Show me your little Dinghy / Tender / what have you....

[CharlieJ]

We are awaiting delivery of our new dinghy. Should be here Thursday. I hope the hurricane isn't right behind it!!!

Bought an Achilles LS2RU. 7 '6" wooden floor roll up. Supposed to weigh 57 pounds and the bundle is supposed to be 10 inches tall. SHOULD fit on our cabin top right behind the mast ( rolled up of course)

[AdriftAtSea]

Charlie-

I have that same dinghy.  Got it last year at the Defender spring sale... Nice little boat. Use a 3.5 HP Tohatsu on it. :)

[Shipscarver]

Hey CharlieJ -
Where did you find the, Achilles LS2RU ?
I see there is an LS4 in the West Marine Cat.

Keep you head down! Good luck with the winds.

[CharlieJ]

Defender Industries.

And it's supposed to arrive tomorrow!!! But I bet it doesn't cause we are now under a mandatory evacuation, so UPS won't be running.

And we won't be here anyway

[Steve H]

my achilles dinghy , rolls up great can take a motor .    3 piece wood floor    perfect for small boats

[s/v Monomoy]

When we were sailing our Potter 15, we used a Coleman to haul camping gear in behind the boat.  When we moved up to our Catalina 27, we used the Coleman briefly as a dink, but then purchased a North Pak Outdoors inflatable from Sam's Club, which holds a 30# thrust trolling motor.  The North Pak was only $150, so it is doing the job, but at nearly 10' long, it takes up the entire deck while underway.  We do deflate it and store it in a lazarette when not in use.  Our plan is to get a 7.5' Saturn in the next few months and pick up a Honda 2hp 4-stroke to move it.  I really love the Honda 2hp engines, because they are air cooled, so there is no flushing to worry about.

[Captain Smollett]

When we were sailing our Potter 15, we used a Coleman to haul camping gear in behind the boat.  When we moved up to our Catalina 27, we used the Coleman briefly as a dink, but then purchased a North Pak Outdoors inflatable from Sam's Club, which holds a 30# thrust trolling motor.  The North Pak was only $150, so it is doing the job, but at nearly 10' long, it takes up the entire deck while underway.  We do deflate it and store it in a lazarette when not in use.  Our plan is to get a 7.5' Saturn in the next few months and pick up a Honda 2hp 4-stroke to move it.  I really love the Honda 2hp engines, because they are air cooled, so there is no flushing to worry about.

Hi Ben,

First of all, welcome aboard (saw your post in the Intro thread).

I have 9 ft Saturn and I really like it.  We've had it about one year.  It seems well made and durable.  It's a good size for us - the four of us PLUS some gear fit comfortably.

I mostly row (when I can), but this summer we bought a Suzuki 2.5 horse for it.  Top speed with our 9 footer with my two children and I aboard was about 5.5 kts.

Unless you plan to keep your Saturn inflated and in the sun 100% of the time, I think you'll be happy with it.  Folded and in the bag, mine lives either in the back seat of my wife's car (  ;D ) or on the cabin top just aft of the mast.

[s/v Monomoy]

Thanks Captain for the welcome and for sharing your Saturn experience.  I've read every single post on this dinghy thread and there is certainly a diverse opinion spanning years on what works best as a good dink; it has been interesting to read.

I'm glad to hear the Saturn has held up well.  BoatToGo.com seems to have some really good prices, but I didn't want to hear the old "you get what you pay for" in a few months when the boat deflates making a run back to the mother ship.

I think you nailed it on our overall use.  We mostly daysail, so the dink isn't needed often, but when we do toss the hook for the weekend somewhere (about once a month when weather cooperates), then we want a stable boat to get to shore.  The North Pak serves us OK, but it is a low air pressure boat, so it feels soft most of the time and firmness changes dramatically with the night and day temps.  So we figure that a good high pressure dink would serve us much better.  We did consider a hard dink, but the stowability of the inflatable fits betters with our intended use. 

[CharlieJ]

Our Achilles got here. We haven't had time to register it as yet, so took it down for a rowing session. I think it's gonna be a great little dink. However the oars are too short- they need a tad longer handles inboard.

Laura rowing on the maiden voyage-

[AdriftAtSea]

Charlie-

What do think of it?? I've been pretty happy with mine.

