Want a new tender. Advice please

AB or Caribe, you know it makes sense. They are the only real game in town, as said the work-horse of the Caribbean and for good reason, you should get 8-10 years out of one in the Med', they recon 5-8 in the Caribbean.

A 10' Walker Bay with the high performance sail kit is great, very pricey, fantastic fun, easy to row and **** with a 6hp (4 stroke) outboard! Not a good option if you have to move more than 2 crew at any given time, we struggled with 2 small kids plus the Mrs and I. Sold it it and bought a RIB instead - best thing we ever did.
 
There is a nice buisness out there if someone wanted to be a repeatable Caribe dealer in the EU.........



the Caribe is 4 times heavier than the 3D dinghy!!!

Caribe rib:
Length : 8'3" - 2.54m
Width : 5'6" - 1.68m
Max Persons : 3 to 4
Max HP / kW : 10 / 7.4
Weight : 127lbs / 58kg
Shaft-Eng : S



3D250 - Length 2500mm. Beam 1630mm. Weight 13.9Kg. Max HP 5.0. Packed Dimensions 980 x 480 x 280mm
http://www.piplers.co.uk/chandlery/...r-toys/3d-marine-superlight-inflatable-tender
 
the Caribe is 4 times heavier than the 3D dinghy!!!

Caribe rib:
Length : 8'3" - 2.54m
Width : 5'6" - 1.68m
Max Persons : 3 to 4
Max HP / kW : 10 / 7.4
Weight : 127lbs / 58kg
Shaft-Eng : S



3D250 - Length 2500mm. Beam 1630mm. Weight 13.9Kg. Max HP 5.0. Packed Dimensions 980 x 480 x 280mm
http://www.piplers.co.uk/chandlery/...r-toys/3d-marine-superlight-inflatable-tender

Apples and pears.

The Caribe / AB is a RIB will take a 15hp, made of UV resistant hypalon type material, will be 4 times as fast and at a guess will last 3 to 4 times longer.

Where the cruisers gather most people gravitate to RIBs, a few people persist with Walker Bays and they do sail after a fashion. If used as an everyday workhorse carrying 2 people plus groceries in significant chop you need the additional tube. I have seen two sink when they got swamped.

You see the odd soft bottom inflatable often old Avons but the non hypalon dinks fall apart in 2 to 3 years under tropical sun.
 
My 9ft Caribe rib with a 10hp two stroke engine does 20knots with just me in it. With the wife we do 17 knots. It is very safe in a chop. Once you migrate away from slow wet dinks to a capable rib it changes your perception of distance. We used to always look for a hole in the anchorage close to the dinghy dock so we didn't have to go too far in our tinker traveler with the 3.5hp engine. Now we look for the best spot to anchor. The half mile to the dinghy dock doesn't even factor.
We do lots more exploring with the Caribe than we ever did before.
The 10hp two stroke only weighs 26kg. We can't plane with three on board. I would like a 15hp but they are heavy. In a chop, planing is the way to go as you stay dry in the rib. The caribe tubes are huge. This is the reason why they are a dry boat with huge buoyancy.
We have a home made anti-cavitation plate on the engine that gets it on the plane faster and keeps the bow down when the sea is choppy. Makes a big difference to safety.
 
My 9ft Caribe rib with a 10hp two stroke engine does 20knots with just me in it. With the wife we do 17 knots. It is very safe in a chop. Once you migrate away from slow wet dinks to a capable rib it changes your perception of distance. We used to always look for a hole in the anchorage close to the dinghy dock so we didn't have to go too far in our tinker traveler with the 3.5hp engine. Now we look for the best spot to anchor. The half mile to the dinghy dock doesn't even factor.
We do lots more exploring with the Caribe than we ever did before.
The 10hp two stroke only weighs 26kg. We can't plane with three on board. I would like a 15hp but they are heavy. In a chop, planing is the way to go as you stay dry in the rib. The caribe tubes are huge. This is the reason why they are a dry boat with huge buoyancy.
We have a home made anti-cavitation plate on the engine that gets it on the plane faster and keeps the bow down when the sea is choppy. Makes a big difference to safety.

My experience too. The Caribe is A1. Our 10 foot ish one would regularly do 13 knts. with an Evinrude 6hp two stroke twin and was very dry.

During sailing off Anguila I piloted a Caribe with a very old 20hp Tohatsu with the skipper wakeboarding behind-it really was fast for a low powered dink.
They are very dry too.
 
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