worried it might get swamped with not a lot of inherent buoyancy. Only needed a few seconds to assemble and, as you say, could be lashed to guardrail on passage and stored below when necessary. Very light. Would also save quite a bit of locker space and kinder on your back. Let me know if you would like me to get you some partics about it.
Personally, I wouldnt give a monkeys what others think. If you like the idea - go for it!

 

[clyst]

Personally wouldnt bother with folding dinghies. They have no bouyancy if swamped, cost the earth ,wear quickly on the fabric seams and have little load carring capacity compared with either a ridgid or inflatable dinghy of the same size!
Good Luck In what ever you choose.
Ragards
Terry

 

[peterk]

hi, I have seen long distance cruisers with what Germans and Austrians,
(there should be a few of them in the Adriatic...)
call the( folding)
'Banana Boat'.
Ask around for experiences and opinions. They seem fairly well made,
and are said to be unsinkable.
There is also a pretty nifty 2- person
inflatable kayak around that deflates and stows a lot easier
than a regular inflatable...

have fun!

peter, www.juprowa.com/kittel

 

[classworks]

I have one of the Banana boats (bought it secondhand).
It is a great little dinghy and stows nicely along the guard rails on my 24footer. It is a bit of a pig to assemble (really needs two people) especially if left unused for a while. It performs well without the need for an outboard. If you can find one at a good price I would recommend it.

 

[charles_reed]

Banana boats are great - made in Germany and last well - they do cost over 2000 euros.
Whilst designed to be paddled I've seen several with o/b brackets fitted.
The majority of the other collapsible boats I've seen lack adequate freeboard and have no inherent buoyancy.

The main drawback with an inflatable is its lack of directional stability - they have to be o/b powered (in standard form) and are almost impossible to use in high winds.
If you are looking for an inflatable tender for your size of boat, I'd suggest one with a high-pressure inflatable keel and floor. They both motor and row far better than your standard inflatables.
The final alternative is a RIB - with a grp deep v hull. Avon and a couple of other manufacturers have recently introduce ones which fold, reducing their awkward size and shape.
These are, however, serious money and superior IMHO to any other form of tender.

 

[ArthurWood]

Re: Portabote

I recently bought a 8ft Portabote ($1,000), have tried assembling and dismantling, but have not yet used it. It's very quick and easy to assemble and take apart, but quite heavy compared with a 8ft dinghy when assembled. On a 27ft sail boat you might have a problem of finding space to assemble it, you might also want to think about where you will store the seats and transom, as well as the hull. If you decide to buy, get some spare split pins which hold the seats in place and butterfly nuts and bolts, which secure the transom, as I fear they could be easily lost. We have a 3.3hp Mariner o/b which we will use with ours. The 'bote' is not very attractive but we envisage carrying it inland to lakes and rivers in the US. It will be certainly more manoeuvrable(?) and faster than the rollup dinghy we own, and it has a lot more interior space than a 8ft dinghy, but I'm not yet sure which we will take on our Bahamas cruise next year. If you have not already seen it, take a look at the Portabote website:
http://www.portaboat.com/

 

[bob_tyler]

Have a look at this site.

http://www.banana-boat.net/de/index.htm

This boat has been built and sold well for many years, which must say something.

I hope that you understand German as the Union Flag on the site only brings up the message that English is not yet available.

 

[Metabarca]

Thanks to all of you for your responses and offers of assistance.
For what it's worth, here are my conclusions (so far).
There are two widely available plastic folding boats:
Banana boat (D)
Portabote (US)
both sold through Germany. The first is, well, banana-shaped, the second sports a square transom which may give it a slightly greater rigidity (or not).
There is also the
Stowaway (GB)
made of marine ply and looking a bit like a pram.
All things being equal, I would go for the wooden boat as being a finer thing altogether, but things ain't: putting it together in a cramped cockpit would inevitably lead to scrapes and bumps on Mother Boat and/or Baby Boat. But then, the others really do look like bananas!
I'm not too worried about stability and swamping as we rarely get choppy seas here (Adriatic) in the sort of places I might use a tender. I am more interested in 'rowability', on which inflatables score 0 (the distances are often short and it's not worth the hassle of shipping the outboard). I really think these boats offer me a good alternative to an inflatable that would have to be towed everywhere, plus I could conveniently use one on non-sailing weekends to explore the great rivers, lakes and lagoons we have here with an ease of transport no inflatable could offer.
So, probably pricier than an inflatable but as far as I am concerned, much more versatile. Besides, I rather fancy rowing in a banana; as an Englishman, I have a reputation for eccentricity to nurture!

Boributai

 

[bedouin]

As another alternative - Tinker do a "Folding Rib" that could be appropriate. It handles/behaves like a rib but can be deflated and folded into much the same size as a (largeish) inflatable. If you have the space/strength to manage it, it could be the ideal tender.

 

[jeanette]

I've got a folding wooden dinghy, the smallest version cost me £350. It rows very well indeed for a pram-fronted design, it is easy to set up, but thre are issues with it when it gets choppy. I might invest in the optional buoyancy bags next season.

Try http://www.seahopper.homestead.com/frontpage.html. Discounts seem to be easy to come by as the price I paid is a lot less than the one quoted.





Jeanette

 

[Metabarca]

How curious: the same pictures and much of the same text as in the Stowawayboats site. What is their connection, I wander...? Did you buy your tender direct or via a retailer? Can you say anything about the feasibility of putting the tender together within the confines of a cockpit?

Boributai