Well, anybody have knowledge of both for a dinghy?


I have both, and use the Porta-Bote almost exclusively. It rows easily, it
motors easily, it carries large loads. It also takes upwards of an hour to
assemble from scratch on deck (including getting together the three seats and
transom from down below, the bag of hardware, twisting it up on deck,
assembling, rigging a hardness to attach to the main halyard, putting into
water, mounting the engine, getting fuel can and safety gear)

my inflatable is an Achilles "donut" style, which takes maybe 20 minutes start
to finish including mounting the engine etc, but only holds *max* of two
people, and that is crowd. The damned thing rows likes a submerged garbage
can. Engine required.

btw, most inflatables you see on boats out there look spic and span brand new
in the last two or three years. Most hard dinghies look like they have been
around since Nixon was president. Interesting is that about half of those who
have a hard dinghy also have an inflatable. Not sure which came first, but
they put up with having both, it seems because each did things well the other
didn't.

(JAXAshby) wrote in message ...
Well, anybody have knowledge of both for a dinghy?


I have both, and use the Porta-Bote almost exclusively. It rows easily, it
motors easily, it carries large loads. It also takes upwards of an hour to
assemble from scratch on deck (including getting together the three seats and
transom from down below, the bag of hardware, twisting it up on deck,
assembling, rigging a hardness to attach to the main halyard, putting into
water, mounting the engine, getting fuel can and safety gear)

my inflatable is an Achilles "donut" style, which takes maybe 20 minutes start
to finish including mounting the engine etc, but only holds *max* of two
people, and that is crowd. The damned thing rows likes a submerged garbage
can. Engine required.

btw, most inflatables you see on boats out there look spic and span brand new
in the last two or three years. Most hard dinghies look like they have been
around since Nixon was president. Interesting is that about half of those who
have a hard dinghy also have an inflatable. Not sure which came first, but
they put up with having both, it seems because each did things well the other
didn't.

I do not intend to carry all 5 of us at a time in the dinghy but
probably myself and my 2 oldest to shore first, then back to get my
wife and youngest. So, it has to carry three ppl.
The Porta-bote really takes an hour? My god, my Nautilus 8 only takes
5 minutes to hoist off h deck with halyard and over the lifelines into
the water. Maybe 10 minutes total to be ready with oars.
Maybe I will continue o live with the Nautilus and inflatable kayak.

The Porta-bote really takes an hour?

all things together in one pile on shore, about 20 minutes.

On my boat ...

jax said
It also takes upwards of an hour to
assemble from scratch on deck (including getting together the three seats and
transom from down below, the bag of hardware, twisting it up on deck,
assembling, rigging a hardness to attach to the main halyard, putting into
water, mounting the engine, getting fuel can and safety gear)

Parallax wrote:
The Porta-bote really takes an hour?

This is a question that has been debated before. Jax always says an
hour or so, most of us say significantly less. We've got a 12'
Porta-Bote that lives on the coach roof.
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/PortaCover.JPG
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/PortaBote.JPG
It's very rare for me to set it up or put it away alone, but when I
do it wouldn't surprise me if it took a 1/2 an hour or even more from
the time I start getting the bits and pieces out to when I'm in the boat
and moving under power. Usually though, my wife and I are working
together and the most time consuming part, getting the bits & pieces out
on deck or storing them away, goes at least twice as fast as when
working alone since the one down below is just handing things up to the
one on deck instead of making many trips carrying them.

I've never actually timed it, but I think our typical unhurried time is
more like 15-20 minutes working together and may be a little less. The
actual assembly time for the boat is only a few minutes. Really no time
at all. It's getting the seats, transom, oars, miracle assembly stick
and bailer out of the bottomless pit locker, then getting the little
tupperware thing with the pins in it out of the nav. station,
remembering where the plastic bow piece got stashed (though in truth, we
usually don't bother with it), oh yeah, don't forget the rubber mallet.
Are we going to need the dinghy anchor? "Honey, I can't find the plastic
'key' for the outboard. Have you seen it anywhere?" You get the picture.

We also have an older 10' Avon that hasn't been out of the garage since
we got the Porta-Bote 2 1/2 years ago.

If you're interested in why we love our Porta-Bote so much after having
used the inflatable for years, I'll be happy to wax eloquently off line,
but most of the people who hang out here have heard me sing its' praises
before.

Take care - Dan
--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

"Parallax" wrote in message


The Porta-bote really takes an hour? My god, my Nautilus 8 only takes
5 minutes to hoist off h deck with halyard and over the lifelines into
the water. Maybe 10 minutes total to be ready with oars.
Maybe I will continue o live with the Nautilus and inflatable kayak.


Seems like you are making a comparison between oranges and apples.

If you wanted to leave the Porta-bote assembled and stowed on deck then it
would deploy in a matter of minutes as well. If you are going to pack up
the inflatable and stow it below decks then I bet it would take more than 10
minutes to have it ready for launch.

How long it takes to go from the most compact storage to fully operational
will vary greatly on the style of the inflatable. I used to have an
inflatable that had and inflatable keel and plywood floor. Getting the keel
in place and the floorboards properly positioned with the
stiffening/connecting boards installed was a real bitch. I could spend
hours on it working in the driveway, I would hate to try it on the deck of a
boat.

A friend had an inflatable that had "slats" as the floorboards that just
rolled up. I didn't care for that boat at all and he ended up getting rid
of it a year later because it basically sucked. Good stiff floorboards make
a huge difference in how an inflatable planes and the roll up floors just
don't perform well.

