On 6 Mar 2005 12:30:58 -0800, "boatgeek"
wrote:
my wife and I have a catamaran, which are sensitive to heavy loads,
especially aft. Frankly, we have a great RIB, AB 10' RIB, with a 5 HP
nissan engine. But the AB is heavy, and there is no way such a small
engine could get it up on a plane. I was wondering if anyone had any
input for what they liked for a planing dingy which could reasonably
plane 4 people (assume two couples, maybe around 700 lbs), but still be
light weight and plane well.

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Planing 4 people is asking a lot. I have several inflatables, and
neither will plane with 4 adults. One is a 12.5 ft Avon roll up
weighing about 250 lbs with motor and fuel. It will plane 3 adults
but not 4 using a Merc 15hp 2 stroke. It will almost plane with 4 and
might make it with a prop with less pitch but I don't know.

The second is a Caribe RIB about 11 or 12 feet long. I don't know the
weight but I'd guess at least 100 lbs more than the Avon. It
struggles to get 2 adults with gear on plane but does quite nicely
once it gets going (same 15 hp Merc OB). My guess is that to
consistently plane 4 adults with gear, you will need a RIB with
something in the 25 to 30 hp range.