On 10 Mar 2005 07:21:19 -0800, wrote:


Bob Medico wrote:
Looks like it might be suited to clandesine activities.

Antonio wrote:

I'm an individual firm which has developed and patent a method that
permits to built boats that can be dismantled, still not present on
the international market. This Technique permits in 10 minutes to
get,
starting from a structure with small dimensions ( as big as an
overnight bag), a rigid boat. We are searching for firms interested
in
buying the patent or in the collaboration to develop the idea. To
see
on of the application of the technique you can visit the
www.natanti-smontabili.it .


My day is ruined now. After seeing this I'll spend all my time
thinking about it instead of what I should be doing.
Compare his concept to other folding boats.
Porta-Boat is a good and well done concept but is still too unwieldy to
assemble on the deck of a small sailboat. When folded, it is too long
to store anywhere on my 28' boat except against the lifelines where it
would produce too much windage.
Nesting Dinghys are another concept and I actually built the Two-Paw 9
to see if it would work well for me. It is "ok" but has many problems.
It is lightweight but is still unwieldy to assemble. For storage, it
sits on my foredeck and covers my foreward hatch. It is also a problem
to see over when steering while sitting.
Inflateables you can forget, they dont row worth anything and rowing is
a necessity for me.
Inflateable kayaks might work but have too little capacity to be
useful.
Other folding boats I have seen are all too long when folded.

The ideal dinghy would be:
Lightweight for hoisting out of the water.
Would carry 3 people
would have floatation
would row well ( I mean for at least 1 Km)
Easy to assemble
would store in a small volume (1m X 1m X .33 m)

I guess for completeness I should add our folding pram. It was made in
England and imported by a guy in Annapolis DBI Britannia Boats. I
haven't seen him at a boat show in some years, so I expect he went out
of business. We bought it in 1996 at the January boat show.

It is a normal-looking pram, 8' 6" long, with fabric hinges at the
chines, removable transoms and thwarts, and a piece to facilitate
outboard mounting. It also has a daggerboard trunk that could be
opened and used with a sail rig.

The two of us can get it on and off the boat assembled, and we unfold
and fold it across the cabin top. we stow it in a quarter berth, not
on deck.

We have used it with a 2 hp Yamaha, but we now row it. It rows as well
as any 8'6" pram. I can easily row it more than 1 km.

We don't use the dinghy every time we anchor, but it isn't a big deal
to get it out if we want it. We have had it for

Rodney Myrvaagnes Opinionated old geezer

Brutal dictators are routinely reelected by 90+%
margins. Only in a truly advanced democracy can
one win an election by a negative 600,000 votes.