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Old 11-04-2012, 02:52 PM   #21
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Hi Auzzie

thanks for your research. I didn't know about some of what you have dug up there. These days I find most products tending towards "cheaper and nastier". The engineers focus on cutting corners and designing in a life expectancy that hopefully will just outlast the warranty. Preferably only briefly, so that you must make many (happy?) return trips to the emporium.

I'd a thunk PVC would have fit in that category too, but it likely was cheaper to just perfect a timed-disintegration glue for dinks.

Cynical? Me?? Noooo way!

Yup, bugger that.

Ivo
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Old 11-05-2012, 12:58 AM   #22
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Maybe I'll nick a kali float and stick an outboard bracket on the back.

I think my problem stems from a lifetime of dissatisfaction with dinghies. I've had timber clinker and pram, aluminium tinnies, GRP traditional and twin keeled, inflatable rib, hardfloor and blow-up floor, and an injection moulded plastic thingy.

All have had their advantages and drawbacks. I'm still looking for the holy grail!

Without doubt the best was a 10'6" Hypalon Avon RIB. But, that was on my last boat (LOD 55'). Now I have a smaller boat and want to stow the dinghy below when voyaging...and, as I have an aversion to marinas, I need a combination ding which sadly, doesn't exist.

Maybe I should call Toyota with a design brief.....
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Old 11-05-2012, 03:21 AM   #23
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Be careful of what you wish for.. it may need a 450lb Li-ion battery to be fully "gr$$n $n$rgy" compliant.

Ivo
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Old 11-05-2012, 04:49 AM   #24
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Auzzee, I'm not sure what you've seen that says that Hypalon isn't suitable for roll-ups. I've had my Hypalon roll-up for some time and it's great. Spoke to several others in the same marina that have had Hypalon roll-ups for years as well and no problems with any of them. Achilles seems to make quite a few roll-up Hypalon models.

My concern from your point of view would be the life expectancy of PVC in the tropics. Way less than that of Hypalon.

The last PVC ducky I bought I was told "oh yeah but this is the all new PVC, it doesn't degrade as fast as the old PVC". It still died in 3-4 years and that was in Sydney conditions.
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Old 11-05-2012, 07:23 AM   #25
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Yup..I'm tending toward the 8'+ model of the Achilles hypalon rollup similar to yours. It has a good reputation and is reasonably priced.
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Old 01-04-2013, 02:38 PM   #26
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I notice you got answers about every kind of dinghy BUT a slatted floor. My advice is stay away from slatted floors. Have one made by Western Marine and it is a piece of junk !! Talked to others who have had the same problems. The slats break easily, the bottoms don't stay tight and if fact mine has torn off twice and still leaks. These problems seem to be common to slatted floors giving the dinghy a 3 to 5 year life only, after that they are junk. Sailor H
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Old 01-05-2013, 02:01 AM   #27
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Build one of these?

Dinghy plans for the spatially challenged
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Old 01-05-2013, 02:03 AM   #28
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Thanks SH. The slatted floor dings are generally referred to as roll-ups. I appreciate your critique of the style. I wonder if the Achilles (which generally gets good wraps) suffers from the same problem as your Western marine job. Also is 'Western Marine' distinct from 'West Marine' or are they one and the same animal?
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Old 01-06-2013, 03:57 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by haiqu View Post
There you go haiqu start a dinghy business. I like the Stasha 7ft but it may not fit on my motorbike , I use a $30 blowup job currently its on the second year now, it just gets dangers in the wind, but still cheaper than a fine from our unfriendly police for not carrying "Safety Equipment"
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Old 01-06-2013, 05:08 PM   #30
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I have a West Marine (Made by Zodiac) roll up and the only issue I have had is when i rubbed a piling and a barnacle cut a tube. It is PVC so it isn't so tough.
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Old 01-07-2013, 06:21 AM   #31
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Avon used to be the best, but now made by Zodiac, bad news. My last two have been Achilles
w/air floor, great boats. The 1st was the 7.7, a little small. I now have the 8.6 air floor, just right for a 32 ft.
ketch. Please, no PVC and especially Chinese PVC. French PVC is bad enough.
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Old 01-15-2013, 03:00 PM   #32
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Has anyone compared the hypalon fabrics used by different manufacturers for wear ( abrasion) resistance? I have had disappointing wearing thin experiences in used RIBs.

I had an Achilles that lasted well thru 7 years of hard cruising, then needed new patches way too often to keep up. I've since acquired both a Caribe and an AB used that looked decent, but thinned and leaked in undetectable ( by soapy water) places.

