ACK! My Dinghy budget just went out the window...

SkipBarnes

New Member
Oct 3, 2006
73
I had a 1994 Mercury 310 dinghy last year and it got used as a fender for someone passing my my boat and was rendered 'unrepairable'

That's the bad news.

Good news: BoatUS insurance paid for the dinghy

So I got a comparable unit - a Zoom 310, new, in the box. Set it up this past weekend and tried it out, took my college age daughter out for a leisurely spin.

Bad news: I tried to row around the marina and the pads that the oars pop into will flop over (hard to describe) and lock the oar in place. I had a boat go by and offer to tow me back. I of course said no and wished I hadn't - the oar locked as I tried to move away from shore and I ended up breaking about 2/3 of the blade right off.

So... As I watched the end of the oar float away, I did my best to catch up with it with one remaining oar and finally got it. Then realized that the rest of the broken oar had fallen out of the oar lock when my back was turned, sneaky thing, and was even further away. I used the remainder (the tip) of the oar to catch up with THAT. At this point, the wind had blown me even further away from my slip. I paddled about 0.5 miles with the tip of the broken oar. Against the wind. And uphill, I swear.

Even though they infer that the Zoom is a real Zodiac, the quality just isn't there. The oar 'pins' had sharp edges on them and the oars themselves seemed really cheap. It's going back and I'll be getting a REAL Zodiac, a C310S Cadet. It has bigger tubes, more motor capacity, and I hope a better rowing system.

The dealer was nice enough not refuse to take it back in trade for a nicer unit, but the Zoom was a 2006 closeout and now all the 2006 Zodiacs are gone. So my budget went from <$1000 to about $1800+ for a real Zodiac. They don't even have one right now.

I don't have an outboard for it yet. That was in the budget when it was a cheap dinghy but the boost ate up all my $. Either I'll be paddling a lot this year or I'll have to take another bite out of the checking account which is already suffering early boating season blight.

Grrr....

Moral of the story - Don't buy a dinghy without a sea trial & don't go cheap. I'll be test driving the Zodiac before I put it on the back of my boat.

The Zoom was an OK boat as a toy. It probably would have been fine with a small motor as a marine golf cart to be used in the marina but I actually rowed my old one for the exercise. You can't do that with the Zoom.

We'll see how the Zodiac stacks up.

Just had to vent. Thanks for listening.
 
Skip, Good story and a important post for people looking to buy a small Dinghy. :thumbsup: JC
 
Update: I just picked up a Zodiac Cadet C310S - the difference is night and day in terms of quality. It was considerably more $ but worth it, IMHO. The oar locks are as solid as they could be. This weekend I'll pop my newly acquired Eska 7.0 (Don't laugh - $50 doesn't get you a whole lot these days) and see how she does under power.

I'll spend the next year or so trying to find a Honda 9.9 for a couple hundred $ :smt001 :smt001 :smt001
 

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