Dinghy Survey

A

ALICE J

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
407
Fluid Motion Model
C-28
Hull Identification Number
FLM27251011
Vessel Name
ALICE J
MMSI Number
NONEHERES
Interested in Tuggers experiences with dinghies. I have a 27 with a Sea Eagle, lightly used dingy with air floor, 8'6", 4hp Mercury, on Weaver 4" davits. Motors great, bit hard to plane with two persons. Just split a seam on the forward inboard side while putting air in the fwd chamber while on the davits. The air floor stays hard for about 36 hours, then loses air. PVC material, but wondering if this will be an ongoing seamless :roll: repair ? Dinghy is about 3 years old. What are the experiences of Tuggers that trailer their Tugs. Makes, lengths, floorings, davits/stowage, engine hp and type.
 
All inflatables will leak, it's just a matter of when. Check out the Portland Pudgy and dump the pump.
 
Mine is similar to yours. It is a Bombard made by Zodiac. Everything is a trade off. I like it because it is light and when I am not going to need it for long periods of time I store it on top under the solar panel. The pudgy is great, but heavy and always there on the transom.
 
We have a Portland Pudgy mainly because any inflatable we have had , Leaked . Pudgy's are displacement speed only , are 128 lbs plus any items in the storage areas that are built into the side walls . It is fairly heavy to pull up on the weaver davits .I can just do it myself , better with 2 people . Lots of neat features and options available . The sail kit is good fun . It is designed as a bluewater lifeboat . Not cheap , not for everyone , i don't miss the leaking inflatables , but i do miss a dingy that will do more than displacement speeds .www.portlandpudgy.com I have a R27 and have the railings to work around . If i didn't have the railing and storage box on the swim platform , i would look into the Hurley dinghy mount that is real slick and easy to load .
 
Thanks for the feedback, I surprised that more input is not forth coming. I have been exploring Hypolon verses PVC skins on the inflatables. It is said that PVC holds up longer in northern climes, but Hypolon lasts better in southern climes. I noticed that West Marine is introducing a folding hard bottom dingy, Two models, one fold athwartships, the other folds longitudially, a rather shallow V bottom neither has been proven
Portland Pudgy is an interesting vessel, but I can't collapse it for long distance towing over the road. My truck bed is not large enough to accommodate it and my stuff 🙁 Any feed back on Porta Boats?
 
My understanding is that PVC is more susceptible to UV damage, so that may be the difference between north and south advantages. PVC is also lighter than Hypolon. I went with the PVC inflatable floor because it is lighter than the Hypolon. As I said I store it covered on the roof under the solar panel. I inflate it when we are doing cruising that will require a dingy. I just lash it to the platform, no Weaver davits. It is easy to maneuver off the roof and inflate in the cockpit with a high powered inflator. I would not want to do it every day, but once you set it up for your trip it works out fine.
Good luck with your quest. Dinghys and Anchors can have quite a few opinions. It is almost a religion for some. 🙂
 
I owned a Porta-Bote years ago. It was a decent folding boat that we used with a previous sailboat. Somewhere between an hard dinghy and an inflatable, in that it doesn't slap or bounce, it kind of "slithers" other the waves. That was unnerving at first, but it was never a stability problem.

They are darn near indestructible. Rows better than an inflatable, not quite as good as a hard dinghy. Takes about 5 minutes to set up.

Two downsides: the rubber joint on the center of the bottom leaves black marks if you drag it across your gelcoat. Put down a rug, and it isn't a problem; just be aware of it when you are moving the Porta-Bote around on your boat. The other issue: the boat folds flat, to about the size of surfboard... but, the seats and transom take up as much room as the hull.

It comes with a "pry board" that you use to open the boat up - it will try to close back up until you get one of the seats in and mounted. On my first time doing that, it closed up on my legs and dropped me on the dock! :lol: Lesson learned.

The hull alone was about the weight of a similar size PVC inflatable; then, of course, you add the seats and transom.

