best light weight planing dingy for catamaran
 

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.

Doug

Our Caribe with a 18HP Nissan does well.

Doug

"boatgeek" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.

Doug

A 14' port-a-boat with a 10hp 2 stroke might do it. Look here :
www.porta-bote.com Also, search rec.boats.cruising archives for
port-a-boat info. There was a port-a-boat thread here awhile back.


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.

You know, that's not a bad idea. I had a 12' portaboat once which
plane really well. I'd be able to carry a 210 lb friend and get up on
a decent plane with a 8 HP motor. I wasn't very experienced with
boating and didn't have a big enough arch for the portaboat, so I sold
the PB and kept my rib. I think to get this RIB to the point where I
could plane easily, I would need a 15 HP engine, and suddenly I'm
looking at around 250 lbs hanging off the back. By going to a
portaboat, I might save 80 to 100lbs.

Look into one with an air floor. A 10' one only weighs about 80# and
they perform pretty well. I have a 9' and it planes with 230# me in it
with a 4 hp outboard. (2 cycle, 33#)

Capt. Jeff

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.

======================================

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.

"boatgeek" wrote in
oups.com:

You know, that's not a bad idea. I had a 12' portaboat once which
plane really well. I'd be able to carry a 210 lb friend and get up on
a decent plane with a 8 HP motor. I wasn't very experienced with
boating and didn't have a big enough arch for the portaboat, so I sold
the PB and kept my rib. I think to get this RIB to the point where I
could plane easily, I would need a 15 HP engine, and suddenly I'm
looking at around 250 lbs hanging off the back. By going to a
portaboat, I might save 80 to 100lbs.



Lionheart has a 12' PortaBote with a 4-stroke 5hp Nissan on it. When we
first got it, Cap'n Geoffrey bought a set of davits and stern mounted them.
But, I found a better way to get it aboard before trying to disassemble
it....Simply winch it up the mainmast on a halyard, bow up, over the
handrail. This drains the boat as it comes aboard, then we stow her bottom
up to clean off the wigglers for next time if we're not going to sea.
Portabote makes a MUCH better hatch rain cover, upside down, than the
Zodiac used to. It covers both forward hatches so it can't rain in. If
we're going to sea, we disassemble it and stow it along the port handrail
out of the way of sailing. The pieces parts stow in the forward lockers
under the extra sails.

5hp planes it with two 250# guys no problems. I wish he HADN'T bought the
4-stroke engine, though. Oil doesn't run out of a 2-stroke engine, no
matter how you lay it on the dock/deck. This Nissan, you're only supposed
to lay it down on one side to keep the oil in the sump from doing bad
things. You also don't have to change the oil in a 2-stroker....a pain.

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.

Aluminum RIBs are usually the lightest. We've been using a 9' Southern Cross
which weighs 65 LB, about two thirds of the Avon we had before. It was
competitively priced and much nicer than similar models. It almost planes with
2 HP and one person, and supposedly planes easily with 4 HP. I believe it.

However, with 4 people aboard, you're talking about saving a small percentage of
the total weight. Your real problem is power. Even with the best RIB you'll
need a lot more power to plane easily with four people.

If you're looking for a new RIB I heartily recommend the Southern Cross. It's
made in New Zealand. Other than that, if you want to go completely rigid -- I'm
always amazed at how fast some aluminum skiffs can go without much horsepower.

Matt O.