I want good service life in yet one more RIB before I head out again.
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Old 01-15-2013, 03:16 PM   #33
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The air floor units seem to have much better service time than slats. Guessing it may be because the floor stays rigid. To Babylonlarry. Have heard of a paint you can buy that coats hypalon and extends the life. Haven't tried myself, only heard talk of it.
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Old 01-16-2013, 02:00 AM   #34
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The air floor units seem to have much better service time than slats. Guessing it may be because the floor stays rigid. To Babylonlarry. Have heard of a paint you can buy that coats hypalon and extends the life. Haven't tried myself, only heard talk of it.
It's marketed under various names including "TUFF". I bought some, it's useless.
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Old 01-16-2013, 02:03 AM   #35
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Originally Posted by babylonlarry View Post
Has anyone compared the hypalon fabrics used by different manufacturers for wear ( abrasion) resistance? I have had disappointing wearing thin experiences in used RIBs.

I had an Achilles that lasted well thru 7 years of hard cruising, then needed new patches way too often to keep up. I've since acquired both a Caribe and an AB used that looked decent, but thinned and leaked in undetectable ( by soapy water) places.

I want good service life in yet one more RIB before I head out again.
I currently have an air floor Achilles, it seems to be doing well. My previous was a Caribe RIB which also leaked in undetectable ways, and was too heavy to use.

The advantage of an air floor is that they are much lighter and easier to stow. That gives you an incentive (or less of a disincentive) to pull it out of the water and stow it properly once you've finished using it. I think the primary reason my Caribe died was that I treated it badly due to it being too heavy to treat well.
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Old 08-28-2016, 09:34 PM   #36
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I only briefly owned a pair of yachty oars. They were quickly stolen. So I scrounged around the beach, and made up some out of what I found. No druggie is going to steal them, hoping or a quick sale, and quick cash. If I won the lottery, I still wouldn't buy 'buy fancy "yachtie" oars .
For the last decade or more, I have been making my oar blades out of plastic cut from a 45 gallon drum. They last forever. I nail them to a couple of fir 2x2s. They work just as well, functionally , as the fanciest commercially made oars. Lately ,I see more and more cruisers going this route, around here.
Oarlocks are best welded out of stainless .You cant buy oarlocks as good and reliable.
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Old 08-29-2016, 04:20 AM   #37
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I only briefly owned a pair of yachty oars. They were quickly stolen. So I scrounged around the beach, and made up some out of what I found. No druggie is going to steal them, hoping or a quick sale, and quick cash. If I won the lottery, I still wouldn't buy 'buy fancy "yachtie" oars .
For the last decade or more, I have been making my oar blades out of plastic cut from a 45 gallon drum. They last forever. I nail them to a couple of fir 2x2s. They work just as well, functionally , as the fanciest commercially made oars. Lately ,I see more and more cruisers going this route, around here.
Oarlocks are best welded out of stainless .You cant buy oarlocks as good and reliable.
Too bad you didn't think to drill a couple of holes in the blades of those original fancy "yachtie" oars, for your dink's locking system. You'd probably still have them and saved yourself all the time and effort you've spent making oars since that pair was stolen.
I have NEVER lost a pair of oars (to theft, capsize, etc.) in over 50 years of carrying a pair in the numerous dinks and unpowered sailboats I've used.
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Old 08-29-2016, 02:44 PM   #38
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Well said Capta. I always used the same security as you. I used to occasionally give the blades a birthday coat of clear urethane. Now, with an inflatable, I have aluminium oars with plastic blades, lock them the same way, and these fine little means of transferring motive power can be bought brand new on ebay for less than the price of a box (cartoon or slab if you're Aussie) of 24 cans of beer.
Bargain!
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Old 08-29-2016, 10:01 PM   #39
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Too bad you didn't think to drill a couple of holes in the blades of those original fancy "yachtie" oars, for your dink's locking system. You'd probably still have them and saved yourself all the time and effort you've spent making oars since that pair was stolen.
I have NEVER lost a pair of oars (to theft, capsize, etc.) in over 50 years of carrying a pair in the numerous dinks and unpowered sailboats I've used.

Had I locked it to the rubber dinghy I had at the time ,they would have simply cut the rubber.

Since then, one oar has been attached by a cable, and nicopress sleeves, and the other by a 1/8th inch chain, long enough to let me use it to pole off the beach. I also use it to lock my dinghy. Amazing this is so rarely done.
Still don't see any justification in expensive oars, as their advantage is zero.
I have seen oars bounced out by the swell in some places.
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