Inflatable recommendations

C

cswalden

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Oct 19, 2018
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9
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
We have an R23. Our Inflatable is a Walker Bay 8' ROB. We have boat on meeting. Dinghy too large to put aboard so when travel,looking for small ultra light that will take our Suzuki 2.5 outboard. Any recommendations. Even off brand (Amazon listed) recommendations will be helpful. We haven't heard about the nifty rack for inflatables available for the R23 yet. Thanks!!!!


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Backwater Boats. Perfect fit for my R23
 
I have been using the 8.5 foot roll up from West Marine. Stores well enough and my 2.5 HP Suze pushes it fine. Weighs about 50 pounds I think.
 
I just sold a Gala Rib A270 we really liked for many reasons including the quality and construction. The capacity is better then most, unfortunately I found it to be to heavy. I replaced it with a F270 8'10" Gala a high pressure floor roll up which weighs 65lbs, holds 4 passengers and 10 hp outboard. A 10 hp outboard is way to much power, it planes with 2 passengers at less the half throttle. A 4 hp or 6 hp is max needed to plane. A 2hp would be more than enough to power. I have photo's of the A270 in my album.The F270 looks identical tubes are the same but it has the air floor instead of aluminum hull and the F270 is 67lbs lighter. Gala also makes a F240 7' 10" weighs 48 lbs'. The hulls are built in Ukraine using materials from Europe and distributed in Canada. If you have a 12v air pump capable of pumping to 10 PSI with pressure in and out capabilities the assembly from bag to water or disassembly water to bag is about 10 minutes. These pumps can be purchased at amazon around $70
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Electric ... 842&sr=8-4

We just purchased the F270 for a back up tender. I built a wood tender I am hoping will be are go to, but I haven't used the wood tender yet. We have used the Gala F270 the last few weeks in Charlotte Harbor Fl. cruising 5miles out up and down the bay. It is a stabile, safe and comfortable tender 17" tubes, 3 air chambers in the tubes, inflatable keel and air floor for buoyancy . F240 has 16" tubes. I know there are many well made inflatables this is one of many. My recommendation Gala.
 
takacat 260 closed bow.
 
Cutwater28GG":2wk9h156 said:
takacat 260 closed bow.
Click to expand...
Do you have pictures of the closed bow 260? The only ones I could find on their web site was the open bow.
 
Look at inflatable boats by Newport. We have the Dana for our Ranger 27. I wanted a dinghy that was quality made, better for rowing, reasonable weight, and easy to set up and takedown. My highlights:
1. Has four removable boards for the floor with a stiffener that boosts the outboard motor capacity even though I do not have a motor. The floor is stiff and solid to walk on.

2. The tubes are larger than most dinghies at 19 inches diameter and this makes for freeboard when you are sitting on them. Being a bit overweight, we wanted our rear-ends more out of the water.

3. The material and welding of the seams is better than some dinghies I have seen. This is a Korean product.

4. It has an air keel which makes rowing more effective.

5. It stows in two bags. The dinghy weighs about 40-50 pounds. The bag of floor boards, oars, and pump weights about 15 pounds. We can put the bags on the roof under the solar panel, on the tug's swim step or inflated the dinghy hangs of ropes (fancy davits are not needed) to the "staples" on the tug's swim step. Though this does not apply to your R-23.

6. Two people in the mid-60's can pick up and move the dinghy.

Hope this helpful. There are lots of options out there. You will find one that works best for you.
 
Thank you ALL so much for your recommendations. I will investigate each and report our findings. Very much appreciate your time and effort to reply.


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I’ve been looking into the True Kit Navigator. Similar to the Takacat.
 
Backwater Boats or the Plastic boat company. Works great on my Cutwater 24 Coupe.
Ken
 
We have the Takacat open bow 260. We love it and perfect for taking our dog ashore and loading folks without having to step over the front. Super easy to get in from the water should it ever come to that.
 
We have a FRIB 275 with a fiberglass hull. The hull folds into thirds when the air is let out of the tubes. It makes for a more compact package for storing in the cockpit, on the swim step or in the pickup truck bed when towing on the trailer. However, it is a bit unwieldy trying to lift or carry around. Once our tug is in the water, we inflate the FRIB and put it on the Weaver davits. We like our Suzuki 2.5 HP motor much better than the small Honda it replaced. We previously used a 75 lb 15 HP Johnson 2-stroke on similar sized dinghies.

Barry and Lynne Thompson
TOUCAN R-27 Classic
 
Toucan":1cske31y said:
We have a FRIB 275 with a fiberglass hull. The hull folds into thirds when the air is let out of the tubes. It makes for a more compact package for storing in the cockpit, on the swim step or in the pickup truck bed when towing on the trailer. However, it is a bit unwieldy trying to lift or carry around. Once our tug is in the water, we inflate the FRIB and put it on the Weaver davits. We like our Suzuki 2.5 HP motor much better than the small Honda it replaced. We previously used a 75 lb 15 HP Johnson 2-stroke on similar sized dinghies.

Barry and Lynne Thompson
TOUCAN R-27 Classic
Click to expand...

That is a great compromise. Still a RIB but foldable. It is a bit pricy but its unique folding characteristic maybe the added cost.
 
i run the older version of this pump and is a must for any inflatable that has a 10PSI requirement for things like the dropstitch floors. its been great.

they can draw a bunch of power if you inflate a whole dinghy with one, so run the engine or be on shore power. for a quick top up its fine.
 
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