Dingies & Tenders

[Adeline]

I stumbled onto these after I'd already bought my hypalon Achilles(for twice as much). To me they look like a great value.

[rogerbum]

I like the looks of their motorized inflatable kyaks. Not a bad price but it is PVC vs. hypalon.

[Nan-C]

c-the-light: You must have been right behind us in Oakland. Choosing between the green and the blue boats was a tough call for us. In fact, we chose the blue early on and switched. I trust your experience with the Outboard Motor Shop was as pleasant as ours. Craig seems to be the kind of owner I would want to work for and the kind of fair and honest businessman I want to buy from. Bill is absolutely the kind of low key salesman who is a joy to work with. A genuinely nice guy. He does not hesitate to go the extra mile -- or two -- to take care of the details that turn the buyers' wishes for their new boat into reality. And Javier! What a neat young man. Fun to work with. Knowledgeable. And incredibly conscientious. I should do a testimonial for them. Oh, I just did.

Tahoe is one of our favorite places -- and so far, for one day, the lone bright spot in an otherwise bleak boating season for us. We did have some stressful moments pulling up to North Tahoe from I-80 on our trip back to Iowa. We towed from Oakland to Iowa with a Chevy short bed 1500 with the 5.3. Most of the time we were OK, if slow. But up that two lane to North Tahoe we often dropped to 15MPH in low. I honestly thought we were going to come to a full stop at virtually full power a couple of times. I have to admit thinking about the long trip ahead of us took a little of the edge off our day on the lake. A Chevy 2500 Duramax -- that was definitely not in the budget -- now sits in the driveway waiting for us to finally go boating. It sounds as if your post-purchase boating season went a bit better than ours.

Hope to see you on the lake.

Greg

[JamesTXSD]

[Nan-C]

Thanks, Jim. We like the truck a lot, and I, too, love the transmission.

Greg

[thataway]

Some further details on the Gaurhauer davit side mounts:
Consider that these are mock ups--and that the distance and angles may not be precise, but this shows the concept.


This is the Guarheur davit with the ball foot for lower support, and the ring for the upper support, also showing the alternate cleating arrangement.



This is the Sea Fit, rod holder and plate which mounts on the side of the hull. When the rod or mount for the ball foot of the davit is not in place, only the plate is visiable on the boat--this is thru bolted with a back up plate.






Mock up of the SS mount to hold the ball foot for the davit.



SS plate which is to be bolted to the side of the boat--and only part showing when the ball mount or rod holder is not in place.



The mock up being put into the plate on the side of the boat.



Ring mount thru bolted to the lip on the cabin above the mout for the foot.

[Doryman]

[thataway]

Warren,
I will have to use a plumb bob to get the absolute correct angle--but what I did is close. I would recommend mock up with either 1/8" plywood or cardboard and hot glue. I find that welders work better if the mock up is precise.

A couple of comments about the Genesis and the 2 hp Honda.

The Genesis is a good solution for an RIB--lighter than many that size (except perhaps alunimum bottom RIB boats)--the material does not wear or scratch as much as fiberglass. But, I think getting a 110 lb boat into the cockpit of a CD 25 would be quite a job, unless you have some type of lift. RIB's are better than soft bottoms if you are regularly landing on rocky or barnacle infested beaches. We put sacrificial strips of fiberglass on our RIB when using it in Alaska. but we have also seen RIB's glass worn thru by sand in the Caribbean. You may want to make some gunnel guard material--to protect the sides of the boat if you bring the boat aboard.

The Honda 2hp is an love them or hate them motor. I had one, and I didn't like it. The centrifical clutch was a pain. It would not engage until the engine was reved up, and I could not idle it down without dropping the clutch. This was enough of a problem I considered it a safety issue. It was noiser than some of the other motors I have owned. Several of my friends have had the same experience as I have with the Honda 2's. Also--if the wind is strong, 2 hp may not be enough power to push an inflatable against the wind. I have a 2.5 hp Suzuki 4 stroke which weighs 2 lbs more than the Honda but I prefer a 3.5 hp 2 stroke--about the same weight and a bit more hp. I agree that the air cooling would seem to be a good idea.

[Adeline]

I ended up getting a variant of this on Craig's List. 4 horses, 33 pounds, twin cylinders, twist-grip throttle. Very smooth running little motor.

[matt_unique]

[thataway]

Depending on where you read the specs the Garhauer davit is rated at 150 to 300 lbs. I am currently closser to 150 than 200 (thanks to a restarunt in Lordsberg NM). I feel that this davit would lift me.

The standard 26" arm has the top cam cleat. This 34" arm has both the cam cleat on the top, and an extra block on the upper pole section plus a jam cleat below that--so either pulling directly horizontally or straight down, the line can be cleated. The blocks are way over kill for 200 lbs, and I suspect rated at over 800 lbs per block, so the only issue would be the SS arm itself.

I do carry an extra 6:1 block and tackle, which could be hooked onto the lifting point and bring a dinghy or person aboard, even if the boat was heeled to one side.

We have not yet done so--but will probably put a sail boat winch on the aft deck on the stb side (opposite the shower)--I have found that handy when anchoring or warping a vessel to a point--left over from the sailing days, where we used spring lines and the cockpit winches to bring a boat into the dock against wind and current.

[Doryman]

[thataway]

We carry the block and tackle because it is light and easy to use--with a rolling hitch to break out an anchor, or pull the boat in, if there is a heavy wind etc.

The idea is that when the boat is heeled to one side--with the weight of a person out 34" from the gunnel and the other person on that side of the boat--the geometry or the davit would pull the davit arm at right angles to the boat. The hoisting line on the davit has a jam cleat for downward pull and double cam cleats for horizontal pull--see the photo.

The 6:1 block and tackle would be secured to the opposite side of the boat--the second person would stand on the other side, and pull to bring the person aboard--probably secure a line from the block and tackle to the aft cleat on the other side. There is a cam cleat, as in a sailboat's mainsail sheet, incorporated in the block and tackle-(one of the block sets was from a mainsail sheet).

A block and tackle is limited in the length of pull, especially with a 6:1--for 6 feet of pull you need 36 feet of line (+). With a winch, you can use an anchor line or long line to warp a boat. We used these often when we were going med moor to ease the boat to the docks. For example we often tie stern to shore--with the motor raised up. During the heavy storm winds on Lake powell, if we wanted to pull the boat in closer to the beach, it would have been handy to have just cranked on a winch. Many of these winches are "self tailing"--and this will act as a jam cleat to hold the line, temporally.

[centerisland]

I almost bought a used Puffin aluminum RIB today:
http://www.southern-pacific.co.uk/products/puffin-lightweight-rib.html
I wish I _had_ bought it, but the seller was not being honorable and I chose to just walk away.

Anyway, I've been using a 3.10 Avon rollaway as a dinghy this summer, and have yet to find a way to make it work for us. My wife isn't really strong enough to be much help getting it on top of the house. It's too wide to haul over the stern (we have a 22' Osprey I/O) and leave there on the engine cover. It's too long to go on Weaver davits on the swimstep without interfering with the kicker. It doesn't really track well for towing.

So this little lightweight aluminum RIB looked perfect. Smaller, an eyebolt through the keel for towing, a full-length gaurd over the keel. So aparently this kind of boat (also made by Aquapro) is huge in AU/NZ - why aren't there any here in the US?

[matt_unique]