I was looking around thinking that a Seadoo would be a nice compliment to my beach bag so that if aything bad should happen the wife could hop on the
Seadoo and come save my life but I'm beginning to think a Seadoo is actually a bad solution since I'd have to get the Seadoo, possibly a trailer, gas
to mess with and it wouldn't be very baby friendly.
I've started looking at inflatable boats with 8-10 hp motors. It seems they deflated and pack up to a large duffle bag size, about 75 pounds all in,
plus the motor. These are not the Zodiac types that are non-deflatable. Being an inland dweller we don't have much exposure to boats so I'm wondering
if any of you coastal sorts know any reason why I wouldn't go this route? I've been looking at Walker Bay Odysseys
My parents used to have a 38 foot sailboat and had a boat similar to this to take along on trips. Then they sold it and upgraded it to a rigid hull
inflatable. Here's my opinions on it...
They're nice to just tool around for short distances, not exactly comfortable...especially if you go with the soft floor. They don't have any sort of
keel so the tracking and turning isn't that great. As long as you know that and plan for it it's not a big deal. I never saw it deflated and packed
up so I'm not sure how well it does that but even if it's a breeze you still have a motor and a gas can to lug around. Not a huge deal if you are
parking close to where you'll launch the boat.
Me personally...I've been on the fence about picking up a small boat. We've got tons of inland water ways around here and I'd be lying if I said
picking on of these up hasn't crossed my mind. However, I'm leaning more towards a rigid boat, comfort being the biggest reason. These little
inflatables are a bit cramped and the ride isn't too great. They're designed to commute from a sailboat or other yacht to the beach and in that
capacity they're great, but I want to go 5 or 10 miles down a river or hug the coast of the bay, do a little fishing or just go along for the ride.
The little inflatable just isn't practical for my wants. That's just me though.SecondWind - 23-2-2009 at 04:34 AM
Not a boat, but I picked up an inflatable 11' ULI Standup Paddleboard for fun with the kids.
Maybe they could paddle out to you and save the day ;-)furbowski - 23-2-2009 at 09:52 AM
I used to drive rigid inflatables and hard-hulled speedboats in the 12-20 ft and 20-120 hp range quite a lot, and used the odd dinghy here and there
as well...
the slatted one above has max hp 5-6 so it's just meant as a tender, not something that would do longer (multi-mile) trips with much steering
stability or wave and chop handling ability. for medium and low speeds and flattish water, fine. you can stick a bigger motor on without probs, I
used to drive a 30 hp 13 footer RIB that was a scream with one person and still planed with 3 and gear, that would take about a 15 horse but the boat
wouldn't be really strong enough to take it and you would violate the warranty // safety parameters, but if you're into that not a huge problem. But
like the guy said above not at all good for longer trips and exploring, esp. not with any speed in the mix.
you don't really get up and planing until you get 10 hp, and speed kicks in around 20 to 30 hp, this is with two people, a kid, and some gear aboard.
It would take two people at least half an hour and some grunt, practically speaking, to get it off the car, unpacked, assembled, motor on, down into
the water and so on, might be able to get that down to 15-20 minutes if practiced, halve those times if you can leave it assembled.
idk if it is quite big enough to take somebody from the water to the boat in over the rail / side tube without being scary tippy (your typical rescue
scenario) possible if the guy in the water is conscious and able, really tough if the guy in the water is injured / unable / unconscious.
It's a pity you don't live near the ocean or a big boating area so you can take adventage of the used market... much boating action near edmonton?macboy - 23-2-2009 at 10:12 AM
Not much small boating, no. We've either got the big rig sport boats with wake racks and multi-thousand dollar stereo systems or the 14 foot aluminum
fishing boats. Not much middle ground. But now that you mention it perhaps I'll have a peek at Vancouver's market.
Did you ever have a rollup inflatable or just the rigids? The appeal to the rollup is that I'd avoid having to have a trailer hitch mounted to my car.furbowski - 23-2-2009 at 12:06 PM
I worked for an outdoor centre for ten years, we just had rigid fiberglass, aluminum, and inflatables.
we had a couple smallish (12-13 foot) inflatable tenders for our 130' and 67' sailboats, those all had rigid floors, 20-30 horse motors, (enough to
get three people up on the plane) and could go a fair few miles, but weighed at least 100 lbs without motor and took an hour or so and usually a few
cuss words to put together.
with the roll-up inflatables the trade-off is rigidity (boat-like handling, speed, tracking, and comfort) versus lightweight, quick pack-up (and
smaller) as well as set-up, more like fifteen minutes. You won't be able to but more than 10 hp on one, more likely 4-6 is best, and it will handles
more like a mattress with a motor than a boat, but it can work. Also, much easier to tip when hauling somebody in over the side due to the light
weight.
