Brand and Motors

[Great Lakes]

Hey fellas. I'm joining the dinghy crowd soon. The brands that are sold by local dealers are Highfield with Suzuki and Achilles or Aventus with Tohatsu. Either will be 20hp

Any preferred things I should look for or avoid on boat or motor

Thanks

 

[Gofirstclass]

I haven't heard of Highfield, but have had an Achilles and was very happy with it. I'd buy a Tohatsu in a heartbeat. Owned one and loved it.

 

[Stee6043]

I’ve got a Tahatsu on my Zodiac and love it. Great motor.

You going hard bottom or soft? What size?

 

[Rocket]

I am using AB with a Yamaha. That said, Achilles and Highfield are well built products. I would give the edge to Achilles/Tohotsu as Ive had one one for 4 years and held up well. Highfield is sold by my local dealer and they are nice as well. you have a 390 so go with a 9 foot hard bottom. What are you using for davit?

 

[bobeast]

I have the West Marine hard-bottom. I believe it's made by either Avon or Zodiac. With a Tohatsu 9.9 efi, my max speed has been 22 mph. I've been pretty happy with this combo.

To help get up on plane quicker I added a hydrofoil. The difference was night and day.

 

[Great Lakes]

I’ve got a Tahatsu on my Zodiac and love it. Great motor.

You going hard bottom or soft? What size?

Hard bottom looking at 10’ ish. Good to hear about motor

 

[Great Lakes]

I am using AB with a Yamaha. That said, Achilles and Highfield are well built products. I would give the edge to Achilles/Tohotsu as Ive had one one for 4 years and held up well. Highfield is sold by my local dealer and they are nice as well. you have a 390 so go with a 9 foot hard bottom. What are you using for davit?

I like the Highfield cause of the aluminum and less weight. I have a GHS platform to store it. I’m hoping for 10’4” model

 

[Great Lakes]

Probably go with hard bottom Achilles with 20hp Tohatsu. It sounds like that’s the way to go

 

[Ricochet]

I have the Highfield 290 10-6” with Mercury 15 EFI.....great set up!

Rick

 

[Great Lakes]

I have the Highfield 290 10-6” with Mercury 15 EFI.....great set up!

Rick

I do like the style and looks of the Highfield but my dealer only sells Suzuki's

 

[Ricochet]

My dock neighbor has the Highfield 290 with the Suzuki, Suzuki has been doing the EFI in the small motors the longest, that is also a great setup. I almost went with the Suzuki but have always been a Mercury guy.

 

[Great Lakes]

I just don’t see a lot of them in my area so that makes me take pause

 

[Ricochet]

I have 3 summers on the Highfield, there are a couple of center console Highfields in our marina that are also going on their 4th summer, no issues that I am aware of.

Rick

 

[Irie308]

Had a highfield 9.6 for 4 seasons with no issues. Recently sold it for an AB center console. With the highfield we had a 6 and a 8 hp tohatsu. Went for the 30 hp tohatsu on the new AB as the previous ones performed so well.

 

[Brent Nutting]

Great Lakes, I have the Aventus RIB and run it with a 9.9 Merc. Good dinghy. I would recommend getting a 15hp or larger (if the dink is rated for a bigger one).
We go from Bouvier Bridge Marina all over Anchor Bay. Down to Browns, Deckers, Island Grill, The Raft, Naked Bay, Munchies, ect. We are getting a pretty good sized group of dinghies in our marina and it is a blast to spend the day out in them all over Anchor Bay.
My plan is to sell my towards the end of the year and get a center console dinghy with larger motor.

 

[Brent Nutting]

 

[b_arrington]

I have an AB Ventus 9Vl RIB and have been very happy with it. One of my criteria was to have a light weight, flat floor in the dinghy and AB fit the bill. I have it mated to a 1998 Envinrude 15 hp 2 stroke. I wanted the extra HP but not the weight so sought out the 2 stroke. Before that I had an 8 hp Tohatsu that was good for an older soft bottom boat, but didn't get the RIB up on plain very well. With the Envirude I can hit 26 mph.

Since I got the AB from my local dinghy shop they have started to carry Highfield. They say it's a very good product. For aluminum boats they have switch from stocking AB to Highfield, citing better quality welds, a standard keep guard, and a lower price vs. AB aluminum models.

 

[jzanthony]

We purchased a Gala A330L with a 20HP tohatsu last year and love it.

the tohatsu works flawlessly so far we did rack up quite a few hours on the dinghy between the adults and kids.