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Looking for views on inflatable tenders. Reason being mine (and many others) at parsley Bay (Brooklyn NSW) are now a small piece of molten fibreglass or badly damaged. There are many chains and padlocks hanging off the wall thanks to the local firies. I don't know how long it will take to resolve the issue and I am thinking of buying a cheap inflatable, I was planning on being on the boat this weekend.
I imagine the owners, firies and council will now enter the fray.

Are the $100 inflatables any good? I dont want anyone ending up in the drink or losing any of my belongings. I dont expect to get a long life out of one of those, but maybe it could serve a purpose for a few months, Are they any good for carrying gear? What about if there are some rocks on the beach (very tide dependent)? Anyone used a sevylor, other brand or the ones from Bias/Whitworths? Need to carry myself and another to the boat and would like one onto which I can attach my 3.5 Tohatsu on occasions.

Comments as always much appreciated.

Anyone wanna sell a FG dingly??

Cheers, John

Hey John, a you'd be safer with an inner tube than a 100 buck inflatable !
Cheers Bear

John, I had a cheaper dinghy several years ago with the 3 piece plywood floor. Don't buy one. They are far too heavy and a pain in the bum to set up. You'll be exhausted before getting to the water.
I now currently have two. A zodiac. This is great. I also have an aquila (I think that is the name) which I might sell. It's as new with oars, pump, etc. Will sell for $450.
Anyway, getting back to the subject, I wouldn't worry about one of the cheapies, you will get what you paid for. I spent about $260 and got a set of pneumatic tyres/wheels from NZ. Beachcomber is the brand. They are great too. I keep the boat inflated and put it on top of my roofracks (standard two piece racks on a Hyundai Terracan)upside down and tie it on. A little 2-4hp is ample. Also remember that a good rubber dinghy will need a different repair kit to vinyl. Keep your eyes on Ebay, there are quite often good 2nd hand ones.

I have found cheap inflatable dingys to be a complete waste of time.
I could not even row it in the swimming pool let alone a longer distance.

I bought my second $700 ish inflatable from Whitworths recently as a kind person decided that my older one was need more by them than by me.

Do a test run in a swimming pool before trying to row or do anything else with a cheapie inflatable.

I agree inner tubes would be better.

Regarding the molten dinghy situation.

My mooring in Parsley Bay has just come up and I was going to try and find a spot to tether my old decrepit fibreglass dinghy. Well on the way to becoming the worlds ugliest as a deterrent to theives.

May not help much in a fire however.

What is the situation regarding getting a spot now that all the dingies have been melted?

Hi Diana,
That's the kinda info one gets on the site. Good stuff and I have now decided an el cheapo just won't do. Looking for a dinghy and will fix mine later when I am in the mood and have some time. Can always sell one later if I want to. How does the $700 ish one perform. Any Good? Regarding a spot on the wall. This should not be a problem, as there are many spaces now and I imagine they won't fill up soon. Maybe the fire was good thing, as I think some of the dinghies that took up space ahd not been used for yonks. I had monitored the wall for weeks and took photos and when my mooring came up, I was quite sure knew all the vacant spots. Diana, hope to see you on the water soon.

Cheers, John

At the last gathering, which was only attended by two boats and six people, a visitor Jim one mark 1 called Kathron rowed over in what looked like a toy inflateable. He seemed to have no problem propelling it in the fashion of a coricle using just one paddle. That was his only tender, so whilst they aren't great for permanent use, it may do you for a while, if you get the larger kind.

2 cents....

John,

the $700 one is great with the outboard.
I have had 3 people in it very comfortably.

Important safety tip.
If you have an extremely obese person in the dingy.
Get them to sit on the floor!!!

I had a friend who I had never realised how big they really were nearly snap the seat.

I have found the inflatable easier if transporting people who are not experienced in getting in and out of dinghies. So far noone has tipped the inflatable upside down and gone for an unscheduled swim.
This has happened with the solid dingy.

Rowing OK. But not as good as a solid dinghy for rowing.
Especially if there is wind.

Still fairly heavy.
I think mine is 28 kg. This new one has only 5 compartments.
The stolen one had 7.

I prefer using a foot pump to inflate rather than a plunger. ( think cartoon blowing up explosives plunger.) Easier for me.

I will be sorting out the mooring hopefully this week and putting the worlds ugliest dingy up on the rock wall.

I still prefer the solid one for ease of launching, rowing etc.

Blowing up and letting down, carrying and storing etc etc the inflatable makes it annoying for me.

I don't have a garage nor the means of transporting it inflated.


Watch out Parsley Bay here I come.
Worlds ugliest dinghy and a very pretty Top Hat

I used a cheap inflatable for a tender for a few months with my first sail boat. I threw away the pathetic plastic paddles that came with it and bought some aluminium shaft oars, that improved rowing a lot. I can't say I had any problems with this dinghy, it was just a bother to inflate and deflate compared to the convenience of a hard dinghy.

Despite now having two fibreglass dinghies, one of which is small enough to go on deck (it is very tippy), I still keep an inflatable in the cockpit locker. It's a Sevylor 2.4 M Super Caravella (now $136 at Whitworths). It's very compact and only weighs 6KG. After 8 years of occasional use it shows no signs of wear and is very handy for going ashore when anchored too far out to swim. Also, it's good for emergencies, I used it once to get my boat of a sand bank, that one time alone was more than worth the purchase price. It's much more stable than my small hard dinghy and also carries a bigger load. The only thing is, for passengers it does not feel like a "real" boat because you have to sit on the floor. Also it only takes small splash to get a wet bum.

While a cheap Sevylor just does not compare with a proper inflatable I have found that they are more robust than their price would imply and providing you keep their limitations in mind they can be very useful. Personally I would have no hesitation in using one for a temporary tender but my opinion needs to be balanced by the good advise already given by others on this forum. Everyone's needs are different. The one bit of advise I will offer for anyone contemplating buying one, is to go one size up, that is if you need a three man dinghy buy a four man, not only do you get more stability but the skin thickness increases with each size up.

Cheers
Keith

Got my 3 m one from eBay made in China (like everything else) really impressed handles outboard well has two alloy paddles fitted with alloy seats and floor got mine for $400 brand new