Inflatables, pros & cons?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by hmattos

not the same risk of swamping in rough water as there is with a bowrider.

Warning...language barrier at work.

1. Swamping?

2. Bowrider?

What is meant exactly by "swamping"?

What is meant exactly by "bowrider"?

Please excuse my ignorance on these slang or are they techinical terms?

Thank you in advance, cheers (from a silly American).

[hmattos]

Hi,

And I thought bowrider was an American term! In order to get the seating capacity in a sportsboat the Glastron company designed boats with seat in front of the windscreen. This has been followed by most of the other makers - Maxum, Regal, et al. A bowrider has a high chance of filling with water in rough sea conditions, yet usually is fitted with a sterndrive which cannot cope if subjected to a boat full of water - i.e. a boat which is swamped. A RIB is usually fitted with an outboard and is fitted with anti swamp drains ( elephant trunks or pumps or both) which empty the boat very quickly if the need arises. The very high spare buoyancy of the RIB means that the load is safe even if swamped - completely filled with water.

Regards
Hugh Mattos
Explorer Marine - England

[FAST FRED]

The actual USE as a dink will determine how sucessfly an inflatable is.

The cruisers downside is , they can't be dragged up a rough beach , must be carried ,with an installed engine & gas tank

Most don't row worth a damn , so with a not to reliable engine your chance of being blown out of the harbor to sea forever is excellent.

Many are very wet at speed so require shore change of clothes if you need to be dry on land.

ALL are very poor in the usual cruising spot dink raftup , where folks try to "own" the dock by using a very short painter , so the dinks get ramed and pushed be the new arrivals , who may or may NOT have topsides that won't puncture or slash the inflatable.


Forget leaving the dink near a barnicle incrusted dock or piling .

Grand at the yacht club dock , but for cruising the only advantage is the ability to carry it deflated on a vessel too small to have a good hard dink.

Hard dinks can sail , so are more usefull at exploring out of the way places , sans the noise stench of the outboard. And most can be rowed easily.

FAST FRED

[MarkC]

Inflatables store well - deflated, inside the boat when underway. Doesnt take long to inflate. Can take them home - dont get stolen so easy. Row like crap. Can carry an Elephant and its young. Tow either right-side up or up side down without noticable drag difference.

Go Zodiac....

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by MarkC

Go Zodiac....

Do you mean an inflatable with the advantages of a solid floor/wave spliting bottom shell?

As far as the terms go, thanks for clearing that up - I'm not a real "boat guy".

I have a small hovercraft, something a guy from the UK should know all about.

Now if you turn that raft upside down, and pump some air under it with a fan, you might have something that can get you to shore dry.

[marshmat]

A RIB and a pure inflatable are very different boats.... having a solid, rigid hull with a fixed shape, surrounded by an inflatable tube, is much like having a regular boat. Indeed, the big Zodiac RIBs can mostly float and run just fine in calm water without the tube. The tube gives extra buoyancy and protection from the waters. A fully inflatable boat, with a fabric bottom, is more suited to sitting rolled up in a locker than planing across the bay- even at high pressure, they will flex and they can't be made in shapes as sophisticated as rigid hulls. Zodiac's 'futura' hull tacks a couple of cat-like pontoons to the underside, the hull rides on those instead of the whole bottom touching the water- it supposedly helps speed and efficiency, but I'd still go rigid-bottom wherever possible.