ted_reshetiloff
Contributing Partner
Whats so bad about the house that you don't want to sell it to anyone you know or care about? 
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Any advice on best dinghy for exploring the bays?
- Thread starter Frank Langer
- Start date
NateHanson
Sustaining Member
On our last boat we had a West Marine/Zodiac 10-footer, with the High Pressure air floor. I thought this was ideal for a motor-powered tender. Very fast and easy to set-up/store, no parts to lose, fast and maneuverable, and stable underfoot.
But if you ever want to row, you need a rigid hull. For my current boat I picked up a used Walker Bay 8 because it was cheap, durable, and lightweight. There's no way we're going to store a dinghy outboard on this boat, so rowability was the primary concern. The WB 8 doesn't row like a whitehall, but it does as well as most hard dinghys, which is to say, it gets you to the beach and back. I don't find it tippy, personally. Towing it is fine, in moderate wether, and it's light and easy to hoist onto the foredeck using a spinaker halyard. (In heavy weather or offshore you shouldn't be towing any dinghy, IMO.) I've seen the towing eyes ripped out of more than one inflatable dinghy, so I'd worry about that if you plan on towing a lot. Also, I never tow with an outboard on the dinghy. The weight really increases the drag of the dinghy on the tow-line and dinghy hardware. A friend of mine once lost his dinghy and motor that way, because the fairly stout tow line broke in a blow.
If one of your requirements for this boat is as a makeshift lifeboat, you want an inflatable. There's nothing safe about an 8' hard dinghy in any sort of waves. So, if you want a rowable/motorable dinghy, that can provide you with a little peace of mind as a possible short-term liferaft, I'd say you need an RIB inflatable.
But if you ever want to row, you need a rigid hull. For my current boat I picked up a used Walker Bay 8 because it was cheap, durable, and lightweight. There's no way we're going to store a dinghy outboard on this boat, so rowability was the primary concern. The WB 8 doesn't row like a whitehall, but it does as well as most hard dinghys, which is to say, it gets you to the beach and back. I don't find it tippy, personally. Towing it is fine, in moderate wether, and it's light and easy to hoist onto the foredeck using a spinaker halyard. (In heavy weather or offshore you shouldn't be towing any dinghy, IMO.) I've seen the towing eyes ripped out of more than one inflatable dinghy, so I'd worry about that if you plan on towing a lot. Also, I never tow with an outboard on the dinghy. The weight really increases the drag of the dinghy on the tow-line and dinghy hardware. A friend of mine once lost his dinghy and motor that way, because the fairly stout tow line broke in a blow.
If one of your requirements for this boat is as a makeshift lifeboat, you want an inflatable. There's nothing safe about an 8' hard dinghy in any sort of waves. So, if you want a rowable/motorable dinghy, that can provide you with a little peace of mind as a possible short-term liferaft, I'd say you need an RIB inflatable.
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Richard Elliott
Member III
Dinghy
I'll second Stuart's comment on the 8ft. Aquapro RIB. The aluminum bottom makes it much lighter than fiberglass. I have an 8hp Yamaha 2 cycle and it planes very fast with two persons. It stows easily on the foredeck. I had it on an earlier Islander 28 and now on our E34. I see lots of them when cruising B.C.
I'll second Stuart's comment on the 8ft. Aquapro RIB. The aluminum bottom makes it much lighter than fiberglass. I have an 8hp Yamaha 2 cycle and it planes very fast with two persons. It stows easily on the foredeck. I had it on an earlier Islander 28 and now on our E34. I see lots of them when cruising B.C.
house or tender
Hi Ted
We are very happy with the house, outside the fact we will be doing a significant renovation/update to it over the next several years.
It was the dingy I did not want to sell to anyone I know. Having said that, the dingy is for sale.
On a side note it was great this past summer to watch all the visiting Ericson’s to Comox, some I got to visit and have met at previous PNW Rendezvous, some I missed. Our new house is on the ocean, close to the transient moorage dock in Comox so I watch many visiting yachts coming and going. If anyone is in the area, give us a call, I am in the book.
Cheers
Stuart
Hi Ted
We are very happy with the house, outside the fact we will be doing a significant renovation/update to it over the next several years.
It was the dingy I did not want to sell to anyone I know. Having said that, the dingy is for sale.
On a side note it was great this past summer to watch all the visiting Ericson’s to Comox, some I got to visit and have met at previous PNW Rendezvous, some I missed. Our new house is on the ocean, close to the transient moorage dock in Comox so I watch many visiting yachts coming and going. If anyone is in the area, give us a call, I am in the book.
Cheers
Stuart
Inflatable floor
I currently have an Avon R280 with inflatable floor. Previously had an Achilles with wood floorboards. The Avon is lighter and the inflatable floor is more comfortable to sit on if you need to. The inflatable floor is also easier to deflate/stow compared with the wood floorboards. This year I acquired a battery operated airpump which makes inflating and topping off much easier compared with the foot pump I used on the Achilles.
While the Avon is perfect for our needs, my heart is still with my Bauer 8 which we can't use because of our Golden Retriever.
Vince Benn
Wild Blue
I currently have an Avon R280 with inflatable floor. Previously had an Achilles with wood floorboards. The Avon is lighter and the inflatable floor is more comfortable to sit on if you need to. The inflatable floor is also easier to deflate/stow compared with the wood floorboards. This year I acquired a battery operated airpump which makes inflating and topping off much easier compared with the foot pump I used on the Achilles.
While the Avon is perfect for our needs, my heart is still with my Bauer 8 which we can't use because of our Golden Retriever.
Vince Benn
Wild Blue
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