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Just purchased a 99 26x what would you recommend as a Dinghy?

Yacht is 100 miles from me so can't go look. Do you know if this year has the ballast tank valve on the back?

Thanks,
Dan

I started with a 10 foot porta bote, and then switched to a 9.5 foot inflatable with high pressure floor and shallow Vee hull, made by Zodiac. The inflatable has worked out very well. All 26X and M boats have the water ballast fill/drain valve below water line on the transom. Early X models (before 1999 I believe) have a displacement air plug in a step under the companionway. Later X models put the air plug in a well up forward, in the Vee berth area.

I see you're in Grand Haven MI. That's where we plan to start our Great Loop cruise this coming August. Perhaps we can meet up then.

Chinook wrote:I started with a 10 foot porta bote, and then switched to a 9.5 foot inflatable with high pressure floor and shallow Vee hull, made by Zodiac. The inflatable has worked out very well. All 26X and M boats have the water ballast fill/drain valve below water line on the transom. Early X models (before 1999 I believe) have a displacement air plug in a step under the companionway. Later X models put the air plug in a well up forward, in the Vee berth area.

I see you're in Grand Haven MI. That's where we plan to start our Great Loop cruise this coming August. Perhaps we can meet up then.

Retiring on the 14th of August. Get my x out of storage sometime in early May.

I would love to meet up. Shoot me an email when closer to the date.
Dan

I don't how you plan on using your future dinghy. That might have an influence on a purchase.

I have a 9' Achilles with an inflatable floor and an inflatable keel so it's not a dinghy with a flat bottom. I intended to come home with a Zodiak, but ended up with Achilles. It was a boat equal in quality with the Zodiak at a much better price. The first season I had it, I put 10 miles a day on it. 5 miles in the morning to get to my Mac at its mooring, and 5 miles at the end of the day to get back after puting it back on the mooring. That dinghy with its 6HP Merc is quite comfortable for those 5 mile trips, and it zips along.

Highlander just bought a Walker Bay. Not an inflatable at all. Get to see the different types up close before making a decision, think about how you wish to use it.

By the way, we no longer need the dinghy for Mac use, and now use it for lake fishing.

Have fun

Ray

For the past 6 years I have had a "proper" hyperlon airdeck inflatable dingy with a 3.9hp outboard. Honestly for the amount of times I use it, it is a PITA even stored on the davits I have made up for it. The motor even though easily carried is a real pain in any sort of wave action to fit to the dingy, the dingy is 32KG and takes a bit of effort to lift even with 3:1 tackle.

To simple get from the beach to the boat or to a jetty I think a PVC inflatable, something like this is way more practical for a MAC especially if I put it on my davits for easy deployment



And at 1/10th the cost if the PVC does not last in the sun I will just buy another one

Mind you I am in the sub-tropics and even in winter taking a swim is not fatal, I might have a different approach if merely being in the water could be fatal

Congratulations Bill & Welcome

After I bought my 3rd dingy, I realized I rarely needed one; Ymmv.

There are many fun and exciting things to get now that you're Mac'ing - a word I just made up -but as you can imagine it's boating using a Mac. I used my dink[s] during two trips to the Florida Keys. & other than that I haven't really had a need. & even then it was for a short jaunt 1x to Burdine's in Boot Key Harbor. I dragged this thing around the rest of the time without a need for it

But for trips, it's good to have one - even borrowed.

Think about what kind of boating you're gonna do in the next year. My boat stays on a mooring during my season. & my marina provides a launch driver 24hrs a day. Is there a chance you may be in a slip? There are plenty of thing$ you're gonna need to get: USCG safety equip, Vhf, Chart-plotter... Stuff

Enjoy

P.S. I used: An 8' Porta bote [too small but packs well]. A Tandem 12' SOT Kayak & have but haven't used yet a 10' Porta-bote Ala Chinook.

NiceAft wrote:I don't how you plan on using your future dinghy. That might have an influence on a purchase.

I have a 9' Achilles with an inflatable floor and an inflatable keel so it's not a dinghy with a flat bottom. I intended to come home with a Zodiak, but ended up with Achilles. It was a boat equal in quality with the Zodiak at a much better price. The first season I had it, I put 10 miles a day on it. 5 miles in the morning to get to my Mac at its mooring, and 5 miles at the end of the day to get back after puting it back on the mooring. That dinghy with its 6HP Merc is quite comfortable for those 5 mile trips, and it zips along.

Highlander just bought a Walker Bay. Not an inflatable at all. Get to see the different types up close before making a decision, think about how you wish to use it.

By the way, we no longer need the dinghy for Mac use, and now use it for lake fishing.

