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porta-bote or inflatable?
(JAXAshby) wrote in message ...
Well, anybody have knowledge of both for a dinghy?
I have both, and use the Porta-Bote almost exclusively. It rows easily, it
motors easily, it carries large loads. It also takes upwards of an hour to
assemble from scratch on deck (including getting together the three seats and
transom from down below, the bag of hardware, twisting it up on deck,
assembling, rigging a hardness to attach to the main halyard, putting into
water, mounting the engine, getting fuel can and safety gear)
my inflatable is an Achilles "donut" style, which takes maybe 20 minutes start
to finish including mounting the engine etc, but only holds *max* of two
people, and that is crowd. The damned thing rows likes a submerged garbage
can. Engine required.
btw, most inflatables you see on boats out there look spic and span brand new
in the last two or three years. Most hard dinghies look like they have been
around since Nixon was president. Interesting is that about half of those who
have a hard dinghy also have an inflatable. Not sure which came first, but
they put up with having both, it seems because each did things well the other
didn't.
I do not intend to carry all 5 of us at a time in the dinghy but
probably myself and my 2 oldest to shore first, then back to get my
wife and youngest. So, it has to carry three ppl.
The Porta-bote really takes an hour? My god, my Nautilus 8 only takes
5 minutes to hoist off h deck with halyard and over the lifelines into
the water. Maybe 10 minutes total to be ready with oars.
Maybe I will continue o live with the Nautilus and inflatable kayak.
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