Tender is the night...

[shanker]

Those are some fine lyrics to a great Jackson Browne song but I'm interested in some ideas for a tender. There is a waiting list at our marina and it doesn't look like I'll get a slip. An option that I'm considering is mooring on a ball. If that works out I will need a tender to run me back and forth from the dock. Also I'm planning on 1 or 2 trips a year into the Rockies for a 4 -5 day trip. What I'm considering is an inflateable with an electric motor. My concern is how the battery would make out on one of my trips. Is this something that anyone does or is a gas engine the way to go. I don't now how much these small electrics, 18 lbs thrust or 3.5 hp, draw on a battery? I see a nice, affordable elecetric at defender that I think would work.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=590184

Why I like electric motor with an inflatable. 1- Cheap. 2- light. 3-transport and stow (on a trip). 3- quite. 4- no need for gas. 5- easy to start (re:wife).

I would love to hear what you guys use and if I'm out to lunch with the electric idea.

Shanker

[mastreb]

I think you're way better off on a trailer than on a mooring ball. I had a boat on a mooring ball for four years, and during that time I sailed about four times because dealing with the mooring was so difficult. I used an inflatable with an electric motor, and the motor worked just fine. But getting gear and passengers out to the boat was always dicey. This particular boat was not an open transom, so getting from the dinghy to the cockpit was a struggle, I had to pull the dinghy while sailing, and the whole process was just very difficult. I sold the boat, and bought a to replace it because trailering is so much easier.

[David Mellon]

Be sure any electric motor you get is ok for salt water if you plan on using it in the ocean. I use a 45 lb. thrust Minn Kota with a gel battery. The rig is easy to use, can be stored below without any gasoline dangers or smells. Plus the battery in it's Minn Kota box can be used for jump starting the main engine or charging cell phones etc. I love that the engine is nearly silent, is made to cut through weeds and kelp, is very easy to adjust, either by tilting or sliding it up. So far I've never used up even half the battery power during a weekend trip. And yes, you twist the handle and the engine runs, no starting, no flooding possible, my Minn Kota is submersable.

[davidbagnall]

the normal convention is Black=Fresh Water and White=Salt water....

Cheers

[Trouts Dream]

I went with a 2.5 HP Yamaha gas on the back of our tender. I like the simplicity of not dealing with a battery in a tender. I also carry an infaltable 2 man kayak that I use for exercise and when I want quiet. I still debate the need for an engine on our tender as I row more often than I use the motor but some days its the only cardio I get.

[Catigale]

Shanker

Im guessing not too much salt water in AB...

How far is the trip to the mooring ball?? Anything under 1/4 mile I would get a good hard (not inflatable) dinghy or scow and row back and forth - especially if its just one or two crew. In the time it will take you to mount a motor and battery, you could have rowed to your boat. Buy GOOD oars - not the junk they sell with the inflatables.

I use a 4HP kicker on Cuttyhunk but have rowed as much as 1/2 mile when I blew the tranny, with 5 up. That was tough but doable.

[Phil M]

I used an electric motor with my inflatable last summer. I used one of my 'old' boat batteries, which was not a deep cycle and not in really good shape. This year I am going to buy a deep cycle just for the electric motor, but I would prefer to buy a deep cycle that is lighter or just a bit smaller than my deep cycle boat batteries, which are fairly heavy to lift and move around. I have yet to buy it.
I don't use the inflatable much, so an electric seemed to be okay in my experience.

Phil M

[Indulgence]

If you can find a way to launch from your trailer at Sylvan or Gull Lake
you don't need a tender and won't have to pull the darn thing behind you
wherever you go. We get along fine without one
in Alberta


and the Okanagan.


These things were built to be beached! Our game is to drop anchor and back up to the shore,
lift the rudders and prop at the last minute and try to snug up just at the right moment so we
can step onto shore without dipping our feet in the water. Most of the time we pull it off.
And even if you do end up ten feet from shore, just tie the stern line to a kid, throw her
overboard, and yell "Shark!"

Laurie

[shanker]

Laurie, your pics are exactly how I invision cruising. I'm planning on making regular visits to the Okanagan and Kootenay Lake. Where in Alberta do you go? (you're first pic).

Is the spring ever going to come!!

Rick

[Indulgence]

That's the ever gusty and constantly icy Ghost Lake.
I slip out there from Calgary to practice sailing badly.

Spend lots of weekends "boat camping". The Okanagan was absolutely great.
The water is nearly bathtub warm, big fish swimming near shore, lots of
picnic sites ashore to use. Slept out in the cockpit every night. Always somewhere
to anchor and you can go ashore at every town along the way for meals or
provisions or to let the kids blow off steam.
Best week of my life with the kids.

Listen, I have a copy of that great Kootenay sailing chart book. I'm not likely to
ever use it now (I got lucky and picked up a boat in Sidney BC). P.M. me with your
address and I'll throw it in the mail.

Laurie

[Doug W]

And even if you do end up ten feet from shore, just tie the stern line to a kid, throw her
overboard, and yell "Shark!"

LOL

Great pics!

[rtrinkle]

I think you will be better trailering instead of morring bouy as well.

[Mac26Mpaul]

Depending on the kind of places you visit in the boat, pulling up to the beach is not always an option.

I'm looking for a small fibreglass job to tow at the moment. One of those 2 metre jobs may even be able to go on deck in an emergency.

I was recently turned off inflatables for good when we went exporing with ours (has 4hp merc on the back) and were a long way from the boat and a seam in the inflatable decided to pop. There I found out, that the inflatable which supposedly has 3 air chambers actually has just one! The thing was going down fast and I had two very young children and a wife not looking to happy about what was happening. When there was about half the air left, my wife was able to fold the seem over and save the rest of the air while we limped back to the Mac. I got them off,and only JUST got the outboard off as the transome collapsed into the water. Now sitting in the shed deflated, the transome is also peeling away from the pontoons! My inflatable was a cheaper one (about $1000 ) but I have since heard quite a few similar storys from others with inflatables of different brands and quality. My next door neighbour had a zodiac that fell apart as did another guy I talked too. Some guys have told me their inflatable has been no problems for 10 years etc, but I reckon those guys are just lucky...

For me, no more inflatables, except maybe one of those toys that folds up nice and small that could be stored in the boat as a backup.

If you only think it will be used for very short trips to a beach, perhaps an inflatable is okay, but for me, all the hassles of an inflatable are just not worth it, particularly the fact that sooner or later, they fall apart.


another thing I just bought was two 3.5m kayaks which are great. On motor cruises without taking the mast, they can both be stored on deck, but they also tow very well so no problems sailing. However they are no good trying to board from the back of the Mac

[Sugar Bear]

You might look at a small Porta-Bote, some on this form utilize them as a dingy and like them. While I did read a few reports of others had them and after a few years got an inflatable boat. I don't think they will sink.

[rtrinkle]

I've been thinking of getting a dingy..... Any good, economical suggestions?