I used a 5 hp motor on it, and it would move two of us at displacement speed. The manufacturer said it would plane with a 5 hp motor - this was not our experience.

All that said, I sold it and bought an inflatable because it stored smaller. I wish I would have kept the Porta-Bote just to keep around our home dock. Bullet proof.

Jim
 
Alice,
We have a Devlin Polliwog as our 21ec tow behind. It's really a great row boat for 1, but we modified it a bit and use it as both a fish trolling dinghy (using an environmental friendly mini kota and group U1 battery under the seat) and as the dog shuttle to shore before an accident. We can get about 2+ hours on mid power settings. This year we had a cover made for it so we can store gear and keep it dry off the space-challenged 21. It doesn't leak, yet. It weighs about 85 lbs. And it only took 5 years to build...

Cheers,

Gregg

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We have a relatively inexpensive inflatable Mercury dinghy we purchased at a boat show. We row it using the oars though we have considered getting an electric Torqueedo. Usually it is deflated in our dock storage box. A great dinghy is not a priority for us at the moment.
 
I have used soft bottom inflatables while cruising in sailboats; they don't row worth a darn. I've just started to build a 10 ft skiff. This is a prototype with a center seat running the length of the hull instead of across the width of the hull. The long bench, along with multiple oar locks, will provide balance to a small boat with varying loads.This bench will be sealed to provide positive flotation and I can add a centerboard well in the future. I'm hoping it will weigh under 75 pounds. It is designed to fit on top of our R 25. I'll post pictures when I get further along.
 
Gregg":eqb6nghb said:
Alice,
We have a Devlin Polliwog as our 21ec tow behind. It's really a great row boat for 1, but we modified it a bit and use it as both a fish trolling dinghy (using an environmental friendly mini kota and group U1 battery under the seat) and as the dog shuttle to shore before an accident. We can get about 2+ hours on mid power settings. This year we had a cover made for it so we can store gear and keep it dry off the space-challenged 21. It doesn't leak, yet. It weighs about 85 lbs. And it only took 5 years to build...

Cheers,

Gregg

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VERY pretty!
 
Gregg,
Absolutely a beautiful boat. I hate to even call it a dinghy. I KNOW how much work went into building it. Better make sure the painter is a strong rope tied with a good knot! 😉
 
Thanks for the nice comments Capt. Wanabe and JamesTSXD. It was a fun project to build but it took on a mind of its own as I veered somewhat from the plans. We beefed up the transom for the MinnKota, added full size seating and (framing for the seating). It works well with 2 on board, but better with one. We didn't want to overshadow the Ranger with anything too big; so Polliwog seemed like a good choice. Great plans and Sam Devlin was terrific when I had a question.

Gregg
 
ALICE J":2p730zuu said:
...It is said that PVC holds up longer in northern climes, but Hypolon lasts better in southern climes...
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I think the order that all those words are combined in is key. PVC holds up better in northern latitudes than it does in the south. Provided "northern" means far enough north to reduce UV exposure. Hypalon is superior regardless of location. PVC is substantially less expensive, lighter and is easier to patch.

I've owned and used both fairly extensively. In addition to the UV resistance, hypalon is much more resistant to cuts/abrasion. When I had a PVC dingy I bought a sheet of color matched material and routinely inspected the bottom of the tubes and proactively patched the deeper scratches. Don't know if it was necessary but I felt a lot better rowing ashore in 35 degree water. I currently have another PVC boat but it has double tubes and an abrasion layer on the bottom. Much better.
 
Has anyone had a 10' Walker bay ? pros and cons.

Thanks
Jim
 
Hi Jim.

We have a 10' Walker Bay to use. It is a sturdy, well built tender, however they are still quite heavy! I have used it in some pretty stormy conditions to check on boats during storms and they are not in my opinion as stable as an inflatable. However, there HAS to be something better and lighter... doesn't there? 🙂
 
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