Tender for Yannis

[Tony Meola]

https://panbo.com/small-boat-tender-per ... st-marine/

Yannis

Did you ever find that Tender you were looking for?

Take a look at this one.

Tony

[Yannis]

Tony, thank you!

I have had many similar tenders so far. The one I have right now is my 3rd already. I have had two models with slats (like the one in the article), and this last one has an inflatable bottom, much like the SUPs technology. Much better in that it is lighter and more rigid.

This type of inflatable dinghies are VERY common in Greece, there must be tens of thousands on almost all rental sail boats, as well as on many motor boats like ours (bigger yachts carry bigger RIBS-usually in the 3,5 to 4,5 meter category).
Mine is a 2,3 m with a 2,5 hp Suzuki. I haven't yet explored the electric motor option although recently I see many boaters do so. I asked a couple of them if they are happy with their electric motor choice and they all seemed very satisfied with their choice.

A 2,3 m inflatable dinghy with a 2,5 hp motor combo costs new around 1500 €. Used, you can buy it for much less. I sold my previous dinghy (without the motor) for 200€. I inflated it, placed it on the dock in front of my boat with a sign "for sale", and it was gone in two days.

All these cheap inflatable dinghies are Chinese and last for roughly 5-6 years before they start losing air from their seams as the glue deteriorates.
If you want to keep them for a longer period you need to protect them from the sun rays with a cover, but very few boaters do so as they are so cheap so you just toss them after 5-6 years for a new one.

Companies no longer produce small dinghies this size with Hypalon (like the original Zodiacs and Avon and Bombard dinghies of the 70's and 80's) anymore, because they become very expensive; instead they make them out of PVC that is much cheaper but lasts much less, but this, in the world we live in, is no longer an issue!

[Tony Meola]

I couldn't remember if you had found one.

Looks like you are all set. Just saw this and thought of you.

[Yannis]

I was asking info about ALUMINUM dinghies that are practically unknown here.

I was looking for a second dinghy, rather, for a bigger and faster dinghy that would allow me to leave dock with a couple of friends to go swimming in the bay (in a 1-2 mile radius) WITHOUT having to pull the Bertram from the slip and lose my place. In other words I was searching for a second boat really, spacious enough for small daily excursions, a service which a 2 meter inflatable could not deliver. Looking around I had found a second hand aluminum boat around 4 meters that was for sale in my dock, and not knowing anything about aluminum boats I inquired here.

I eventually bought a used 4,3 m fiberglass boat with a 20 hp two stroke Yamaha. I keep it in a slip not far from the Bertram, in the shallows of the marina, where I can retain my slip even if I go away for hours, as there is no competition for small boat slips.

I keep it in the house's garage in the winter and it has no connection with my 28 at all.

PS: The reason I looked for a rigid dinghy, as opposed to an inflatable one, is that as this boat would stay in the water for at least 3 months every summer it would require anti fouling, otherwise it collects growth which is VERY difficult to remove once the season is over. I now apply a layer or two of antifouling every other June and everything is fine. I had thought that an aluminum alternative would be an interesting solution because it would be much lighter than the GRP boat I eventually bought, and I would be able to turn it around and apply paint more easily. Which is true.

BUT...what others explained to me, and was the main reason why I didn't pick the aluminum boat, is something I didn't know and would never have guessed!

I need this boat for swimming mainly. Which means that me and other people would jump in from, and eventually would climb back on again, right?
Any aluminum boat that size when a 110kg human tries to climb in after a swim, simply capsizes! I tested it on the aluminum boat that was for sale and it was so true...an aluminum boat is simply too light to use for swimming and I'm glad people advised me about this element.
It may be extra practical to apply antifouling, perhaps perfect for fishing too, but for ins and outs when swimming it was simply not the right choice.

Thank you for your interest.

A short video from last summer.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/191620136 ... ed-public/

[Carl]

Climbing back on a light aluminum boat isn’t the easiest. Hell, gettin in any boat without a ladder or platform can get interesting. I’ll get to a story about that later. Anyway on a light “tender” boat it’s climb up the outboard, or have a rope with foothold on stern ALL the time. OR the pull-up & in, flip on back, get your arse in n down motion. Damn, it’s been years, but used to get back in our canoes that way all the time.

