What Dinghy.

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hlb

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Right, the picture above is what I've got, except it dont look like that anymore, it's four years old, knackered and a strange shade of yellow and dark grey. It started disintigrating after about six months.

Not sure what size it is, but it has an air deck, it's a Suzumar, if your not into bio degradable dont buy one.

I've still got my old avon in the stable, about 16?? years old and still very servicable. Anyway thats to small now.

So what size do you recon the dinghy is, cant remember, boats beam is about 12ft 3in I think. if that helps.

The dinghy is about the right size, so some thing similar.

Do I just pay the money and buy an avon, or did they go bust?? There are a few folk advertising them.

I'll google Suzumar and see if I can find the size, though I cant really bare to look at another one.
 
I was going to say it looks about 2.6/2.7 m. But I guess you don't need to know that now.

I've got a Seago 260 which looks about the same size. It's only a year old now but seems to have coped reasonably well with being slung on the back of the boat and left there. It floats and seems to go ok with a little engine on it.

Think it's got an air floor. To be honest I inflated it in the spring and deflated it a week or so ago in the pouring rain when I was more concerned with getting it in the lazarette than with the finer details of its construction
 
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Do I just pay the money and buy an avon, or did they go bust??

[/ QUOTE ] No they did not go bust but I think you will find that together with Bombard and Typhoon they are part of the Zodiac group. I think what you may have seen recently was a report that they would no longer be producing inflatables at the south Wales plant. I dont know where production has been moved to though.

Avons are among a very few that are still made of Hypalon. Practically all the rest are made of PVC, often hidden behind the trade name of the fabric.

The problem is as you have found the poor resistance of PVC coated fabric to UV light. If you want to leave a dinghy out unprotected from sunlight an Avon or other Hypalon one might be the better, even if more expensive, choice. The alternative perhaps is to opt for a cheaper PVC one but keep it covered when not in use.
 
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the picture above is what I've got, except it dont look like that anymore, it's four years old, knackered and a strange shade of yellow and dark grey. It started disintigrating after about six months.



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Well that's priceless!
Strait from the Horses mouth.
I,ve been complaining about My Forum Burgee for ages /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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Thanks, you have cleared up what I thought. It will just have to be another Avon. The rest are a load of expencive crap.

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That is not strictly true. We recently repaired a Suzmar and were stunned by the poor materials used in it's original construction, so I do not think youc an fairly say it is Avon or nothing.

Do not get me wrong, Avon are a great boat - but there are other options.

It is also not as simple as PVC or Hypalon, yes the latter is a superior material but as you know it comes at a price.

All in all, a <u>good</u> PVC boat is worth considering.
 
I have an unused Avon Redcrest going spare, also a 10 ft grp dinghy in which you could learn to sail as well as row or motor!
 
Completley agree - PVC not neccisarily bad. We have a Valiant rib that sits out all the time - part of the fendering is a litle sticky but the tubes are in fine fettle (about 4 years old).

Just bought a Honwave airdeck 2.7m, well during the latter part of the season. Bigger tubes than the average so it has bags of space and the build quality appears to be very impressive. The Airdeck is a V shape so it isn't bad on the plane - only problem I have had is the deck going down due to leaky valves - don't think it is a major issue as it seems to be when it is on the snap davits i.e. diferent stresses on the deck - I think a little sealant will cure it. Very impressed with overall quality though.
 
Buy an avon ive had em for years, I got a good deal this year from BHG Marine at Bucklers hard, ask for david he did me a great deal on a grey 280 rib, 1 year old hardly used you couldnt tell, also bought a new white 280 rib for a mate.
 
Thats a shame, our Suzumar is probably the same age as the boat so thats 19 years. Yes its a bit scruffy and someone painted it with dulux at some point in the past. It leaks slowly over a week and needs its own pump as they have none standard valves. However it has one redeeming feature, no one is going to nick it.

Tender.jpg


Pete
 
Wonder if they altered the production and went down market for cost. There are a couple of older ones on e bay that don't look too bad, but if its U/S after 4 years that not good. Port Solent have a range of small ones in at the moment between £250 and £300 but as your OP says, what to choose?

Pete
 
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This is the cargo strap, taken in 2006, it had never benn used and was about two years old. It's not worn, it just disintigrated.

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Crikey /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I would get a Wetline, they may not be cheap but at least they don't do that!
 
Meant to say we had a little Plastimo for a while, until the tops of the tubes melted into a sticky goo. It came second hand (cheap) and had been cleaned with something nasty which we couldn't remove. The slatted floor always meant wet feet and shopping, whilst at least the Suzumar had an inflatable floor so you stood half a chance of keeping the shopping dry.

Pete
 
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