[C38] inflatable tenders (Bit of an Essay)

[Les]

Sorry to be so long winded, but I have discovered that dinghys inspire
me somewhat...

Nancy and I now have an Achilles hypalon.  Our previous dinghy was a
Quicksilver PVC.  The PVC dinghy lasted about 6 years, then began to
acquire some dark sticky stuff on its tubes and inflatable floor.  I was
told that this was the stuff that kept it flexible.  I learned that this
could be cleaned up with Goo-gone ( Xylene seems to be the primary
ingredient).  I used this to clean the dinghy off.  Then I contacted
Mercury's Quicksilver division to get some idea of the failure mode of
the dinghy and expected remaining life, but got no response.  Thus we
went with the Hypalon dinghy on the next iteration.  I haven't had to
patch the dinghy yet, but I do have some stuff I glued on, which is not
holding as well as I would like.  I had some repairs done because the
webbing was tearing off that held the D rings for the scramble line (the
rope around the top edge of the tubes).  That was covered under
warrantee. 
 
	The Quicksilver had been patched a few times.  I tend to be gentle with
my dinghy's. 

	Both had the inflatable floor.  The dinghy prior to these was an 11'6"
avon.  It was the kind that had no transom, and used a rig to mount a
small 2-3 HP motor to one end.  The tubes were pretty badly rusted, and
I sandblasted them and painted them then put new PVC pipes over the ends
to match the mounts.  This dinghy was when we had our 22.  It was just
too big for handling on the 22.  I had been given it, with no floor, and
so I make a floor for it, and eventually passed it on to a friend.  I
believe he passed it on to yet another friend.  Sort of a testiment to
Avon and hypalon I think.  The life I know of was over 10 years. But the
small motor was a drawback when cruising with others, it didn't row well
at all, and was as I said larger than we needed at the time.

	As to the floor... The wood floor I made was 1/4" fir marine plywood.
It was a bit heavier than the original flooring, but held up well, and
fir is a real hard wood.  It took the bangs and scrapes in stride.  I
had coated it with epoxy, the cleaned that and primered it with a white
primer, and then three coats of marine enamel.  I used it for 3 years
with no problems no chipping, flaking or feathering (fir tends to do
this if it gets water in the grain).  It was a hassel to install, until
I figured out to put it in when the tubes were about 1/3 inflated, then
it went easy.  It was a love hate relationship.  I think it was a bit
more comfortable for use, but meant the bottom was flat, so the darn
dinghy skated over the top of the water like a saucer, and the shape of
that particular dinghy didn't help.  It was quicker to inflate and get
going because I didn't have to inflate the floor.  It was a bit more
difficult to store because you always had the floor boards to hide
somewhat, which was aggravated by being on a 22.

	I was told to get the biggest dinghy I was comfortable with.  I opted
for the 10'6" Achilles this time because the 9'6" Quicksilver wasn't
large enough.  Now I wish I had gone 1' larger, but I couldn't have
stored it on the foredeck when cruising.  Everything is a trade off.
One other note.  Rowing you must have the center seat.  Motoring you
don't need either seat, and we sometimes run it that way to add some
more cargo space.  However we are older, and running for more than an
hour or so with your head turned to one side is a pain.  I built a
second seat, and it installs on the stearn seat tabs.  I made it a bit
wider, too (I'm a broad container and needed to have my legs quit going
to sleep).  The mounting guides are available from Achilles.  Both of
the last two have had the inflatable floors with the inflatable keel.
While this slows the boat a bit, it makes control a great deal easier at
least for me.  The Quicksilver was too short to row well.  The Achilles
is a bit better, and the best of the three for rowing.  but when you
row, you loose some cargo room for the space to move your body and legs.
We do row it most of the time from the dock to our buoy in the summer,
but in the winter the motor comes out.  Cold wind is less annoying when
it is shorter.

	There is a school of thought that says "Nothing should be on deck", but
that is for those guys with bigger yachts I think.  There is a practical
limit to below decks storage.  I think if I knew that a storm was coming
and I was between harbors, I would have to choose whether to stow the
dinghy on deck or below, and I might choose below decks if I felt sure I
could survive the storm.  So its a choice.  That would be influenced if
I had a life raft, and I recommend that anyone doing serious off shore
cruising get one.  We are just coastal cruisers, never out of sight of
land.  Several folks here take longer cruises than we do (and the
Atlantic coast is prone to stiffer weather), so they could add to that.

	One thing I will say:  For several years I would put the dinghy in the
water, position it near amidships and lower the motor on a halyard to
the dinghy and mount it.  This took several minutes.  Last year I got
fed up with that process.  It was dirty (I always seemed to get grease
from the rotating collar all over the place), somewhat dangerous with
the motor swinging around, and required great coordination between Nancy
and I to manage it.  Last year I decided to mount the motor while the
dinghy was on deck with the motor locked horizontally.  I turned the
dinghy upright, clamped the motor to the transom, rigged a three point
bridle between the transom holes, and the bow handle that would keep the
dinghy near level, I guided it with the painter and Nancy raised dinghy
and motor to about lifeline height, I tied the painter off to the bow
pulpit, then lowered the motor to normal operating position (to minimize
the weight aft of the transom) and lowered it into the water.  Simple,
clean, stable, and now we always do it that way.  

	For those of you saying what a dummy, Most everyone I know does it the
old way, and there is a business making motor hoists for sailboats to
make the old way easier.  But the way I am doing it now is simpler,
safer and more stable.  We love it.  If winds were higher, we could add
a control line through a snatch block to the toe rail on the windward
side to help control it.  Try it, you will like it.

Regards,
Les H

  On Sat, 2008-01-26 at 18:37 -0800, Kenneth M. Sutto wrote:
>  
>               I was at the Seattle boat show today looking at
> inflatable dinghies. It's a little comfusing trying to figure out
> what is what. I looked the the Zodiac Typhoon, Walker Bay Odyssey AF,
> and the Achilles Lex Standard 88. Some of these are pvc,some are
> hypalon. Some have removable hard floors ,wood or metal, some have air
> floors.
>               Anybody out there sugest what is good or what is bad to
> look out for? I want to get from the boat to shore, sometimes gravelly
> sometimes sandy beach. I also want to work on the boat in the water
> with tools and gear in the tender.
>  
>             Thanks,
>              
>             Ken      "Sundancer"    #253
>  
> 
> 
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