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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Inflatable speed

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Paul
1st Mate

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57 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/28/2006 : 22:53:13

In an effort to find enough fun on the water for everyone so I can sail more, I'm toying with getting a small Zodiac to tow my boys on tubes or wake boards.

Obviously, the larger models with a 40-50 hp kicker would work. But I'm wondering if any of you have recreated with an air hull and smallish outboard.

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 07/29/2006 : 01:00:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Paul
 ..I'm toying with getting a small Zodiac to tow my boys on tubes or wake boards.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If you are talking about a regular soft-bottom Zodiac, forget it. You could tow a wakeboard or water toy behind a RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat), but probably not a soft-bottom. There are two reasons for this:
1. The fabric bottom of a soft-bottom dinghy is under tremendous stress at planing speeds, and this causes it to not have an ideal shape, which puts a lot of drag on the boat. Anyone who has owned both a soft bottom dinghy and a RHIB will tell you that RHIB's plane much easier than softies, and will plane with a smaller motor, and heavier load, than will a softie.
2. The transom board of a softie is basically just glued to the tubes. To pull someone on skis or a water toy would require so much engine power that you would probably be overstressing the transom-to-tube joint, leading to premature failure. The transom on a RHIB is an integral part of the fiberglass or aluminum hull, and is therefore much stronger.

I suspect that no inflateable boat designed and marketed as a dinghy is warranted by it's manufacturer for towing waterskiers or water toys.

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 07/29/2006 : 10:07:59

I would guess that 35 HP would be the minimum to plane 12-13 foot rib and pull a tuber.

Tom.

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2006 : 18:56:07

If you want your boys to have some fun with an inflatable, get a DUX. A few years back, a former coworker of mine bought one of these and he said it was a blast. I saw two of these once while out on the water and I couldn't believe how fast they were.

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