Alaska Series - 270 SDS Seward

J

Jeff and Julie

New member
Well, we finally took our dinghy out today for a trial run and wanted to post a quick "review".
We were very surprised and impressed with how easy this dinghy was to row and paddle through the water. We have been told by many that any dinghy without a rigid bottom is very hard to move through the water without a small kicker. We are really glad that we decided to wait on the kicker as we most likely will not be getting one now.
The weight of the dinghy when we ordered it was a little scary for us to think about hoisting on the top of our boat. We really had no trouble today with just two of us. We brought it up over the side and right up on top without too much effort.
For any of you who may be looking for a dinghy at the SBS, make sure you talk to Jim King!

Jeff and Julie
 
Inflatables paddle and row fairly well in calm water. The greater difficulty is in wind, because of the relitatively light boat, the windage and no keel.
We rowed inflatables for a number of years before we purchased a kicker.

But if you get caught in a breeze, you can be blow out to sea, so use some caution.

Generally today's inflatables paddle better than they row, mainly because few of them have substantial oar locks, and the oars cannot be easily feathered into the wind and slop.
 
We use an Alaska series inflatable too. It is set up better then most for rowing. With most inflatable as Bob suggested, I usually paddle. With the AK series I usually use the oars unless there are too many occupants in the boat to allow the sweep of the oars (another negative aspect of oars).

If you aren't used to using an inflatable, as mentioned, you are suseptible to being driven by the wind. When you venture out from your anchorage, you should always plan on where you think the wind will be coming from and consider whether you will be able to make it back if it kicks up. With two people in a typical inflatable dingy, trying to travel any distance against more than ten knots of wind or so is not a good idea. 20 knots you can forget it.

The good news boating in AK is that the wind typically blows from the head of most bays. So if you do get caught downwind of where you are anchored you can go crosswind to the bank then walk the boat to the head of the bay and strike out again, approaching your boat from upwind. It may take a while but it beats the alternative and it'll probably only happen to you once.

If you do decide to get an outboard for the dingy, get one of the tiny little guys. With the outboard mounted on a bracket of a round ended inflatable (as opposed to square transom with extended tubes) you can actually flip them over backwards if you don't make sure you have enough weight forward. It's pretty funny if you're an observer, not so funny if you're in the dingy.
 
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