I'd go with a 12-13' packable boat with rigid floorboards and lower hull, and just leave it set up and car-top it.
lots of folks around hk like zapcats, they take fifty horses and go 40 miles an hour but it's still possible to deflate, disassemble, and pack them
away. A bit dangerous at speed though, a couple people get killed on them every few years...
search for gemini rescue boats to get an idea of what really good RIBS can look like...
if you're on inland lakes lean towards inflatable, if you want to get anywhere near ocean or big 10 miles wide plus bodies of water go rigid, imho...
hope that helps, have fun shopping, and remember the problem with any boat is that they somehow keep needing money after you buy them :frog:furbowski - 23-2-2009 at 09:48 PM
I have a Mistral Pacifico SUP...it's a flat water tourer, a river cruiser, waves, floating dock for kids and has a mastrack for a windsurf rig...oh
yea it can also rescue...macboy - 23-2-2009 at 10:48 PM
Interesting....thanks Furb. Might be worth the hassle of adding a trailer hitch to the car......although the appeal of an "unroll, inflate and go"
boat seems to have me smitten. I'm gonna hit the boat shops once I get this project off my arse.furbowski - 23-2-2009 at 11:44 PM
It's a trade-off: rigid = good tracking and more of a boat feel and more efficient, inflate only feels like a squidgey raft and skitters around all
over the place and wastes gas, but yes a heck of light lighter and no trailer!
I found the above a reasonable deal, really, but wouldn't want to go more than about ten miles roundtrip in it.
no worries... go fly a kite!:Ange09::bigok:WolfWolfee - 24-2-2009 at 06:38 AM
I've got a 4hp outboard you can use, it will motor you around.furbowski - 24-2-2009 at 08:07 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by WolfWolfee
I've got a 4hp outboard you can use, it will motor you around.
just the right size for the inflatable roll-up option, not so bad as I made it sound above, at least it floats and goes, eh?macboy - 24-2-2009 at 09:27 AM
Wolf - what do you want for said motor, and is it a short shaft?PHREERIDER - 24-2-2009 at 09:42 AM
first
swim back is the first option( risking someone else life .... careful with that)
a kayak (double ) maybe
has fun for user and not so much your life boat
stay close and swim.... kinda the end of the story ...PFD if you have that much doubtmacboy - 24-2-2009 at 01:42 PM
It's really more of a loose justification to spend money but there is a secondary motive - that being that if I know I have a boat to come get me when
I realize I can't get back upwind then I'll be more likely to keep trying to get upwind before giving up for fear that I won't be able to swim back. I
know I can get up and ride regular - just don't know how long it'll take me to get up and ride goofy (to get back "home"). Of course if I can make the
turn I know I can ride toeside regular as well but no clue where that will leave me insofar as making gains upwind go.
And of course, this is based on MASSIVE asssumptions that toeside on a wakeboard and an ATB has even slight parallels to kiteboarding (don't laugh ;
). Oddly enough I could carve out of the wake toeside without issue at all but couldn't bring myself to a heelside carve - odd huh?
I guess I've mislead some with the "boat to save my life" statement. While it's true to a degree, it's more to save me from a swim of shame. I will
always ride with the PFD, and always with a helmet - why take chances?speleopower - 24-2-2009 at 09:28 PM
An inflatable is better for crawling into from the water
but you might want to do a Canoe?
you can put a motor on those
maybe even a small gas powerplant
on a scanoe, (canoe with a flat rear end,(transom))
paddleing can tend to suck in winds that are mid to high
by kite(water)boarding standards
I had the canoe long before I ever kited even toy stunt kites
and I even put some small outriggers and daggerboards on it
so I could kitepower it
(limited sucess)
eventually the boat bug bit me
and I got this 13foot Boston Whaler
its for sale soon
cause now I got this 18foot 90HPChrisCraft
which is GREAT for reaching some excellent
NJ kite spots
and I already know that I want a Cuddy cabin next
so I can overnight it in some shallow waters someday.WolfWolfee - 4-3-2009 at 01:59 PM
its old as the hills but just never quits running. We used it on a 12' alum boat and it would run all day on 2 gallons of gas. little Evinrude 4 hp.
