Zodiac Tenders

[Robin]

We are thinking of a Zodiac tender with the airdeck floor (Fastroller) but these are quite a bit pricier than the slatted floor version and also surprisingly are heavier. What is the general opinion of these, is the air floor best, is the extra weight a problem and who gives the best discount on Zodiacs? I like the idea of a rigid floor after years with our Avon doughnut and as time goes by find the wobbly floor harder to accept, though our 10ft Redseal would appear lighter than it's wood transomed cousins.

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[malcolmgrant]

I have an Avon with a blow up floor and its very good, rolls up nicely for stowage and amost as stiff as a wooden floor but much better in many respects.

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[Stemar]

I have a small Zodiac with a slatted floor. It was relatively cheap, rolls up easily and fits in the boot of my Peugeot 106, which is tiny, and I can carry it on my own.

The downside is that it will only just plane one up with my 3.5 HP outboard, and two up forget it. It's also a handful in a blow and steers like a hovercraft - point it in a different direction and it'll pick up speed in that direction and lose it gently in the original one. I can live with all this, but would consider one with an inflatable floor if I could afford it next time

I'm wondering about making a ply floor with a bit of a V forward, but am a bit concerned about chafe. Any thoughts on this anyone?

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[MartinGPerry]

I have had a fastroller for some years and have nothing but praise for it.
It planes easily with 2 up with a 5HP motor, is very directionally stable, rows easily and has proven to be very robust. Its also very dry when motoring and its still as good as new

Downside of ours, they may have improved them by now, the centre blow up seat and no aft thwart makes it tricky when motoring one up. I tend to sit on the floor when motoring fast



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[Wiggo]

I did just that a couple of years ago - softwood keel and ribs, and steamed ply top and bottom, then filled with expandy foam and grp tape on the seams. Made a lot of difference to the handling. Only thing I learned the hard way was that to make it work properly, you need a big triangle of inflatey boat material glued to the underside of the bow of the tender for the base to slot into, otherwise the water goes between your new hull and the bottom of the tender when you try and go anywhere. No problems with chafing, though. Mine was attached to the transon with webbing straps, FWIW.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/graham.wignall/boats/eulimene600x800.jpg>The old and the new</A>

 

[Cantata]

We're lookig at tenders at the moment. Sold our old doughnut with the old boat, inherited an Avon with inflatable floor with the new boat. Big downside of this lovely Avon is the weight - 31 kilos on our bathroom scales. With just the 2 of us this is just too big a lump to heave out of the locker, get back aboard etc so we have decided to get rid of it and buy a 'roll-up' again, for the sake of my back! We don't use a dinghy much, so not bothered really about the extra benefits of the inflatable floor - in our situation the benefits do not outweigh the extra weight!

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[Robin]

I notice length for length the Avons are heavier than similar style Zodiacs. Which Avon do you have with the inflatable floor? We have a Redseal 10ft Avon doughnut that really is OK except for the wobbly floor (got a wobbly leg at present) and we also have a Tinker Traveller with full sailing kit (for sale too.....). The Tinker is much better from the wobbly floor & leg point of view but doesn't fit in our cockpit lockers without first removing everything else. I was hoping the Zodiac or similar might replace Tinker AND Avon as well as stow short term inflated on the foredeck without blocking the anchor locker like the Tinker does.

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[Talbot]

I upgraded this year from an old 2.6m with slatted floor to a 2.6 fast roller At last a dinghy what goes where you point it, is rowable, and performs MUCH better in any form of waves than the slatted floor version. As an added bonus, any water that makes its way into the dinghy disappears under the inflated floor. Yes it is heavier than the slatted floor variant, and for that reason I have bought some wheels which will also protect the small keels underneath - but not the zodiac ones the dinghy dolly type (available from Seamark Nunn.

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[Robin]

That's the one we are thinking about too, can you lift it on board singlehanded easily? Where did you buy yours from?

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[Talbot]

There is no getting away from the fact that it is quite a bit heavier than the slatted version. For a number of reasons I am fitting some davits to make it easier to cope. I have been having some back problems anyway, but the fast roller is wider than the older boat so It was not fitting where I used to keep the older one - regardless, I feel a lot more confident in its sea keeping capability and am content with the extra weight.


