How much do the aluminum floor panels in a dinghy weigh?

[Ozshadow]

I was looking at a regular 10' dinghy with an inflatable keel and aluminum panel floor boards. The thing weighed 140lbs.

Just how how much do those floor panels weigh? Most wood or inflatable bottoms I have seen weigh half as much.

 

[Stee6043]

11lbs in the Zodiac 310 (10' inflatable). With the ALU floor it weighs 88lbs. I bought the inflatable floor and come in at 77lbs.

 

[Henry Boyd]

We had a number of inflatables (wood and aluminum floor panel, and RIB hull designs) over the years as beach boats just for getting to the beach. The basic need was to operate as ferry between the house and the beach. The aluminum Zodiac floor is fantastic, better than any wood floor, or inflated floor, and a close second to a RIB in terms of stability of the deck. We had both the 15' Zodiac sport model with alu floor and the similar size Rib. They were both pretty close in terms of stability. Although I preferred the sport as it had more deck space and made a better cargo carrier. Two big issues for these as a dinghy; 1) the aluminum panels weigh quite a bit & 2) they are a bear to remove and install making on board knockdown and assembly un realistic in contrast to the inflatable and wooden panel floors.

As for the weight, I don't think the difference in weight is as large when the wooden floor design is such that you end up with the same level of inflexibility and stability. That said there are many more flexible wood floor designs that if you don't mind the boat bending when you go over a swell, are much lighter than aluminum.

Its all a big trade off; weight vs overall hull rigidity.

Henry

 

[Ozshadow]

We were looking at this one, just $100 less. I think the weight is just too much for what I want. https://www.costco.com/Hydro-Force-Mirovia-Pro-Inflatable-Boat.product.100341175.html