This has been discussed already i'm sure but to save looking for info I will just ask if anyone has experience with this model zodiac for the 22 cruiser. It seems like an excellent tender, although a bit pricey. I suppose you get what you pay for. also curious if it's a planning hull design? Thanks guys.
zodiac c240
- Thread starter dutch123
- Start date
I have an earlier version of the C200 and the dinghy I sold with C Pelican is a similar version of the C 240. I have another friend who has a simlar dinghy who has also owned it about 5 years.
These are PVC boats, the construction is as good as any PVC. They are less resistant to abrasion or UV than the Hypalon boats, but seem to hold up well.
We have had no problems with either of these boats. We did get a small barnacle cut on the bottom, which was easily patched.
The 200 is a bit small, but 2 of us (about 320 lbs) and a small dog do OK for calm water. The 240 has a bit more room. It makes a good boat for the 22, at a fairly light weight.
We use 3 to 3.5 hp engines on these boats, and go at displacement speeds. They will not really plane, since the slat floor is not a good planing surface. We had one of the "slats" break, but glassed it with cloth and epoxy--done well since.
These are PVC boats, the construction is as good as any PVC. They are less resistant to abrasion or UV than the Hypalon boats, but seem to hold up well.
We have had no problems with either of these boats. We did get a small barnacle cut on the bottom, which was easily patched.
The 200 is a bit small, but 2 of us (about 320 lbs) and a small dog do OK for calm water. The 240 has a bit more room. It makes a good boat for the 22, at a fairly light weight.
We use 3 to 3.5 hp engines on these boats, and go at displacement speeds. They will not really plane, since the slat floor is not a good planing surface. We had one of the "slats" break, but glassed it with cloth and epoxy--done well since.
Wandering Sagebrush
Free Range Human
Bob,
Are these the same as the RU 2xx series that West Marine markets? We have an older RU 260, and it seems to be fine for the CD22. I would have preferred a non slat floor, but the price was right. We use a 2hp and a 4hp on it.
Steve
Are these the same as the RU 2xx series that West Marine markets? We have an older RU 260, and it seems to be fine for the CD22. I would have preferred a non slat floor, but the price was right. We use a 2hp and a 4hp on it.
Steve
Thanks for the info, ya i'm kind of partial to an inflatable floor so I can at least get up on step, hypalon would also be nice. Kind of wonder how much that zodiac name costs and if its worth looking around. Seems as though it's hard to find a decent tender that will be useful on the chuck and still be stowable on the cd22.
I just checked the Defender Marine web site and they list the C240 as a slat floor boat, unless they have wrong info. They also note that it is 7'6" long, weighs 57 pounds and can take a 4 hp o/b if the weight is under 55 pounds. It is unlikely that it will get on plane, unless the operator is light and gets his/her weight forward. The Defender price is regularly about $1200 and it is on sale for $979.
We carry an Achilles LT4 slat floor with a soft transom that is 8'6" long and also weighs 57 pounds. The big difference is that the Achilles is made of Hypalon, which is much more UV resistant and long lasting, in my experience. My previous inflatable was also an Achilles and it saw almost 20 years of hard service every year, including being towed thousands of miles behind my sailboat. The inflated LT4 fits under our tall radar arch with no problem (pics in our album). The Defender price on the LT4 is $1200.
I can not speak of the life of PVC from personal experience, but have been told by those that have had them that their life is about half that of a Hypalon boat. It should be noted that these cruisers also used their inflatables very hard every season. I'm sure that PVC boats that live in their storage bags would last a long time, too.
Hope that this helps.
Regards,
Nick
"Valkyrie"
We carry an Achilles LT4 slat floor with a soft transom that is 8'6" long and also weighs 57 pounds. The big difference is that the Achilles is made of Hypalon, which is much more UV resistant and long lasting, in my experience. My previous inflatable was also an Achilles and it saw almost 20 years of hard service every year, including being towed thousands of miles behind my sailboat. The inflated LT4 fits under our tall radar arch with no problem (pics in our album). The Defender price on the LT4 is $1200.
I can not speak of the life of PVC from personal experience, but have been told by those that have had them that their life is about half that of a Hypalon boat. It should be noted that these cruisers also used their inflatables very hard every season. I'm sure that PVC boats that live in their storage bags would last a long time, too.
Hope that this helps.
Regards,
Nick
"Valkyrie"
I would agree with Nick on the longivity---but if you keep the PVC boat stored out of the sun and in a good environment they seem to be lasting well in todays world (At one time Zodiac made some bad boats with seams which burst). Of the four inflatables I currently own: 2 are Avon--one vinyl articulated slat floor with inflatable keel--which does plane, and one with an air floor and inflatable keel. The C 200 type is slats which go thru pvc holders and are not articulated, is not a planing boat. The floor has to be rigid for the boat to plane-the slat floor will deform. For the boat to plane, you need a plywood, vinly articulated or air floor with an inflatable keel. Some folks can get the softer floor boats going faster than displacement speeds, but not fully on a plane where they are stable. I also own a PVC inflatable Kayak by Hobie and that seems to be a quality product.
