West Marine RU 3 dinghy

anchorout · Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 4:40 pm Post subject: West Marine RU 3 dinghy

WM just had a one day sale on their RU 3 dinghy. As so many of you have this dinghy, and as I didn't need an expensive, typically, heavy tender, I ordered one. It looks like I expected, and is easy to lift up onto the cabin top just as the pics in the forum indicate.

The one drawback, as mentioned by others in the forum, is the fill valves. My air mattress has better valves. Has anyone come up with a way to modify or replace these valves with one way valves? Has anyone figured a way to fill this tender to specs without loosing much of the pressure while switching from pump to plug ? Has anyone figured how to use the included pressure gauge.

I am otherwise happy with the purchase, but traditional valves would have made this tender so much better.

thataway · Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:10 pm Post subject:

I suspect that West has cheapened this product with time. In the past the RU 3 had the good valves. The Roberts Halkey valves are available for about $16 each:

http://www.halkeyroberts.com/products/inflation/boat-valves.aspx

Joni Lynn · Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 1:04 pm Post subject:

I just purchased my RU 3 from West Marine this past July and it has the good valves as shown on Thataway's picture. For the $$$ I think it's a pretty decent dinghy.
Paul aboard the Joni Lynn

anchorout · Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:37 pm Post subject: thanks

As I have come to expect from most people on this forum, your info is unbelievably helpful.

As the previous post indicated the RU3 he bought in July had the good valves installed. I may have been sent an older model. WM is good about making good on their orders. I'll contact them before going forward. Otherwise, I'll know what to order to fix the problem.

Thank you so much for the info.

thataway · Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 5:15 pm Post subject:

The least that West Marine could do for you is to provide the Roberts Halkey Valves for you, and install them!

Here is the current ("Black Friday" advertisement for the RU e

anchorout · Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:07 pm Post subject: RU3

Done Deal. Picked up new RU3 today and putted around with my new Suzuki 2.5. Because of the slat bottom it does not carve turns and in my opinion a bigger motor wouldn't push it any faster. But, it performs as I expected this type of tender to perform.

If I intended to spend another several years down island, this would not have been my choice. But for the limited use this dinghy will be seeing, and because of the light weight and rollup stowage, I think this an excellent choice for the sales price. I am happy with my purchase from WM.