Sadler
Member
- Nov 29, 2006
- 907
- Boat Info
- 2005 Nordic Tugs 37 FB
Mercury RIB dinghy with Honda 2 hp 4 stroke,
sold: 1997 290DA,
- Engines
- Cummins QSB 380
Sorry for the length of this post. It's long partly because it spans 5 or 6 years, and partly because I thought some of you looking for the right dinghy for your needs, might find the details of my search useful in avoiding the mistakes I made.
I've been on the perfect dinghy quest for sometime. There are some great beaches around Charleston that are always calling me, and we are now boating more and more with our dogs who require shore access. My 290 is a little too big to beach, and the 5-6 foot tidal swings where I boat mean that once beached, it's a little tense keeping tabs on the boat to ensure it doesn't end up aground or adrift.
My quest was complicated by the fact that I did not want to keep the dinghy on davits since my 290 is fairly small for a dinghy'd boat, and the rear access and view would be severely obstructed on this relatively small boat by about any dinghy. Therefore, I set out to find an "invisible" dinghy for my boat--one that would not be in the way of using the boat--pretty much "invisible" when stowed, and yet would always be quickly available when we wanted to use it. It had to be powered since the currents here are often too strong to row against. And it needed to carry 2 adults and a small child safely to shore. (As the years went by, this requirement inflated to 2 adults and a not small child plus two dogs.)
My first try came about 5 years ago when I decided inflatable kayaks would do the trick. Two of these I reasoned could be stored under my aft cockpit seats since they are not one big package, but two separate fairly small deflated units. So, I bought two West Marine inflatable dinghies. They stowed nicely under the seats, could carry the three of us ashore, and were not too expensive.
But after we used them for awhile, it became clear that they were too unstable for my wife, and the above mentioned need for power became evident when we tried to paddle against a strong current. Thus, inflatable kayaks became failure #1.
A year or two passed, and a boating friend strongly recommended a Porta-bote. These are the folding rigid hull dinghies. I measured, and determined a Porta-bote would mount on the walk around lashed up against a side bow rail--not invisible, but not too bad at view obstruction.
The Porta-bote rode well and would really go with a 3.5 hp motor. After removing the motor, the weight for launch/retrieve was no problem I had correctly concluded. However, I had not counted on the poor body position in reaching out over the bow rail so as not to scratch the hull of of the 290 when hauling the boat in or out by its lines. It took two strong men to get this done, and unless I brought along an extra set of hands, my wife and I were not going to make this work. The Porta-bote was sold. This was failure #2.
My next try was going to get very close: an Achilles LT-2 inflatable with a 2 hp. Honda. It stowed nicely under the aft cockpit seats, and was easy to inflate.
However, it was really too small for 2 adults and a child, and worse the 2 hp Honda caused the transom to bend under moderate to full power. Therefore, I quickly deemed it unsafe, and sold the dinghy. Failure #3. I kept the motor. You can see the transom bending back in this photo:
My next try so far appears to have succeeded. It's a Zodiac 240LR. I have very little room on the 290 for a deflated dinghy. The space under the aft cockpit seat is only 9" high. After an extensive search, I found that the 240LR is unique in that its deflated height just matches the 9" of available height under my seats, it has a thick rigid motor transom, and the Zodiac 240LR is a high pressure floor and keel dinghy--a real improvement over the former Achilles plywood floor. The Honda 2 hp works well on this dinghy, and with a hard wired auto-stop compressor, it's easy to inflate. It's not invisible if the sunpad cushion is removed as you can see, but we keep the sunpad cushion installed 99% of the time, so it is completely out of the way and invisible except when we pull the pad up.
We've only had it since October, but we've used it many times, and it's out of sight and quickly available when we want to use it. I've found we have a lot of fun using it to explore the tidal creeks near our marina as well as to get ashore on those great beaches that have been so hard to access in previous years.
Here's a slideshow of the Zodiac--stored and in use. The Honda and its mount are also shown:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Sadlerl...uthkey=Gv1sRgCI7ym6eU3dL75AE&feat=directlink#
Sadler
I've been on the perfect dinghy quest for sometime. There are some great beaches around Charleston that are always calling me, and we are now boating more and more with our dogs who require shore access. My 290 is a little too big to beach, and the 5-6 foot tidal swings where I boat mean that once beached, it's a little tense keeping tabs on the boat to ensure it doesn't end up aground or adrift.
My quest was complicated by the fact that I did not want to keep the dinghy on davits since my 290 is fairly small for a dinghy'd boat, and the rear access and view would be severely obstructed on this relatively small boat by about any dinghy. Therefore, I set out to find an "invisible" dinghy for my boat--one that would not be in the way of using the boat--pretty much "invisible" when stowed, and yet would always be quickly available when we wanted to use it. It had to be powered since the currents here are often too strong to row against. And it needed to carry 2 adults and a small child safely to shore. (As the years went by, this requirement inflated to 2 adults and a not small child plus two dogs.)
My first try came about 5 years ago when I decided inflatable kayaks would do the trick. Two of these I reasoned could be stored under my aft cockpit seats since they are not one big package, but two separate fairly small deflated units. So, I bought two West Marine inflatable dinghies. They stowed nicely under the seats, could carry the three of us ashore, and were not too expensive.
But after we used them for awhile, it became clear that they were too unstable for my wife, and the above mentioned need for power became evident when we tried to paddle against a strong current. Thus, inflatable kayaks became failure #1.
A year or two passed, and a boating friend strongly recommended a Porta-bote. These are the folding rigid hull dinghies. I measured, and determined a Porta-bote would mount on the walk around lashed up against a side bow rail--not invisible, but not too bad at view obstruction.
The Porta-bote rode well and would really go with a 3.5 hp motor. After removing the motor, the weight for launch/retrieve was no problem I had correctly concluded. However, I had not counted on the poor body position in reaching out over the bow rail so as not to scratch the hull of of the 290 when hauling the boat in or out by its lines. It took two strong men to get this done, and unless I brought along an extra set of hands, my wife and I were not going to make this work. The Porta-bote was sold. This was failure #2.
My next try was going to get very close: an Achilles LT-2 inflatable with a 2 hp. Honda. It stowed nicely under the aft cockpit seats, and was easy to inflate.
However, it was really too small for 2 adults and a child, and worse the 2 hp Honda caused the transom to bend under moderate to full power. Therefore, I quickly deemed it unsafe, and sold the dinghy. Failure #3. I kept the motor. You can see the transom bending back in this photo:
My next try so far appears to have succeeded. It's a Zodiac 240LR. I have very little room on the 290 for a deflated dinghy. The space under the aft cockpit seat is only 9" high. After an extensive search, I found that the 240LR is unique in that its deflated height just matches the 9" of available height under my seats, it has a thick rigid motor transom, and the Zodiac 240LR is a high pressure floor and keel dinghy--a real improvement over the former Achilles plywood floor. The Honda 2 hp works well on this dinghy, and with a hard wired auto-stop compressor, it's easy to inflate. It's not invisible if the sunpad cushion is removed as you can see, but we keep the sunpad cushion installed 99% of the time, so it is completely out of the way and invisible except when we pull the pad up.
We've only had it since October, but we've used it many times, and it's out of sight and quickly available when we want to use it. I've found we have a lot of fun using it to explore the tidal creeks near our marina as well as to get ashore on those great beaches that have been so hard to access in previous years.
Here's a slideshow of the Zodiac--stored and in use. The Honda and its mount are also shown:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Sadlerl...uthkey=Gv1sRgCI7ym6eU3dL75AE&feat=directlink#
Sadler
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