AB inflatables

S

steelheder

Member
Sep 1, 2009
40
Puget Sound
Boat Info
290 Sundancer 2000
Engines
Twin 5.7 EFI w/ Bravo 3's
After reading Wetpaints post on the lack of customer service by Walker Bay I have changed my mind and I won't be purchasing one.
My other choice was a AB 9'6" fiberglass botom RIB. It's the Ventus 9 VL.
If anybody has any experience with one or AB, please let me know as $3,000 for a dingy is making me do a little homework.

Russ.
 
Nice inflatable... I am going to the AC Boat Show and looking to purchase a 10' 2" Mercury RIB. They were selling at the NY Boat Show for $1500.
 
Russ, just a thought if you WANT to drop 3 Grand on a Dink... God Bless! I just bought an off brand for for less than $800. Seamax, It's made in China (Yeh I Said China) but it's distributed through a Canadian Co. and as far as I'm concerned Canada has stricter laws about just about anything. Good construction, we'll test it out this spring but for less than $800. complete how can you go wrong!
WWW.Seamaxcanada.com
 
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Thanks for the link Bugsy. I'm thinking I may be going north to the Vancouver show to look at those. I walked around the Seattle boat show in shock at the prices of the RIBs they had. I'm trying to do alot more research than I normally would just because of the price of these things.
Russ.
 
Bugsy,
Those look pretty sweet. What model did you get? I would like to get an inflatable for the summer. I'm thinking air floor so I can toss it up on the bow for long runs. I do like those hard bottom ones though, Ribs?
 
Bugsy24 said:
Russ, just a thought if you WANT to drop 3 Grand on a Dink... God Bless! I just bought an off brand for for less than $800. Seamax, It's made in China (Yeh I Said China) but it's distributed through a Canadian Co. and as far as I'm concerned Canada has stricter laws about just about anything. Good construction, we'll test it out this spring but for less than $800. complete how can you go wrong!
WWW.Seamaxcanada.com
Click to expand...

The appearance looks identical to Saturn Inflatables!
http://www.boatstogo.com/
 
tdschafer said:
Bugsy,
Those look pretty sweet. What model did you get? I would like to get an inflatable for the summer. I'm thinking air floor so I can toss it up on the bow for long runs. I do like those hard bottom ones though, Ribs?
Click to expand...
Todd, I bought the Air (SD) 270 with the High Presure floor, it's an insert as aposed to the wood or aluminum! I've got the Dog's so I wanted something that would stand up to the claws! I saw a post where someone put some cheap vinyl as a floor to prevent holes and such. It's got good width and the tubes are larger than most with the extended cones back aft. We bought (I,the Admiral wasn't asked) a small Suzuki 2.5hp from Portaboat for the Dink 'cause it weigh's less than 30 lb's that was less than $700.. It won't be fast but it will do the job of getting the "Hairy Children" to the beach to do their business! I opened and inflated the dink in the garage after I got it, it comes with alot of extra's like a storage pouch for the main seat and an extra seat up forward that also has a storage pouch. That being said it weigh's about 80lb's.... and comes with a carry bag! Can I fold this thing into the carry bag...? Can't tell you until the summer cause vinyl and cold don't work together.:smt021 It's all about the weight, you've got kids and the Admiral, the Tiny Dinks are great but how many trips do you want to take back and forth for a 50' transet? I am putting in a version of "Dom's Davits" on my swim platform. PM me if your looking for a davit system that you can easily build yourself! So bottom line I spent $1600. for a dink, an outboard, plans, hardware and Seaboard for the davits!
P.S. Since I don't think we're going to make MYC, I think you should come down for the AC RUN!
Regards,
 
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steelheder said:
Thanks for the link Bugsy. I'm thinking I may be going north to the Vancouver show to look at those. I walked around the Seattle boat show in shock at the prices of the RIBs they had. I'm trying to do alot more research than I normally would just because of the price of these things.
Russ.
Click to expand...
Russ, Boat maintenance and upkeep is so expensive! My thought is if the dink last you 5 years it owes you nothing! Especially for >$800.!
 
steelheder said:
After reading Wetpaints post on the lack of customer service by Walker Bay I have changed my mind and I won't be purchasing one.
My other choice was a AB 9'6" fiberglass botom RIB. It's the Ventus 9 VL.
If anybody has any experience with one or AB, please let me know as $3,000 for a dingy is making me do a little homework.

Russ.
Click to expand...
I had a 10VL - best dink I ever had - weighs 125lbs - very dry - mine planed easily with an 8hp 2-stroke and about 300lbs of people/gear - a 15hp would have been ideal - in a moment of weakness i sold the whole rig for somthing "lighter" - what a mistake - the year after that I was back to a RIB - all RIBs are not created equal - the mercs tend to have smaller tubes and you DO get wet and bounced around in conditions where you would not in the AB - there is a reason most "cruisers" ie sailboats - that explore everywhere for months or years at a time mostly have ABs - they are rugged, dependable and great in a chop - if you don't value/need those three things - get the merc or its eqivilant and save the $$$ - as with most things you get what you pay for
 
Bugsy24 said:
Russ, just a thought if you WANT to drop 3 Grand on a Dink... God Bless! I just bought an off brand for for less than $800. Seamax, It's made in China (Yeh I Said China) but it's distributed through a Canadian Co. and as far as I'm concerned Canada has stricter laws about just about anything. Good construction, we'll test it out this spring but for less than $800. complete how can you go wrong!
WWW.Seamaxcanada.com
Click to expand...

Which dealer did you use? I'm finding prices higher than $800.00. How about shipping costs? Where did you get the motor as well?
 
beachcombersc said:
Which dealer did you use? I'm finding prices higher than $800.00. How about shipping costs? Where did you get the motor as well?
Click to expand...
Used the link on the post. We bought during Christmas so the price might be different now!:huh: I just checked the price on line it's gone up. Google Seamax Inflatables and there are lots of options as to resellers and other websites! I got my bought shipped for free and no taxes!!!
 
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beachcombersc said:
Which dealer did you use? I'm finding prices higher than $800.00. How about shipping costs? Where did you get the motor as well?
Click to expand...
There are a bunch of resellers on the web, I saw the boat model i bought on Amazon for $849. Air 270, remember I bought during Christmas so it was probably on sale!:huh:
 
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