[Rhodes22-list] To Deploy & Board An Inflatable from a Rhodes

[Mary Lou Troy]

At 05:48 PM 1/7/2009, you wrote:
>Mary Lou--  what type of inflatable do you use? -- length, method of
>filling, storage, etc.  I have a beat up 4' dinghy that I use to row out to
>the mooring, and that I've dragged behind a couple of times, pretty
>inefficiently.  I' rather have something on board.

I've written about our "dinghy" several times. This is from 2004:
"It kind of depends on how you think you'll use it. We didn't really 
need one so we went as light and cheap as possible - a plastic 
Sevylor 3 person Super Caravelle "pool toy". Weighs 13 lbs. Has a 
capacity of 600 lbs."

"It takes about 10-15 minutes to set up or stow and stows in a 
Rubbermaid container under the seats (18" x 24" x 13" high). It's 
been very reliable though we are very careful about keeping the 
bottom away from sharp objects. We upgraded the oars a couple of 
years ago but the boat itself is now in its 5th season.  It rows OK 
but we are thinking of naming it "Comic Relief". Something with slats 
might row a bit better but I'm not sure if any inflateable really 
rows well. I would not tow it any distance at all. If it was 
essential to our cruising instead of just a toy, we'd spring for a 
heavier duty model but at $69 a "pop" we figure we're ahead if we buy 
one a year for 10 years. As it is we've had it 5 years."

and this from 2006:
"Our dinghy - if you can call it that - is a Sevylor 3-person 
inflatable. More a plastic pool toy than a real dinghy but it does 
get us about an anchorage as long as it's not too rough or windy. 
We've even learned to inflate it enough that we don't usually get 
wet. It stows in a Rubbermaid container under the cockpit seats along 
and takes about 10-15 minutes to inflate. When we bought it, it came 
in a kit with the pump and oars for about $70. That was about 7 years 
ago. At the time we figured even if we had to buy a new one every 
season it would take 10 years before we came up to the price of an 
inexpensive real dinghy. We did buy a better set of oars after we 
lost part of one of the oars that came with it. It rows a lot better 
with the upgraded oars. I think in 7 years we've had one small 
puncture which was easily repaired but we've only used it a couple of 
times a season. It doesn't tow well at all but it's fairly quick to 
inflate or deflate and stow. There are now a couple of slightly 
better inflatables out there. I think Jim Harrison up on Middle River 
has a Sea Eagle. Slightly heavier guage plastic and it seems to row a 
bit better. West had been selling one with a cloth cover to help 
protect it but I don't know anything about it."

I can't think of anything new to add except that in 2007 we were 
still using the same dinghy. We didn't use it at all last year so 
we'll have to inflate it and see if it still holds air for 2009. It 
might be time to replace it just on principle as we've now gotten 10 
years out of it.

Best,
Mary Lou