There is a "high pressure inflatable" floor system that might be okay, but I
have never actually known anyone who has one of these.

I know several people who have Porta-botes. One friend keeps his folded up
on the dock. When he wants to use it he just lays it down (he stows it
standing up, folded thin), folds down the seats (I think that locks the
beam) puts his outboard on and he is ready to go.

At the marina where I keep my boats there is a live-aboard who has a
porta-bote that he keeps in the water all the time. I know that he has had
that boat, in the water, for the last 6 years. He puts around the marina in
it all the time, and I occasionally see him zipping down the channel at a
fairly good clip being pushed by his 6 HP outboard. His Porta-bote
outlasted my last inflatable!

I still prefer an inflatable for my own needs, but I have a lot of respect
for those Porta-botes.

Rod McInnis

In article ,
(JAXAshby) wrote:

Well, anybody have knowledge of both for a dinghy?


I have both, and use the Porta-Bote almost exclusively. It rows easily, it
motors easily, it carries large loads.

Hey! We actually agree for once! except....

It also takes upwards of an hour to
assemble from scratch on deck (including getting together the three seats and
transom from down below, the bag of hardware, twisting it up on deck,
assembling, rigging a hardness to attach to the main halyard, putting into
water, mounting the engine, getting fuel can and safety gear)

It takes me about 20-30 minutes the first time of the season -- mostly
figuring things out again and working against the stiffness. After that,
it's 10-15 minutes to set up or down.

I guess it would take longer if I were doing it entirely alone -- part
of that would be resting and consuming a refreshing drink -- but my wife
helps hand things out. We have dedicated spaces for all the pieces, so
they're easy to find or stow. The motor's on Xan's transom when I bother
to bring it. Boat rows well enough that we only bring the motor when
we're going some place we haven't explored extensively.

Addressing another of Parallax's messages: For 5 at once, you will want
a large dink for all but the shortest trips. The 12 will definitely work
& be mostly dry; the 10 may. Stowing the seats and transom will be a
hassle. They take up about 5'x2'x1.5' or slightly more space than the
Sevylor. With a little sewing, though, you could make up bags to stow
them on deck.

And DO bring the Sevylor: Gives the kids something to do. A 12v inflator
makes the job a lot easier, though I have to use the foot pump to get
the pressure high enough; a few pounds makes a world of difference.

--
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/

It takes me about 20-30 minutes the first time of the season -- mostly
figuring things out again and working against the stiffness. After that,
it's 10-15 minutes to set up or down

all things in a pile on the shore, yup.

On the deck on my boat with seats, transom down below along with bolting
hardwar, plus engine on the rear pulpit of my boat, plus the gas tank for the
o/b engine, plus safety gear, plus rigging the harness to lift the Porta-Bote
off my boat, plus lowering the bote, plus all else, well the time is a mite
longer than on shore.

x-no-archive:yes


(JAXAshby) wrote:

It takes me about 20-30 minutes the first time of the season -- mostly
figuring things out again and working against the stiffness. After that,
it's 10-15 minutes to set up or down

all things in a pile on the shore, yup.

On our deck the first time in a season it might take 20 minutes for
the two of us to do it because it's been folded up and resists being
unfolded. I don't think we've ever done it solo - usually the two of
us working together.

We don't pad the deck (never had any problem with black marks but
maybe that's because we got it used and they've all worn off). We
keep all the items needed to put it together in one bag which is also
on the deck so we don't have to go looking for them. The little bits
like bolts etc are in a smaller bag in the big bag.

One of us holds the boat open - the other one puts in the center seat.
That holds the boat open so that the rest of the stuff can be put
together. The rest goes very quickly given that we have all the stuff
there.

After we put it together we launch it using the whisker pole as a
crane. Does not take long to do that as the bridle attachments are
already there.

I don't know exactly how heavy it is, but it is difficult for me and
Bob together to carry it fully rigged for any distance, and I CAN
carry 50 lbs. If it is just the boat without the seats, we can carry
it easily and Bob can pick it up by himself.

The motors for both dinghys are on the aft rail unless we are using
the dinghy. So the time to get and rig the motor will be the same
regardless of which dinghy we are using. We also have a container of
stuff that we need to use the dinghy (lights, PFDs, fire extinguisher
etc).

On the deck on my boat with seats, transom down below along with bolting
hardwar, plus engine on the rear pulpit of my boat, plus the gas tank for the
o/b engine, plus safety gear, plus rigging the harness to lift the Porta-Bote
off my boat, plus lowering the bote, plus all else, well the time is a mite
longer than on shore.


grandma Rosalie

you know, one of the things I have begun to notice is that everyone who says
they put a bote together and get it in the water in a short time are doing it
with two people, not one.

Also, except for bb, everyone says they have all the
seats/transom/outboard/oarss/pins/pfd's/anchor/safety equipment right at hand.

x-no-archive:yes

(JAXAshby) wrote:

you know, one of the things I have begun to notice is that everyone who says
they put a bote together and get it in the water in a short time are doing it
with two people, not one.

Well why not? If there are two people there, shouldn't both of them
help?

Also, except for bb, everyone says they have all the
seats/transom/outboard/oarss/pins/pfd's/anchor/safety equipment right at hand.

Seems like common sense to me. Why would you want to do it any other
way? Just to make things difficult for yourself?

I do not agree with just tossing the boat over the side however. We
could possibly do that, but I'd think the boat might land upside down.
It wouldn't sink but it would be a real pain to correct and of course
anything in it would fall out.

We have towed a portabote, and it tows well.


grandma Rosalie