The RU2XX at one time were made by Zodic--but not sure if they currently are.
Hard to say about the Zodiac name. The company has cheapened the boats though the years--they also purchased Bombard and Avon--cheapening these also.
As for planing--if you want an air floor, and planing boat then the high pressure air floor is for you.
The RU2XX at one time were made by Zodic--but not sure if they currently are.
Hard to say about the Zodiac name. The company has cheapened the boats though the years--they also purchased Bombard and Avon--cheapening these also.
As for planing--if you want an air floor, and planing boat then the high pressure air floor is for you.
Great info from Bob, as always.
One correction to my post: our LT4 has a plywood floor that folds in half, not a slat floor. We power it with a Honda 2 which keeps it moving okay, but we're not getting anywhere fast!
I, too, wanted a planing inflatable, but determined that to get the length needed to plane easily and a big enough o/b for it was not going to happen for a number of reasons.
One: a longer boat would be heavier than I was willing to deal with in order to get it onto the roof. Two: I didn't want the added expense of a larger motor. Three: that larger, heavier motor would be tough to handle and Four: with a Honda 90 and a kicker there would be no place on the transom to store it. (We keep our Honda 2 on a bracket on the factory-supplied SS transom bar.)
I once had an inflatable floor and keel BOAT US rigid transom inflatable (or deflatable which I had to return because it wouldn't hold air!), powered by a two-stroke five horse, which would get on plane with one person well forward using an extended tiler. Barely, that is, and I weigh 190 pounds.
Nick
"Valkyrie"
One correction to my post: our LT4 has a plywood floor that folds in half, not a slat floor. We power it with a Honda 2 which keeps it moving okay, but we're not getting anywhere fast!
I, too, wanted a planing inflatable, but determined that to get the length needed to plane easily and a big enough o/b for it was not going to happen for a number of reasons.
One: a longer boat would be heavier than I was willing to deal with in order to get it onto the roof. Two: I didn't want the added expense of a larger motor. Three: that larger, heavier motor would be tough to handle and Four: with a Honda 90 and a kicker there would be no place on the transom to store it. (We keep our Honda 2 on a bracket on the factory-supplied SS transom bar.)
I once had an inflatable floor and keel BOAT US rigid transom inflatable (or deflatable which I had to return because it wouldn't hold air!), powered by a two-stroke five horse, which would get on plane with one person well forward using an extended tiler. Barely, that is, and I weigh 190 pounds.
Nick
"Valkyrie"
Yes the saturn sd230 and sd260 look like nice tenders. I think i'm leaning toward the sd 260, alot more payload only 5 pounds more than sd230, good price, maybe a little big but will most likely handle two persons and some gear comfortably. Also the high pressure floor makes this tender a good choice when (not if) less than ideal conditions arise. Thanks for the info.
What is unknown is the quality of the seams and the air floor. There have been problems with some airfloors, with drop stitches failing, and a bulge, instead of a flat floor.
The boat sounds good--why is it half the cost of other boats? Where is the boat made? What glue is used or thermal bonding? What is the thickness of materials and who makes the materials?
The 8'6" boat with a 10 hp motor might be a hand full. The longer the inflatable, the more stable it is. I have had planing 9 foot dinghies, and 10 foot ones are much better for handling.
The air floor and inflatable keel should make the boat plane well, with the appropiate size engine. You can use a larger engine--both as a kicker and the dinghy motor. We use the Garhauer Davit to transfer the 15 hp Honda from the kicker bracket to the stern of the 11 foot inflatable we occasionally carry. This works well. But trying to move this size engine, without a davit would be difficult.
The boat sounds good--why is it half the cost of other boats? Where is the boat made? What glue is used or thermal bonding? What is the thickness of materials and who makes the materials?
The 8'6" boat with a 10 hp motor might be a hand full. The longer the inflatable, the more stable it is. I have had planing 9 foot dinghies, and 10 foot ones are much better for handling.
The air floor and inflatable keel should make the boat plane well, with the appropiate size engine. You can use a larger engine--both as a kicker and the dinghy motor. We use the Garhauer Davit to transfer the 15 hp Honda from the kicker bracket to the stern of the 11 foot inflatable we occasionally carry. This works well. But trying to move this size engine, without a davit would be difficult.
The achilles Lsi88 caught my eye this afternoon, seems like a winner. A little spendy i'll admit but seems like it has the features i'm looking for. A flat bottom tender just seems very limited and after using a zodiac with a hard bottom for so many years on my folks grand banks 32 I suppose i'm a little spoiled.
