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Rowing a porta-bote (was) Dingy
Skip Gundlach wrote:
From a standing start, on flat ground, I can take it out of a van, assemble it, and be rowing, and in reverse, land, disassemble and stow it in the van in 5 minutes each way including mounting the rowlock assembly. Pix of the modification are in the gallery, if you would like to see it, at:http://www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery/index.php? mode=album&album=Morgan+461+Hull+Number+2+Refit+%2 B+Projects %2FFinishing_Touches-Readying_To_Splash%2FPorta- Bote_Maiden_Voyage_and_Sculling_Modifications, or http://tinyurl.com/2we3rp There are pix of the sculling oars and of the standard oars in use as well as my modifications... L8R Skip Interesting Mods, Skip. Any others, or is that the sum of it? |
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On 2008-02-23 23:00:37 -0500, cavelamb himself said:
8' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1895) Factory Direct Price: $1,349 10' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1945) Factory Direct Price: $1,499 12' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1995) Factory Direct Price: $1,599 14' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $2395) Factory Direct Price: $1,859 Oh gawd, those prices are so cheap compared to blow-up dinks that have (charitably) half the capacity and speed. -- Jere Lull Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/ Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/ |
Dingy
On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:21:45 -0600, cavelamb himself
wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: One of my money earning hobbies is building dinghies. I designed and built several 8 ft glass over plywood boats that will carry three adults (well, skinny ones) quite safely in any weather I want to be out in a dinghy. They aren't as light as a rubber duck but they are light enough that I can pick one up by my self. Local made rubber dinghies are running a bit over $1,000 here and I can build glass over plywood boat for about a third of that. Now that would be interesting. Do you have any more info on them you can share? I would't mind building my own. (I suspect postage on something like that would be a bit over the top.) But we would have to work out a way to swing it aboard first. It is a scow and pretty wide, have a look at: http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=D5 which is what I used as a model when I designed mine. The boat is built of 1/8" ply and glassed inside and out with the lightest cloth I can get. The bow and stern seats are flotation chambers. The center thwart is not boxed in like the D5 to save weight, and I made the seat tops from 1/8" ply with a "honeycomb" made from 3/4" wide strips of ply on the bottom side. This makes the seats stiff enough to sit or stand on and they are still lighter then thicker ply. I have a "Y" shaped sling that attaches to the corners of the transom and the bow and handle the dinghy with the spinnaker pole lift and use a boat hook to push it out so it doesn't rub on the topsides. I'm in Bangkok at the moment and the working drawings are in Phuket but I can probably scare up the offsets somewhere and email them if your address is any good. Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply) |
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"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message ... On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:21:45 -0600, cavelamb himself wrote: Bruce in Bangkok wrote: One of my money earning hobbies is building dinghies. I designed and built several 8 ft glass over plywood boats that will carry three adults (well, skinny ones) quite safely in any weather I want to be out in a dinghy. They aren't as light as a rubber duck but they are light enough that I can pick one up by my self. Local made rubber dinghies are running a bit over $1,000 here and I can build glass over plywood boat for about a third of that. Now that would be interesting. Do you have any more info on them you can share? I would't mind building my own. (I suspect postage on something like that would be a bit over the top.) But we would have to work out a way to swing it aboard first. It is a scow and pretty wide, have a look at: http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=D5 which is what I used as a model when I designed mine. The boat is built of 1/8" ply and glassed inside and out with the lightest cloth I can get. The bow and stern seats are flotation chambers. The center thwart is not boxed in like the D5 to save weight, and I made the seat tops from 1/8" ply with a "honeycomb" made from 3/4" wide strips of ply on the bottom side. This makes the seats stiff enough to sit or stand on and they are still lighter then thicker ply. I have a "Y" shaped sling that attaches to the corners of the transom and the bow and handle the dinghy with the spinnaker pole lift and use a boat hook to push it out so it doesn't rub on the topsides. I'm in Bangkok at the moment and the working drawings are in Phuket but I can probably scare up the offsets somewhere and email them if your address is any good. Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply) In 1984 I build a D5 (Sabot) without epoxy. Since then I have used it every season. During the winter, it is stored in my garage. I have spent, on average, about 5 hours of work every year to maintain it. This D5 rows exceptionally well with one person. With two persons on board it rows fine in calm water. When the going get rough the person on the stern seat gets her/his bum wet. It tows very well. In very rough seas when going down the waves crest this D5 goes faster then my sailboat and gets ahead of it. I have tried several towing technique, long and short towline. In heavy weather (lacking the space to stow it on board) the long towline gives me time to avoid the dinghy from hitting the stern of my sailboat. The first year I had the dinghy the towing hook came off the dinghy because I had only used lag screws without backing plate. Since then I installed the towing hook with SS bolts with strong back up plate. I have now cut all the parts to build a new D5. This time I will be using stitch and clue with quality epoxy. I will also try to rearrange the position of middle seat to properly balance the dinghy for two people. I welcome comments on relocating the seat to better accommodate the weight distribution for two people. |
Rowing a porta-bote (was) Dingy