I bought it at LBS from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.willsmarine.co.uk/products/boats/zodiac/portable_inflatables/index_11.html>Wills Marine Ltd </A> at Kingsbridge Devon

 

[Oldhand]

Changed our ancient Redcrest for a 2.6m Fastroller last year. Huge improvement and makes a pretty decent little motor boat. If going into waves just trim weight aft a bit and one stays dry with the throttle open. We fold and stow in a locker after use and haven't found the weight to be a problem, although it would be more difficult to manouvre single handed than the Redcrest. Blowing up the floor/keel to the recommended pressure can keep you fit so have bought an electric inflator for this year so that only final "pressurisation" has to be done by person power.

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[Robin]

Thanks Talbot. £400 and another 4kgs over the equivalent slatted floor, wow! I still like the idea though.

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[Robin]

Thanks for that, our Redseal is better than our earlier Redcrest (still got it in the garage, 1974 vintage!) but the Zodiac might do better still. Did you get a good deal on yours anywhere?

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[SydneyTim]

Just been through all this and bought the Zodiac with the full floor boards and air keel.

Had an old slatted floor one and everything gets wet and it doesn't plane, hence for long term cruising bit the bullet for the upgrade.

Therefore came to plywood floor or airdeck. My research indicated that the plywood was longer lasting and planed the same, but the trade off is it's longer to assemble and heavier.

On the weight front we just carry the boards and dinghy separately ie the missus carries the boards and I carry the dinghy rather than carrying half each of the lighter one so no difference.

The assembly issue comes down to how many times you inflate/deflate it, versus the price saving. Not that big a problem to inflate the version with the floor boards anyway and when cruising ours stays inflated much of the time, so that coupled with a $1000 price differential sold me on the floor boards.

I was told by the dealer that the air floor is a pain in the coral areas as bits of coral get undewr the floor and then when you put something heavy in it punctures the floor.

I tell you in December whetehr I still agree with this after 6 months cruising!

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[Robin]

Thanks Tim

I must admit I hadn't even thought of the plywood floor version as an option, but now I will have to look at that as well! The price difference here from slatted to airdeck is £400 and you can buy some dinghies for that!
I read an excellent article in a French mag about tenders and they also questioned the value of the air floor bearing in mind the cost, though admitted there were significant performance differences. I like the idea that the air floor is slightly higher (a bit less to climb up on board) as well as being rigid which must make getting in/out easier than from our wobbly Avon which has no slats or anything. The Coral bit or at least the foreign bodies possibility is something to remember and air floor or plywood would make it a good idea to clean under the floor occasionally.

Robin

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[BlueSkyNick]

We bought our Fastroller 260 at LIBS, from Pennine Marine (have contact details at home) - reasonable deal and very good service.

Christened it in Weymouth harbour at Easter, witnessed by other forumites !

Handles very well on the water, with a 3.3hp engine, only at about 60% power.

With regard to weight, I can man handle it over the side or transom on my own - but I am 6'6. It depends on your own physique versus the design of your boat.

I can't compare the performance to other similar, not having been in any, but we prefered the design features against cheaper models, without the expense of going to an Avon.


Should also add that it sits nicely on the foredeck fully inflated on a 34ft boat - that was the main reason I went for the 260.
<hr width=100% size=1>As one bar of soap said to another - "That's Life Boy"<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by BIGNICK on 06/05/2004 16:29 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[ChrisE]

We had a fastroller 320 for three years before some b****r stole it. Technically a very good craft, not made of quite the robust material as the Avons but about half the price. I'm not quite as big as Nick but I could lug it about fairly easily and boy did it go well on plane with an 8hp o/b even two up with lots of gear. We found the inflated floor stable and a good load carrier taking four of us plus gear with no sign of deformation. The only downside was the amount of time it took to pump it up given that you had to fool about with a footpump with three gears on it.

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[Oldhand]

Got mine on a LBS deal from Pennine Marine, www.penninemarine.com, great people to do business with. Sold the Avon well via an advert in a local chandelry.

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[Robin]

Thanks, I've looked and they are not only the only ones who quote prices at all on their website but the only ones I've seen doing discount. The prices are better than VAT free (so called!) in Guernsey, I asked out of curiosity last September.

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[domlee]

Check USA prices - these vessels are excluded from the RCD shenagegans - even with the cost of delivery, you may be pleasantly surprised!

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