Which live aboard tender

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mike_bryon

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We plan to invest in a new tender possibly at Southampton.

It’s a hard brief to fill. It will be the equivalent to the family car, especially as we will live in Venice for two years. My wife will use it to commute, it will do the school run ashore. It will need to carry a load and be safe when a sea is running or in heavy weather. We want it to row well, and be light enough to bring onboard. We have lots of deck space so do not need it to pack away.

Our inflatable (a loadstar) is not up to the constant use so we are considering a ridged or semi-ridged. We currently have a 6hp o/b and find it a real pain to lug about. We would be happy to get something that can be pushed by less hp.

We need to get it right so advice is very welcome.
 
We are in a similar position and bought a 3.4m Zodiac with 6hp outboard at the last London Boat Show. The (main) dealer on the Zodiac stand said that it would definitely plane with both of us aboard and it doesn't - despite an engine change and a finer prop. Moral of the story - don't trust a word they tell you on the stand. If I had to make this decision again I would thrash it out in this forum before buying.

Having said that, you need to tell us how many people you need to carry, do you need to plane, are you planning to use it on the open sea to get to the boat at anchor, etc. Is money no object? You mention that a 6hp engine is too heavy - how about the tender; how do you plan to get it aboard?

Finally, have you considered buying something suitable for Venice and then sell again when you leave?
 
We are a family with young children and the problem this creates is that the kids can’t help lift the tender or o/b. (we need something to carry 5 people). We want to try to lift the tender with the boom and a halyard, but hope not to get anything too heavy. Currently we just pull it aboard and this has lead to a few air and even water leaks in the inflatable.

Yes we need something to go ashore in from an open anchorage but do not need to plane.
 
I would tend towards one of the smaller RIBS. If you have plenty of
deck space (?multihull) you could even fit some chocks for the V hull.
Spinny halliard will lift the thing even with OB in plce since eye/U bolts
are fitted to the plastic V.
Caribe are good but not displayed at SBS last year. You can only choose
from whats available. From my experience cheapest is not best!
I have a Suzumar which is quite good quality for the price, but I'm not
sure they make RIBS.
PS my boat is at Monfalcone between Venice and Trieste.
 
Mike,

sorry do not know what exact model would suit best, just a couple of thoughts
1.in the lagoon and especially in the main canals there is almost always some decent chop, and lots of very confused waves from all the powerboats wash: too little an engine may not be enough, have a look at the leisure boats in the canals (not the professionals) and even the smallest usually have 10hp

2.in winter you will spend at least a couple of months with freezing weather: going to school in the morning and getting all wet and half frozen might spoil what would otherwise be a wonderful experience; a tender with some shelter or at least not too low freeboard would be better

enjoy anyway !
 
The best one I used was a Caribe (small I think less than 3.0m) with a Yamaha 9.9.

We made a simple harness so that we could lift it onto stern rails with the mainsheet pulley, which was on a snap shackle to traveller, then as others have said hoisted it using spiny halyard for security or stowage on fore deck.

I dont think the 9.9 was much heavier than a 4 or 5 hp.

In nmy view anything bigger than the small 2.5's and you need harness and pulley set up to malke it easy and safe to lift the motor onto the boat.

So thats my opinion, and your sure to get everything from...."I have a kenwood chef with prop", to "inboard engines are best"
 
Thanks so far, Caribe list polymarine as their uk agent but I have just spoken to them and they are no longer. They say no one is at the moment.

They recommend a boat made from hyplon not pvc, and say the best material is made by a French company, ponell or something like that. The far east material is they say not as nearly as good.
 
Have you looked at the Walker Bay RIDs (Rigid Inflatable Dinghy) ? I looked at them myself but decided against because I wanted something that would plane. They are not cheap and will not plane but I think would pretty much fill your requirements...... www.walkerbay.com

Paul.
 
In a recent YM test the Lodestar came out tops but they were doing PVC tenders. However, Lodestar do a hypalon version (it must be hypalon for the wear and tear). I would be interested to know what was wrong with the Lodestar as we were planning to buy one at SBS - probably a 2.9m.
 
I just spoke to an inflatables dealer in Miami and they say the Caribe is best with a GRP floor but the Achilles is better with the inflatble floor. I also spoke to Caribe and there are no European dealers so can only ship from US which makes it a non-starter.
 
hi phil


Probs we have had with our loadstar, the air deck floor while it gives good stability under engine has proved prone to damage and hard to repair.

The bow lifting ring has chafed through

One rowlock has broken

Lots of abrasions, due to our less than respectful use.

it is a good boat and i do not want to be too harsh but she is imho not really up to the live aboard lifestyle.
 
You might want to have a look at the Tinker folding rib while you are there.

It is not the lightest of boats but I can pull mine up onto deck on my own.

It rows extremely well. There is a sailing kit (Loads of fun) and a life raft kit available if you want them.

I use a Honda 2.5 to power mine which gets it along OK but not up onto the plane. If I had my druthers I would have got a bigger engine, although I am very pleased with the Honda.
 
Walker Bay

If you get one, it should be the bigger size. One drawback with them is the relatively low freeboard so they'll get very wet in a chop. The inflatable collar is a good idea.

The almost favourite choice among the many liveaboards I've met is a small RIB. Lots of carrying capacity and the option to go fast if you want it.
 
"what did you get?"

I got a Mako RIB off ebay. It is Hypalon and very well made but a bit heavy. At 3.0m, though it does fit on the foredeck, it is a bit too big for comfort and rather gets in the way so I am thinking of replacing it.

I have seen a small RIB with an aluminium hull which was a little smaller (2.7m I think) and MUCH lighter so I will be looking for something like that at the boat show, though I have been told that they are about half the price in the States so I may decide to make do until we get over there.

Paul.
 
We have had about five different tenders in the past 10 years. We recently purchased an Avon RIB lite 3.1 they are more money but repairing the cheaper ones can be difficult. We spend most of our time in the sun and hyperlon is reported to be the best material, time will tell. I went for the RIB lite because its only 40 Kg and will plane two up with out 8 HP outboard.
 
Some people manage to sleep under the thwart of a Mirror, but I think you might struggle a bit with a family.

Dougal Robertson and his family inc. whipping boy did live in a tender for 30 days or so.
 
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