Non Gasoline Tender

[Portager]

Originally Posted by Willallison

What you need is an aluminium hulled, semi-rigid collar (as opposed to inflatable tubes) cat, with a drop-down bow section (a-la landing barge) to ease diver (& dog) entry/exit, powered by a small high-speed diesel driving through a water jet.
Never seen one

My davit system will rotate the dinghy on its side for transit and upside down for trailering, so I need an engine that is invertible or removable. Most Diesel engines don’t tolerate being inverted and are to large to be removable.

Originally Posted by Willallison

Why the twelve foot LOA?

For trailering the dinghy will be upside down and cross wise on the stern, so I want the length of the dinghy to be less than or equal to the beam of Portager.

Originally Posted by Willallison

When you dive - are we talking free dive, scuba or compressor?

I plan to use scuba and I’ll have a compressor on Portager to refill my tanks.

Originally Posted by Willallison

The biggest problem I see with your electric tender is weight - slows you down, makes launch and recovery a more precarious occupation and adds to your overall towing burden.

The dinghy will attach to the end of a gangway or pasarela, which should eliminate bumping the mother-ship. For retrieval the dinghy will attach to the bottom side of the gangway and the hydraulics will do the work.

Originally Posted by Willallison

I wouldn't have anything but an inflatable (or collar) as a tender - much kinder on the mothership, way safer than a traditional hard dinghy, virtually unsinkable, but most of all, very stable - which is very important when you're clambering in & out of the water with dive gear on - and equally important when you've got 2 energetic pups who are excitied about going ashore...

Inflatable boats are sensitive to ultraviolet radiation and break down when exposed to sunlight. They also get torn up when beaching on rocky shores which are typical in the Pacific North West. A Catamaran would also be very stable and I could make it really unsinkable

Regards;
Mike Schooley

[Willallison]

Inflatable boats are sensitive to ultraviolet radiation and break down when exposed to sunlight. They also get torn up when beaching on rocky shores which are typical in the Pacific North West

True - though longevity is closely related to quality. We have an Oz made inflatable which is going on 25 yrs old and still going strong. Our Avon is 7 years old and still looks like new. Both have high quality hypalon tubes as opposed to the cheaper and more common pvc ones. Actually, unless they are pretty sharp, rocks aren't the greatest concern for blow-ups....oysters, muscles & barnacles on the other hand will flatten your day in no time at all.