Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

Hi,

I've returned the lightweight RIB to the yard. It wouldn't plane with
2 people, even with 8 hp. So...I'm back to square 1.
I am still looking for a dingy that allows me to get to the village to
get some food, a few miles from my anchorage.

- Would a 12' PortaBoat with a 8hp outboard plane with 2 persons and
some luggage (say 350 pounds altogether)? Or would this mean a
serious abuse of the boat? On the site they say a 12' can be equipped
by a 8hp.

- What would happen in a bit of sea? Would the flappering of the
hull-parts be too much to stand?


I know, what I want is a real speedboat..., but I want to be able to
store it on board. I guess that means either to fold or to deflate it.

TIA, Len

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

I loaned my 2 year old Johnson 6 HP to a friend to use on his Porta-Bote
one afternoon and it screamed along on a plane with himself and
girlfriend (my guess is that they weigh close to 350 lb between them).
He hasn't complained about any flapping hull parts.

FWIW,

Jonathan


Len wrote:
Hi,

I've returned the lightweight RIB to the yard. It wouldn't plane with
2 people, even with 8 hp. So...I'm back to square 1.
I am still looking for a dingy that allows me to get to the village to
get some food, a few miles from my anchorage.

- Would a 12' PortaBoat with a 8hp outboard plane with 2 persons and
some luggage (say 350 pounds altogether)? Or would this mean a
serious abuse of the boat? On the site they say a 12' can be equipped
by a 8hp.

- What would happen in a bit of sea? Would the flappering of the
hull-parts be too much to stand?


I know, what I want is a real speedboat..., but I want to be able to
store it on board. I guess that means either to fold or to deflate it.

TIA, Len


--
I am building my daughter an Argie 10 sailing dinghy, check it out:
http://home.comcast.net/~jonsailr

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

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!

As for riding around in it....it takes a little getting used to to trust
riding in a hull that bends so much underfoot. Walking around in it is
quite disconcerting as the hull bulges inward from the pressure on the
plastic on each side of the keel. When you step on the bulge, it drops
under your weight and is a little scary. After a while thrashing about
in the slop, your brain finally decides "we're going ok" and learns to
ignore its flapping about. The first time I climbed into it, I wished I
had my swimming shorts because we just weren't going to survive..(c;

I'm not sure you can abuse a portabote. Lord knows we've tried. It
bangs up against anything and scratches harmlessly, bouncing off even
concrete docks. No concern for IS IT GONNA RIP like the blowup boats.

To get her aboard, we gave up on davits and other expensive nuisances.
Its too easy to just take apart, stow the bits in the bow locker and fold
the boat up against the port hand rail forward of the mainmast so there's
nothing to trip over at sea. To get her aboard, after removing the
engine and your stuff, you simply connect the bow line yoke to the main
halyard (or an extra halyard up the mast) and haul the bow up the mast
while just pushing it way from the handrail. Any winch makes it real
easy. Once vertical, pay out the halyard until the stern is sitting on
deck by the mast and secure the halyard to a cleat. You're now STANDING
UP taking the seats apart, not stooping down to remove them. Haul it up
off the deck to do the stern. Once disassembled, just push it flat and
pay out the halyard while walking aft laying it flat against the
handrail. Secure it with a couple of lines and she's ready for sea.
Takes about 10 minutes. If you're going to use the portabote tomorrow,
just leave it assembled on the deck upside down with the halyard still
attached so you can push it back over the rail in the morning for more
trips. Out of the water, no cleaning marine slime off it that gathered
during the night and no waking up in the morning to find it wedged under
the yacht or gone floating off on its own. Oh, the halyard trick also is
the best way to BAIL IT..(c; Screw that pumping and can slinging over
the side. It bails as it comes out of the water vertically! Its slick
surface cleans easily on the halyard with a sponge and washdown hose....

Portabote is a real "speedboat" compared to something that blows up.
It's actually faster than a similarly-powered aluminum 12' fishing
boat....and no rivets to leak!

Now, if it just didn't feel as if I was gonna put my sneaker through it
when I boarded....hee hee.

Len wrote in
:

Hi,

I've returned the lightweight RIB to the yard. It wouldn't plane with
2 people, even with 8 hp. So...I'm back to square 1.
I am still looking for a dingy that allows me to get to the village to
get some food, a few miles from my anchorage.

- Would a 12' PortaBoat with a 8hp outboard plane with 2 persons and
some luggage (say 350 pounds altogether)? Or would this mean a
serious abuse of the boat? On the site they say a 12' can be equipped
by a 8hp.

- What would happen in a bit of sea? Would the flappering of the
hull-parts be too much to stand?


I know, what I want is a real speedboat..., but I want to be able to
store it on board. I guess that means either to fold or to deflate it.

TIA, Len

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

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.

Pretty remarkable that drowned folks come alive in order to buy a
Porta-boat.

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

Paul Cassel wrote in
:

Pretty remarkable that drowned folks come alive in order to buy a
Porta-boat.


Sorry....drowned has different meanings when you're fully dressed, soaked
in seawater that crashed over the rubber bow, soaking everything in your
wallet the government holds SO dear to its survival....

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

Paul Cassel wrote:
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.


Pretty remarkable that drowned folks come alive in order to buy a
Porta-boat.


That Larry is quite the story teller!

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

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"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
http://cruisenews.net/cgi-bin/docksi...ig.pl/read/708
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

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 -

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

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

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

In article ,
Len wrote:

Would a 12' PortaBoat with a 8hp outboard plane with 2 persons and
some luggage (say 350 pounds altogether)?


Oh YEAH, it would! The other posts can stand in for specifics, but I've
never experienced a more appropriate dink for a cruising boat.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

Well guys, thanks for your replies. And Larry,thanks a lot for an
extensive answer that was fun to read too... :-
I've been looking at prices here in the Netherlands and I was a bit
disappointed to see a 14' was about 2500 and a 12' was about 2100
euro's. This doesn't comply with the info from SSCA and the likes
about weak seats and popping out rivets. Don't get me wrong, I am
prepared to fix these kinds of minor irritations but only if the price
is reasonable.

I wrote portaboat in Usa to see if they would sell and ship it to me
directly. Anyone here that knows the UK-distributor?

Fair winds, Len.

Question for the PortaBoat-owners in here.
 

Don White wrote:
Paul Cassel wrote:
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.


Pretty remarkable that drowned folks come alive in order to buy a
Porta-boat.


That Larry is quite the story teller!

It was a heck of a tale to tell as the sun sets over the anchorage....:)