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?

wrote:
I doubt anything could convince me to go back to an inflatable.

Here's another vote for the Porta-Bote. I can't see us ever going back
to an inflatable either. I've expounded at length here on their strong
and weak points so I'll refrain from doing so again, but feel free to
contact me offline if you have any questions.

I'm not sure about how easy it would be to recover it if swamped (never
had to), but I'm old (mid 50's) and fat and have no trouble getting back
aboard from in the water. My wife & I used it as a dive platform all
the time during our 2 year cruise of Mexico, Central America & the S.
Pacific.

On the beach at Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica.
http://home.comcast.net/~triciajean1...8-05-10-03.jpg

Stored on deck as we cross the Gulf of Tehuanapec
http://home.comcast.net/~triciajean1...1-05-04-07.JPG



--
Dan Best
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://triciajean192.home.comcast.net

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?

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/

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)

"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.

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)

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)

"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

"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.