On Feb 23, 6:17 pm, cavelamb himself wrote:
Skip Gundlach wrote: From a standing start, on flat ground, I can take it out of a van, assemble it, and be rowing, and in reverse, land, disassemble and stow it in the van in 5 minutes each way including mounting the rowlock assembly. Pix of the modification are in the gallery, if you would like to see it, at:http://www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery/index.php? mode=album&album=Morgan+461+Hull+Number+2+Refit+%2 B+Projects %2FFinishing_Touches-Readying_To_Splash%2FPorta- Bote_Maiden_Voyage_and_Sculling_Modifications, or http://tinyurl.com/2we3rp There are pix of the sculling oars and of the standard oars in use as well as my modifications... L8R Skip Interesting Mods, Skip. Any others, or is that the sum of it? Those are the only mods I've done - but there are several mailing lists and probably also several forums devoted to Porta-Bote owners and their "stuff". If you peruse those lists, you'll see links to web pages with incredible numbers of modifications. The huge majority of PB ownership and use is fresh water, strap-it-on- a-vehicle and use it when you're wherever you're going, so most of what is written about doesn't apply to our type of usage. However, there are mods which might be interesting to you, and the owner of the company, Sandy Kaye, aka or something like that, participates in at least one of them. He's a very engaged owner and if the requests are reasonable, he's usually very willing to accommodate you. The 10-year warrantee, only to the original purchaser, unfortunately, says a lot about the level of confidence. The very few available for purchase in the aftermarket also says a lot about both how folks feel about them, and their longevity (don't have to, nor want to, "upgrade"). Most, like Dan, have made accommodations to the various weak points of the design... HTH... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah) |
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On Feb 24, 8:29 am, wrote:
I have now cut all the parts to build a new D5. This time I will be using stitch and clue with quality epoxy. I will also try to rearrange the position of middle seat to properly balance the dinghy for two people. I welcome comments on relocating the seat to better accommodate the weight distribution for two people. I apologize for my lack of familiarity with the design, but if I were doing it, I'd make movable seats, with more than one rowlock point, to allow balance with any load character. When I used to deliver and teach rowing with Little River, their Heritage series could be configured to single or double. Likewise, therefore, if you had passengers, you could put them either fore or aft and use the apposite rowing position to balance... L8R Skip Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog "You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it however." (and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts." (Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah) |
Dingy
"cavelamb himself" wrote in message ... wrote: Umm... Having owned both, I can say that the Porta-Bote is every bit as seaworthy, has more useful room for a given size boat, has a drier ride, can be rowed easily in a straight line, sailed or motored while full of water without capsizing, and planes with a very small lightweight motor. Mine eagerly jumps up on top of the water with a 3.5 HP motor that weighs 29 pounds. I never have to tow it, because I can hand launch and retrieve it without a hoist, and it folds up flat in a few minutes to be lashed to the lifelines. It costs half what a blow up boat costs, and of course the motor costs a fraction of what is required for a RIB to perform as well. I don't need a patch kit, either. 8' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1895) Factory Direct Price: $1,349 10' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1945) Factory Direct Price: $1,499 12' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1995) Factory Direct Price: $1,599 14' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $2395) Factory Direct Price: $1,859 Does that look about right? Doesn't look like we have a direct dealer in the Maritimes anymore...I haven't seen one at the Halifax boat show in a few years. Looks like this Ontario company looks after Eastern Canada. Note his prices. http://www.ontarioportableboats.com/...te_prices.html |
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"Don White" wrote in message ... "cavelamb himself" wrote in message ... wrote: Umm... Having owned both, I can say that the Porta-Bote is every bit as seaworthy, has more useful room for a given size boat, has a drier ride, can be rowed easily in a straight line, sailed or motored while full of water without capsizing, and planes with a very small lightweight motor. Mine eagerly jumps up on top of the water with a 3.5 HP motor that weighs 29 pounds. I never have to tow it, because I can hand launch and retrieve it without a hoist, and it folds up flat in a few minutes to be lashed to the lifelines. It costs half what a blow up boat costs, and of course the motor costs a fraction of what is required for a RIB to perform as well. I don't need a patch kit, either. 8' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1895) Factory Direct Price: $1,349 10' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1945) Factory Direct Price: $1,499 12' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $1995) Factory Direct Price: $1,599 14' Porta-Bote, (List Price: $2395) Factory Direct Price: $1,859 Does that look about right? Doesn't look like we have a direct dealer in the Maritimes anymore...I haven't seen one at the Halifax boat show in a few years. Looks like this Ontario company looks after Eastern Canada. Note his prices. http://www.ontarioportableboats.com/...te_prices.html I have recently talked to Porta-Bote International, 800-227-8882. They are not too amenable to sell directly to Canadian and have referred me to the Ontario dealer. I then contacted this Canadian dealer at 1-877-388-3679. I asked about their price list and they indicated that their profit margin was low and did offer any price reduction. The other option would be to have the Porta-Bote shipped at frontier and cross over with it at the Canadian Custom. If I pay for the service of a broker, I could have it shipped directly to my house. After a quick calculation, I concluded that, for me, the extra money and effort were not worth it. |
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