[CharlieJ]

Well, so far we like it.  Laura says it's easier to row for her than our 6 '6" hard dinghy was.  GOTTA do something about those short oars though.

I have an old 12 foot Achilles from back in 1980 or so and this new one seems to be higher quality. Particularly in storage bag, pump and peripheral stuff. But that boat is still going strong.  The new one looks to be better built.

Do you leave the floors in when you roll it? We did this time but the boat would be much lighter to move around rolled up without them. Would also make a smaller bundle and Laura could handle the boat onboard by herself.. I suppose we'll end up doing it both ways as the occasion rises.

Gonna be next week before we can register it and try it with a motor on.

[xirii]

So as a brand spankin' newbie here (gasp!)  I have just read ALLLLLLL 12 pages of this monster thread and was amazed to find I have input!  Only a little, but I have input!    Check this out...  http://www.microcruising.com/ding1.htm    It's not the cutest thing in the world, but after I found it I had to make one, using the theory and modifying it to MY slightly less than normal needs. (It's gotta fit in the back seat of my Camry for transportation to the water.)  And I'm a girl!  If a girl can figure out how to modify and make it... or should that be female?  (I'm not so PC)  Anyway, it folds thinner than a Porta-bote, and you can MAKE it as short or as long or as wide as you need!  How spiffy is that? 

[CharlieJ]

Welcome aboard the site. If you want to call yourself a girl, that's fine with us I think. There are several ladies on this site who aren't much afraid to tackle anything that comes their way, so you should fit right in.

Connie is over in the Bahamas now singlehand on Pixie Dust. We haven't heard from her post Hanna, but I'm assuming she's ok.

And my wife has done some singlehanding on our 25 footer. And she's capable of handling most anything she needs to.

You can go to the home page and find links to both of their tales-

http://sailfar.net/

[s/v Faith]

Wow, what a cool little dingy!  I really like the idea of that, I have always been interested in some of those cool folding dingys.  There is one from the UK that I really like.... everything about it except the price.   ;D

  I think I may have found a new project.  Thanks!

[TJim]

Welcome, I love that dinghy.  My son built a kayak quite similar the construction details when he was in
grade school.  I wish you had posted that last spring.  I'd have time to build one before I leave for Mexico and other places.  You are definitely a welcome addition to this forum. TJ

[Shipscarver]

Hey CharlieJ -

Our Achilles got here

Can we get a picture of how you carry this unit on board?

[CharlieJ]

Yup- just as soon as we figure that out ourselves.. We THINK it'll go right aft of the mast , under the boom, on the cabin top, all rolled up.

[TJim]

That is exactly what I was thinking I'd do with the 6'7"  Mercury RIB I just picked up.  I sure beats the heck heck out of hauling and stowing one of my hard dinghy's.  And.... I got a little 1.5 Tanaka that makes
the rowing real easy.  The only problem is I really am not comfortable sitting on the seat either rowing
or steering the OB.  I'll probably end up thowing that away or modifying it to make it sit lower in the boat.
Maybe I'll get a short milk stool.  Hmmmmm...these days it might be hard to find one....what the heck...we'll get it figured out....TJ

[CharlieJ]

We took the dinghy out this afternoon to play with it with the engine. We have a 2.2 HP Merc for use on the dinghy. Went to a bayou where the water was nice and flat so we could play without worrying about wave action.

Darned little engine pushes the boat quite nicely. Faster than I expected. Won't plane it with us both aboard but it will with either of us alone. But I have to let the tiller handle go and lean way up front, then control the engine with a foot ;D It hardly knows Laura is aboard of course.

We guesstimated we were running 5 or 6 maybe 7 MPH, with us both aboard. Not shabby at all. We'll have to try it again with a GPS aboard for a speed reading.

And it's light enough that Laura can carry it around by herself- not really easily with the floors in, but without the floors, she can tote the rolled up boat quite well.

We love the thing already :D

Still don't know just when we'll get time to try stowing it aboard though.

[s/v Monomoy]

Ordered a Saturn from BoatsToGo.com today.  Their customer service is great and they price matched a competitor I was looking into.  I didn't buy from the competitor, because I didn't feel customer service was up to par.

Anyway...  I'll update once the dink arrives.