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Inflatable Dinghies - the good, the bad and the ugly?


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Hey Wheels, 3+ years later, what's your long term verdict? Has it held up? They're still in business and prices look good. I'm gonna need to make a purchase in the next few weeks so sussing options.

 

I am in touch with the new owner of it and it is still in great shape. The only negative I have had is my knees always get in the way when I am rowing  ;-) 

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thanks for that Lateral. I have had exp. with isocyanate cross linkers b4 - nasty stuff. Made nonsense of carbon activated face masks in very short amount of time, and makes people sh*t faced unless they take serious protective steps.. 

 

However - excellent heat and water resistance, so kind of makes sense. What did you clean the surface down with to begin?

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I am in touch with the new owner of it and it is still in great shape. The only negative I have had is my knees always get in the way when I am rowing  ;-)

 

Thanks Wheels. Good to hear.

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I am in touch with the new owner of it and it is still in great shape. The only negative I have had is my knees always get in the way when I am rowing  ;-)

 

I thought a craftsman never blames his tools!

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I have a aqua pro, probably 15+ years old,  have taken it from boat to boat,  lives outside on a dinghy rack uncovered,  finally admitted it needed some love last xmas and got it retubed, 3rd the cost of replacing and hopefully will see another 10 years out of it with the same abuse.  best thing is it takes the entire family and supplies in a single trip an keeps my arse dry in a bit of a chop

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Bought a NZ-made Aquapro about 5yrs ago. Was awful with manufacturing fault from factory - twisted tubes - which meant handles and rowlocks out of alignment relative to waterline. Made for strange handling. Give them due they took it back and ‘fixed it’ which involved unsticking stuff and repositioning it relative to waterline. I had asked for a new replacement (mine was 1 week old when I noticed the flaw) but they couldn’t because they said the whole batch they had in the factory at that time had the same issue.

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Years ago we had a Southern Pacific roll up and it lasted well over a decade with no problems and most of that time it was left outside in the NZ sun. More recently we've had an Aakron which started to literally fall apart in less than 2 years, seams failing, rowlocks falling off etc. That experience meant our next one was a new larger Southern Pacific and am very happy with it. Also the SP was made just around the corner from us in Kumeu so not only are they good dinghies it's also supporting a local NZ business. 

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Yup as and when my Aquapro dies I’ll probably get a SP Shearwater. I had a look at them and they look good. Although of course my Aquapro with the dodgy start in life was made by the same people! The redeeming feature is that, as you say, they are relatively local (if you’re buying in Auckland) and you can expect better hands-on service if you need it (which I did) than buying an overseas brand.

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Yep I have a True Kit Navigator.

The main plus with the "cat" design inflatables with the paddle board type higher pressure floor is the rowing performance.

So good that I have never used the outboard since I got it.

Also the light weight as I lift it up on to the roof.

 

The down side is the ribbed protection pads under the hulls which disintegrates to the stickiest mastic type crap you can imagine.

When I suggested they use something better the guy said use the UV cover.

A pretty average response to customer feed back I thought.

So we swapped the protection for a vinyl ourselves and much better

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Look up the Wildcat model on Trademe, I have one of their 2.6m roll ups, it’s awesome. Same style as TrueKit . WildCat is Akl based , but will ship anywhere I think 

 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/dinghies-rowboats/inflatable/auction-2408252641.htm

 

Though curiously, their website only describes a rigid polyethylene product... https://www.wildcatboats.co.nz/

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Yep I have a True Kit Navigator.

The main plus with the "cat" design inflatables with the paddle board type higher pressure floor is the rowing performance.

So good that I have never used the outboard since I got it.

 

 

Really? Conventional wisdom is that inflatables row like crap.  Encouraging if not the case with this brand as I prefer to row for fitness and less mucking around than with outboard.

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Old Avons could row well ( i have beaten a hard dinghy in a race). It's because of the rowlocks.

I believe it is still possible to buy just the rowlocks so it would be an interesting exercise to retrofit them on some other brands and see if there's a difference. Those rowlocks also allowed you to throw away the crap oars all inflatables come with and get a decent pair.

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Most inflatables, in particular RIBs bow steer badly. The cat style with pressure floors don't and actually track pretty well.

The limiting factor is then the rowlocks first and then the flimsy oars they give you.

 

Could you technically attach the railblaza rowlick attachment to a beefier wooden oar....or are they only good enough for the lightweight aluminium jobbies? And yes, I have a pair of the aluminium type oars, and geez they are very flimsy.

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