After extensive research I narrowed my choice to the LSI77 or the LSI88. The 88 is 13" longer, offers an inflatable keel, and accepts a 6 horse motor(the 77 a 4 horse). I struggled with this for quite a while. My local dealer stocked an 88 but a 77 was special order only. I wondered how these boats would fit atop my cabin so I dragged Adeline over to the dealer and threw the 88 onto the roof. It turned out that the inflatable keel was a minor annoyance as it kept the bottom from following the curved contour of the roof. It teetered. Not a big deal but it meant that I'd probably end up deflating it (the keel) every time I had her on the roof, and re-inflating it when I used her. The extra length is an advantage if you need it. I decided that 6 horsepower would be too heavy so whichever one I selected was going to be limited to a 4. Since there was no 77 to throw up there I simply photoshopped 13" out of the images that I captured with my digicam. You can check out the pictures here.
I finally selected the 77 because it best suited my individual preferences. The 88 was only a little more money but I just didn't need the extra length. BTW, top speed with me alone(230#) is about 7 mph (guessing) if i sit forward. I wouldn't call it planing but it's fast enough for me. I don't think you're going to plane any small inflatable with a truly(lightweight) portable motor
If you decide that you want a Hypalon with an inflatable floor then these are two fine candidates. You should consider the Alaska Series too. Do a search of this website. Boat Show time is the BEST time of year to buy one. Good luck !
I agree with Adeline, you will not really be planing with a small portable outboard--going more that displacement speed, with a flat bottom--yes.
We have owned a number of inflatables through the years. Even with bigger boats, we found that 15 hp was enough for 2 people and a couple of dogs, when you got to 4 people, dive gear etc, or 3 and 200lbs of dogs, you had to go to 25 hp to get fully on a plane.
We put inflatables upside down some times on the Cabin tops.. You can put the foam which is used to insulate water pipes over the wooden transom to protect the gelcoat--or many other ways to cushion it.
We have owned a number of inflatables through the years. Even with bigger boats, we found that 15 hp was enough for 2 people and a couple of dogs, when you got to 4 people, dive gear etc, or 3 and 200lbs of dogs, you had to go to 25 hp to get fully on a plane.
We put inflatables upside down some times on the Cabin tops.. You can put the foam which is used to insulate water pipes over the wooden transom to protect the gelcoat--or many other ways to cushion it.
There's no doubt that this is a popular (most popular ???) way to transport your inflatable. I guess that's because it keeps water and bird scat out. Call me crazy but I like to carry mine right-side-up. It's like the cargo carrier you might put atop a car's roof. A great place for certain items (such as bumpers) that otherwise take up valuable real-estate in the cockpit. I generally keep my cover on to keep the scat out and to help shelter from the effects of UV. It doesn't stop the rain but that just runs out the transom drain. Any residual rainwater gets dumped when I "launch" it.
Speaking of U.V., whichever boat you select you'll want to treat with a good protectant. Achilles recommends 303 Aerospace Protectant.
On Valkyrie, we have to carry it upside down because we have the tall top and if we carry it right-side up, it won't fit under the radar arch, even though it is the tall model. Fortunately, when flipped over, the inside of our Achilles LT4 fits the tall top perfectly.
Nick
"Valkyrie"
Nick
"Valkyrie"
journey on
New member
Looking at the two inflatables: LSI-77 and -88, I notice that they have the same beam and tube diameter. The only difference is another foot of length, and a sturdier transom. The inflatable keel takes about 5 pump strokes to inflate, which is really minor.
In my experience, a dingy is a valuable addition to a cruiser, where you use it to explore, go ashore, and commute to other boats. If one uses it that way, please consider the advantages of another foot of "cabin" space. It will also allow you to use a 6 hp motor. I had a 4 hp Johnson and upgraded it to a 6 hp Johnson, and it made all the difference in the world, with regard to getting there.
I used to buy Avons, but now they're too expensive and I've switched to Achilles. Every bit as good as the Avon, but I miss the wooden unattached oars. Both are Hypalon, and that seems a bit sturdier to me. Also Hypalon is unaffected by sunlight, and the further south you go, the more important it becomes.
Boris
In my experience, a dingy is a valuable addition to a cruiser, where you use it to explore, go ashore, and commute to other boats. If one uses it that way, please consider the advantages of another foot of "cabin" space. It will also allow you to use a 6 hp motor. I had a 4 hp Johnson and upgraded it to a 6 hp Johnson, and it made all the difference in the world, with regard to getting there.
I used to buy Avons, but now they're too expensive and I've switched to Achilles. Every bit as good as the Avon, but I miss the wooden unattached oars. Both are Hypalon, and that seems a bit sturdier to me. Also Hypalon is unaffected by sunlight, and the further south you go, the more important it becomes.
Boris