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Gettin a little dinghy
In prep for my possible Bahamas trip with my 28' sailboat, I decided
to repaint my homebuilt nesting 2-paw 9' dinghy. Uh-oh, rot along the gunwale, no biggie. UH-OH, rot on transom, still not an insurmountable problem, easily repaired with epoxy but this gets me thinking once again about the "dinghy problem". Even the nesting dinghy is too big to fit comfortably on the foredeck and assembling it must actually be done in the water while sitting in the back half, it must be funny to watch. So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable). Thoughts? |
Gettin a little dinghy
On 10/4/09 3:50 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
In prep for my possible Bahamas trip with my 28' sailboat, I decided to repaint my homebuilt nesting 2-paw 9' dinghy. Uh-oh, rot along the gunwale, no biggie. UH-OH, rot on transom, still not an insurmountable problem, easily repaired with epoxy but this gets me thinking once again about the "dinghy problem". Even the nesting dinghy is too big to fit comfortably on the foredeck and assembling it must actually be done in the water while sitting in the back half, it must be funny to watch. So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable). Thoughts? Buy the rubber ducky...at least you are likely to have one boat that isn't falling apart...at least for the moment. Have your sailboat's keel checked before you leave. It's probably ready to fall off. -- Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger: Idiots All |
Gettin a little dinghy
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote: So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable). Thoughts? For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid Porta-Bote fans out there also. http://www.porta-bote.com/ |
Gettin a little dinghy
On Oct 4, 4:30*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. *I could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp motor for $500. *I just do not know how much I will really use it. *If I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. *OTOH, I hate buying stuff that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable). Thoughts? For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid Porta-Bote *fans out there also. http://www.porta-bote.com/ I wish they made a 10' Porta-bote cuz the 12' one is just too long to fit along my lifelines. After cutting away most of the rot on the dinghy, it isn't too bad and I decided to repair it. Somebody mentioned keels and both large sailboats I have owned have had encapsulated keels meaning the lead is poured into the finished boat instead of being bolted on. For some odd reason, some people think external bolted on-keels are better but they can literally fall off, especially after a good grounding. With an encapsulated keel, I can go aground with no damage to keel bolts. |
Gettin a little dinghy
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 13:54:46 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote: On Oct 4, 4:30*pm, Wayne.B wrote: On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch wrote: So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. *I could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp motor for $500. *I just do not know how much I will really use it. *If I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. *OTOH, I hate buying stuff that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable). Thoughts? For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid Porta-Bote *fans out there also. http://www.porta-bote.com/ I wish they made a 10' Porta-bote cuz the 12' one is just too long to fit along my lifelines. After cutting away most of the rot on the dinghy, it isn't too bad and I decided to repair it. Somebody mentioned keels and both large sailboats I have owned have had encapsulated keels meaning the lead is poured into the finished boat instead of being bolted on. For some odd reason, some people think external bolted on-keels are better but they can literally fall off, especially after a good grounding. With an encapsulated keel, I can go aground with no damage to keel bolts. Here, they come in different sizes: http://www.porta-bote.com/spec.html -- John H All decisions, even those of liberals, are the result of binary thinking. |
Gettin a little dinghy
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote: Don't you think the title should be spelled dingy? |
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