On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:37:15 -0400, Larry wrote:
Cap'n Geoffrey bought a 12' portabote to replace the blow up dingy on
Lionheart a few years back after they got drown trying to get to the
yacht anchored out in Key West, Len. The ride is amazingly dry, much
dryer for sure than a blowboat.
It planes with me (260) and him (240) aboard with a 5hp Nissan 4-stroker,
which is more than your power to weight ratio..(c; 8hp should plane it
quite rapidly, indeed!
This is a good review of this....
Hey larry if you went overboard how would you get back on board?
How does it perform in other than calm conditons?
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11731
"Is a portaboat werth considering getting. would like pro and cons."
http://www.ssca.org/sscabb/index.php...196&page= 0#2
"Dinghy Choice - Porta Bote?"
very good discussion
"Posted: 14 Feb 2006 07:21 - Edited by: Dave Wilson
We now have eight month's experience cruising from Maine to the
Caribbean with a twelve foot Porta Bote. My current thoughts:
Plus
Inexpensive, compared to RIB or even inflatable
I think we paid $1300USD for the twelve foot model, including
cross-country shipping. Not bad at all compared to twice or three
times that for an equivalent inflatable or RIB.
Planes well with small engine
I believe it would plane with one person even with a 5 hp motor. It
does very well on low horsepower.
Holds a lot of people and gear
We regularly carry three people and a labrador retriever and don't
feel overloaded. In fact, we still have the forward seat free.
Tough - hull shrugs off rocks and rough docks
We found the hull plastic virtually impervious to the Maine rocks and
mussel shells. In the Caribbean, when others tie their dinghies off
with a stern anchor and cover everything with UV protecting cloth, we
just let ours rub the dock and get a suntan. It's none the worse for
wear.
Minus
Difficult to attach lines to hull
There are no built-in attachment points, other than at the bow. Why
not have some eyes on the transom, for a stern anchor, or on the sides
for lifting out of the water?
Very poor behavior under tow
Yes, it folds on deck, but folding is a pain and hoisting it aboard in
more than 15 knots of wind is very difficult. In 20 knots or more,
impossible. Guess what that means in the islands? Right, sometimes it
could be a few days before you're able to get the damned thing stowed
on deck. There are times when towing it for a short sail to the next
anchorage would be appropriate, but the boat will zig and zag, put its
shoulder down and take water over the bow in any speed much above 7
knots.
Included oars are a joke (corrosion)
Really, what would be the additional cost of oar locks and a decent
set of oars? Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Cheap plastic seats are cracking
We're not fat people (I'm 6'2" 180 lbs, the wife 5'10" 130 lbs), but
the seats are cracking along the centerline. I am having to glass the
heck out of this thing. The seats are just cheaply constructed.
Inexpensive is good, light weight is great. Cheap is just weak.
Cheap plastic transom is cracking
Again, cheaply made. Glass kit to the rescue (for now).
Cheap construction overall requires maintenance (i.e. rivets pop out)
Within the first three months I was repairing the "keel", which is a
PVC-like pipe that goes over the hull seam. The rivets pulled out near
the bow. Repair was fairly easy, but should not have been needed.
Hull flexes a lot in chop or wakes
This can be good or bad. It lets the boat ride over some chop, but
when a wake comes along, the bote will flex and go "stage left" when
you're not expecting it. This seems to happen only if you're planing.
Difficult to land on a beach with even small waves
The stern has very limited buoyancy, so the transom is easily swamped
by a following wave. Drainage is difficult, even once on the beach
because...
No drain plug
I can see how this would be challenging, given the design of the
transom, but it would be very nice to have. I don't think it would be
impossible to design a cut-out in the transom to fit around a plug in
the outer waterproof "skin".
----------------------------------
Would I buy a Porta-Bote again? We could easily stow a 10 foot RIB on
our foredeck for passages. I would strongly consider an aluminium RIB,
but in the end might go with the PB due to cost.
Dave
s/v Whisper"
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http://cruisenews.net/cgi-bin/docksi...ig.pl/read/708
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From Google, it seems there is a discussion group on this boat
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PortaB...1?viscount=100
PortaBote : Messages : 1-100 of 8289
.... seats from K-Mart (or wherever) to the benches with a few
modifications. ... The wife and I are buying a portaboat this spring
to snoop around in. ...
groups.yahoo.com/group/PortaBote/messages/1?viscount=100 - 110k - 21
May 2006 -
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http://www.microcruising.com/ding1.htm
Building the Micro Folding Dinghy
Offsets
Sketch 1
Sketch 2
Plans 1
Plans 2
http://www.microcruising.com/Graphics/1SHEET~1.jpg
This is the dingy on the.....
http://www.microcruising.com/
VVVVVVVVVVVVVV
http://www.marktnet.nl/Folding-dingy-386549.htm
"Aluminium folding dingy.
Russian design, bolts together in 15 minutes, weighs about 30 kg."
http://www.lrse.com/index.cfm
http://www.lrse.com/products.cfm?cat=011
Inflatable Boats
It seems that there are alot of these out there. These certainly
serve a purpose.
http://www.simplicityboats.com/wackless.html
I Like
http://seaweed.thebilge.com/spindrift.htm
Building a Spindrift 9ft Nesting Dinghy
I like too....
http://www.landlpardey.com/Tips/Tips_2003_January.html
PERFECT....... rowing, sailing and life raft
These photos are provided by Steve as is this diagram, reproduced from
Cost Conscious Cruiser The FRIB is 10 feet long, excluding inflations
tubes and weigh about 100 pounds.
Mic67