Fun times, we’d sit on the very back of canoe with bow in the air and….I guess have demolishing derbies. Ram your buds canoe so they,d fall in. We didn’t care about beating up the canoes as they were all salvage from the rapids. They’d get caught n bent around the rocks, people go on…next day we’d go in, get the canoe out, straighten, patch n have a canoe. Good times… but getting in once out or canoe overturned was fum.


Oh….the getting back in a boat without a ladder. Family got together at the shore, rented a pontoon boat in the Bay. Ran this way, that way…let’s anchor and jump in. I anchor… nobody wants to go in. Nobody wants to go in, nobody wants to go in…get my drift? Nobody wants to go in…
Hell, I’m hot, so I jump in. Seems like by the time I turned around everyone was in. That’s when I had the sinking feeling nobody put out the ladder. The ladder under the helm inside the boat.
Climb up the motor…nope, Motor was in the center with nothing to grab onto. Pontoons…had to pull ourselves up. Yeah , nobody in my family, especially me able to do that. Slowly everyone having a blast in the water pickup up on my “Ut Oh”.
I am not 100% sure, but I think a bit of a boost got one of the kids up, they grabbed ladder, got it deployed and all was good.

In short… being in the water with no way to get back in boat is a lousy feeling.


Nice video Yannis.

[Yannis]

Carl,

You remember that film with the sailboat where they all fjumped in and couldn't climb back up…

We all have ladders on the back…the problem with the aluminum boats is that even so, you still cant work your way up because the boat leans on the ladder side.

Unless there is already someone onboard that can balance on the opposite side, but if everyone is in the water forget it, unless of course you weigh 30 kg, but who weighs 30 kg ?

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

I like that little tender.

For some reason I found that movie troubling. Maybe because I have had to get aboard a 31 a few times without a ladder. Luckily, I was younger and could pull myself up enough to get my foot in the exhaust port.

[Yannis]

Tony,

I have seen a B25 or B26 that had metal handles on the transom all the way down to the V. That way, even if you fall overboard and don't have a ladder, you can still work your way up.
When the boat is on plane the handles are out of the water. I'm also sure I've seen them on a few of your 31 s.

[Carl]

Carl,

You remember that film with the sailboat where they all fjumped in and couldn't climb back up…

Open Water 2, Adrift

Yes I remember and have known that feeling. Although in a Bay were we could have flagged down a passing boat, swam to shore or waited till our rental was over and have them come out to get us. They had already come out once to tell us not to go that far...which wasn't all that far, but I guess too far for those not experienced. Then again I did not put ladder down before going in and while nobody else was, I should have been preemptive.

Yannis, small aluminum boat- you can get in over the side but takes practice not to swamp the boat. You get body horizontal in water, arms grab sides, seat and pull yourself in, not up, but in. Once torso is past the gunnel you flip arse down on bottom of hull,the boat levels as you drag legs in. Some water gets makes it way over the gunnel but if quick and smooth enough its fine. If not, boat swamps.

Yes, bigger, heavier boat like you have is better. I'm not sure I could still get in an aluminum rowboat or canoe these days. I'm not quite as nimble anymore.

Yup, the 31 has one step on transom at the waterline. One foot on rudder will lift me enough to grab hawse pipe, then gunnel, the other foot goes on step and its up and over. Its getting tougher these days, especially when boats on land. That first step is a doozy.

[Yannis]

Going swimming has to be fun. For all participants. Even the elderly, or some...not so fit...
If Im supposed to play Johnny Weissmuller on the rope every time I climb, or have to pull someone else in...it becomes prohibitive.

As for the movie, I have been told the plot by friends who saw it, I wouldn’t know the title, but it made an impression on me probably because I knew how one would feel in similar occasions, let alone drown too.

November I think it was of 1986 when I presented myself for my military service and during the initial training period they were taking us to the movies once a week. That was the last time Ive been to the movies. Never been since, I know no actors, I don’t even consider it as entertainment...perhaps even not as art...

[Carl]

Movies are great, I love popcorn with butter like product and tons of salt.


In truth, I do love seeing a good movie. Could be action, drama, comedy whatever…a good movie I lose myself for an hour and a half. Now that’s a good movie, a bad movie I get to take a nap. The past few years it’s mostly the latter. The past few years…may be way more then the past few.

I

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

I have seen 31's with two of those handles, steps on the transom. I have not seen anything like them in years.