wrote in message
...

"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.


For all that expense you could get a nice 10' Walker Bay and a light duty
galvanized boat trailer.

On Feb 24, 3:29 am, wrote:
... 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 saw a little pram once with the thwart running fore and aft the
length of the boat. The idea being that you sit on it like a
motorcycle or pwc. I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea, but it does
give one lots of seating options...

-- Tom.

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


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)


I saw that on on the net and was immediately intrigued.
A very practical looking dink.

1/8" ply? Golly Bruce, that is pretty light construction.

I'm going to guess at about 55 pounds?
(Even 1.5 ounce deck cloth adds noticible weight)

If you have a chance I'd like to see the offsets.
This one could prove to be a good project.

Remove the X from earthlink for the correct address.


Richard

Don White wrote:

wrote in message
...

"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.



For all that expense you could get a nice 10' Walker Bay and a light duty
galvanized boat trailer.



The Walker Bay (and several other ABS boats) can be seen here...

http://www.directboats.com/boats.html

wrote:
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


I've also used a dinghy
to set a security anchor to hold us off a dock.

I can attest to that, after all it was my dock!



We
have a dinghy that I designed & built, and consider it as close to
perfect for our uses as could be: it is very easy to row, stable, and
looks like a classic lapstrake pulling boat.

It is a great dink, and don't forget Hank looks great in it!
Unfortunatly the Crapton wouldn't like it, it's not made of GRP, I guess
he hasn't heard of carbon fiber yet.

Cheers
Marty

"cavelamb himself" wrote in message
...
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


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)


I saw that on on the net and was immediately intrigued.
A very practical looking dink.

1/8" ply? Golly Bruce, that is pretty light construction.

I'm going to guess at about 55 pounds?
(Even 1.5 ounce deck cloth adds noticible weight)

If you have a chance I'd like to see the offsets.
This one could prove to be a good project.

Remove the X from earthlink for the correct address.


Richard


1/8" ply? That is light construction.
Yes it is. What I have used is 0.185" thick Meranti plywood.

Once the layouts have been done and the parts all cut out and labelled.

A coat of two parts epoxy is applied on each part individually and allows to
dry. Then the parts are assembled (dry) according to the drawing using the
stitching method. Afterward, the assembly is validated and corrected, as
needed it. After that, the epoxy fillets are applied with fibreglass tape
and let to dry.

Subsequently, a second coat to of two parts epoxy is applied inside out.
Before painting (for UV protection), a third and fourth coasts of epoxy is
applied. As you can see, the construction is light and strong. The
hardwood gunwales and keel also add to the stiffness of the boat

"Marty" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


I've also used a dinghy
to set a security anchor to hold us off a dock.

I can attest to that, after all it was my dock!



We
have a dinghy that I designed & built, and consider it as close to
perfect for our uses as could be: it is very easy to row, stable, and
looks like a classic lapstrake pulling boat.

It is a great dink, and don't forget Hank looks great in it! Unfortunatly
the Crapton wouldn't like it, it's not made of GRP, I guess he hasn't
heard of carbon fiber yet.

Cheers
Marty

I think GRP includes carbon fiber unless you don't add any resin to the
carbon fiber cloth, that is. Doh!

Greg

"Gregory Hall" wrote in message
...

"Marty" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


I've also used a dinghy
to set a security anchor to hold us off a dock.

I can attest to that, after all it was my dock!



We
have a dinghy that I designed & built, and consider it as close to
perfect for our uses as could be: it is very easy to row, stable, and
looks like a classic lapstrake pulling boat.

It is a great dink, and don't forget Hank looks great in it! Unfortunatly
the Crapton wouldn't like it, it's not made of GRP, I guess he hasn't
heard of carbon fiber yet.

Cheers
Marty

I think GRP includes carbon fiber unless you don't add any resin to the
carbon fiber cloth, that is. Doh!

Greg



Could not have stated it better myself. Good job!

Wilbur Hubbard
Swan 68

On Feb 24, 12:09 pm, "Gregory Hall" wrote:
... I think GRP includes carbon fiber unless you don't add any resin to the
carbon fiber cloth, that is. Doh! ...

"Doh"?

GRP = Glass Reinforced Plastic.

FRP = Fiber Reinforced Plastic.

Carbon is fiber but carbon is not glass...

-- Tom.

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:18:15 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Feb 24, 3:29 am, wrote:
... 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 saw a little pram once with the thwart running fore and aft the
length of the boat. The idea being that you sit on it like a
motorcycle or pwc. I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea, but it does
give one lots of seating options...

-- Tom.

A friend has a dinghy built from an Australian design that has a boxed
in center "thwart" running the length of the boat. It actually works
very well for a small boat as it is much easier to keep the boat in
trim with various loads. I have also seen big RIBS with a similar
configuration.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:remove underscores
from address for reply)