On Feb 21, 5:41*pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"cavalamb himself" wrote in message

...



What qualities make for a good crusing dink?

1) it should be easy to row.
2) you should be able to row out the bower, kedge and a shot of chain even
in rough seas.
3) you should be able to get it aboard and stowed lashed amidships under the
boom.
4) it should be made out of GRP and have positive flotation.
5) inflatables are a joke if only because you can't row them and sooner or
later that reliable motor will die.
6) if you have to ask here then you aren't doing enough reading of good
cruising books.

Wilbur Hubbard

When you look at what a lot of cruisers are using, RIB's are very
popular. We chose not to go that route and went with a porta-bote
instead. It rows decent, it has positive floatation, it's lighter
than RIB's, it doesn't require a dinghy davit, it's more tolerant to
abuse and it's cheaper. The last quality is that it's so ugly no one
will want to steal it. It meets most of Wilbur's criterial, although
it's not GRP and it stows even better than a hard dinghy.

On 2008-02-21 21:34:10 -0500, said:

When you look at what a lot of cruisers are using, RIB's are very
popular. We chose not to go that route and went with a porta-bote
instead. It rows decent, it has positive floatation, it's lighter than
RIB's, it doesn't require a dinghy davit, it's more tolerant to abuse
and it's cheaper. The last quality is that it's so ugly no one will
want to steal it. It meets most of Wilbur's criterial, although it's
not GRP and it stows even better than a hard dinghy.

I second this viewpoint, particularly the "ugly" safeguard. It looks
and "feels" too flimsy to last, but ours is probably a dozen seasons
old now, and still is the rendezvous "taxi" when people need to ferry
about. Only the 55-56 foot powerboats have dinks that can ferry 5
adults at once -- and keep them dry.

And as a backup to the "rows decently": In many anchorages, most
PortBote folks don't hassle with the outboard, but just row around.

--
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/

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:27:27 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

On 2008-02-21 21:34:10 -0500, said:

When you look at what a lot of cruisers are using, RIB's are very
popular. We chose not to go that route and went with a porta-bote
instead. It rows decent, it has positive floatation, it's lighter than
RIB's, it doesn't require a dinghy davit, it's more tolerant to abuse
and it's cheaper. The last quality is that it's so ugly no one will
want to steal it. It meets most of Wilbur's criterial, although it's
not GRP and it stows even better than a hard dinghy.

I second this viewpoint, particularly the "ugly" safeguard. It looks
and "feels" too flimsy to last, but ours is probably a dozen seasons
old now, and still is the rendezvous "taxi" when people need to ferry
about. Only the 55-56 foot powerboats have dinks that can ferry 5
adults at once -- and keep them dry.

And as a backup to the "rows decently": In many anchorages, most
PortBote folks don't hassle with the outboard, but just row around.

I'd add my vote as a happy porta-bote owner. I was on the fence before
ordering
a Pota-bote rather than yet another RIB. I would not be on the fence if I
had to
make the choice agin. I doubt I'll ever need to make that choice has the
Port-Bote gives every indication that it will outlive me.




Not if you stay out of the mosh pit... LOL


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com