Have fun

Ray

I have a W/M 2 person dinghy with a little electric motor , powered by a booster pack ,came with a weather cover that covers the tubes for more protection against weather similar to the one next to the walker bay in their cat.

http://catalogs.westmarine.com/app.php?RelId=6.4.7.5

I also now have the walker bay 10 , sail/tube kit & 2015 6HP Merc 4stroke
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... lprocw.jpg

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 0c5c1b.jpg

http://www.walkerbay.com/dinghies-sailk ... ail-kit-2/

J

We have a 7' zodiac with slated floor and a Merc 2.5. The whole thing rolls up length wise and fits into a "duffle bag" and the motor fits in as well. The motor has a 1.5 L inboard tank, so no lines, tank etc. Love the boat and that it does store very easily, but wish we had the 9' version with the slated floor. The slats give the floor rigidity without complicating things like a fill rigid floor while still being able to roll it up for storage. On another note the foot pump used to inflate the boat also happens to fit in the drain hole for the sink/transom at the aft; in case you have a plugged pipe you can plug the transom drain and push the clog back into the sink. We have dogs and their fur is literally everywhere, but I've also recovered screws, rubber pellets from the matt I had in the cockpit and so on.

PecosBill wrote: ...... what would you recommend as a Dinghy? ..... Dan

As you may have gathered from the replies so far, the best choice of dinghy depends heavily on your use of the Mac.
We keep our Mac on its trailer; but when we use it we typically motor to nice salt-water anchorages in picturesque bays and lounge about ... often travelling for days moving to a new location each night. For us the dinghy opens up whole new vistas: you are not trapped on a fibreglass island, but can trundle happily about visiting the shore or just drifting about looking at sea life or chatting with other boaters.
We tried a PVC blowup dinghy first. It seemed sensible on paper; but they are so lightly built that climbing in and out tended to leave one sitting in a pool of seawater ..... Also while towing it in a strong wind it sometimes ended up around your ears as you stood at the steering pedestal. We never tried putting a motor on it.
So we invested in a (much heavier) 'zodiac-style' 8-foot inflatable with air floor and inflatable v-hull. This has been great: far superior in that one can hop in and out without needing to change into a swimsuit, and nice to have a more stable platform that doesn't twist like a balloon with every stroke of the oars. I would not want a smaller dinghy .... on the other hand, longer will be heavier and more awkward. The 8-footer is just big enough for two adults.
We would not be without our dinghy ... but we did find that we hardly ever use the lovely little 2.5 HP Suzuki 4-stroke outboard that we bought to go with it: simpler and more fun to just row about and leave the Suzi attached to the Mac rail seats.

Hello,
We have used a sevylor PVC inflatable since 1995. We added a floor board & ethafoam seats which we store on the aft berth all the way aft (sideways). It makes it easier to row.
Mod here: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/index.php?view=245

I've used a 10' porta bote for 10 seasons and been pleased. If you think you'll need to bring the dinghy aboard for long open passages, you probably want a good inflatable, otherwise the port bote has several advantages. I tow the porta bote when cruising and have never had a problem even when caught out in some heavy winds, nor does it impact sailing speed noticeably. I like the rigidity and stability it provides, especially when boarding from the Mac. It rows easily, though the collapsible oars/oarlocks are not very good. The floor flexes some at speed, which takes getting used to, but it still feels more stable to me than any inflatable I've tried. It's big enough to accommodate almost any reasonable load, and with a 5hp it really moves through the water - in fact, if I ever need to re-power, I'll probably go smaller. It also holds up well when beaching on rock and shingle; no fears of puncture or wear. While trailing, it folds flat and can be carried on deck, in the cabin, on the roof rack of the tow beast, or (in the case of my Yukon) inside the vehicle.

Welcome aboard'
Jim

PecosBill wrote:Yacht is 100 miles from me so can't go look. Do you know if this year has the ballast tank valve on the back?

The vent on my '99 is under the vee-berth rather than under the step. '99 seems to be a transitional year for vent location and existence of the step, as some don't even have the step (mine does) and use a ladder instead, while others had the vent under the step.

But they (the motor-sailors) all have the gate valve for ballast water in the transom.

Edit: In fact, thinking about it, adding the ladder and removing the removable step might actually be an improvement for my boat. I'll have to explore that option.

Edit 2: $260 from BWY - forget that. The step will have to do. I'll add another grab handle for the admiral.

Found that w/ out a dinghy we were trapped on the boat. Bought a Walker Bay 8' thinking rowing an inflatable is not fun. However the first year I found it to be rather tippy getting in and out so I bought the tube kit which installed easily. Also bought a Honda 2.5 . Racks on truck, 2 people needed to off / on load. Rows very nice, motor is more than adequate. Only drawback is when I go alone I have to wait at the ramp for the next boat to help me get it back on the truck.

Currently looking at a Sea Eagle SE9:

https://www.seaeagle.com/MotormountBoats/SE9

We have a Kaboat with a 2,5hp Yamaha on Nor-Ca, and I am very happy with it.
It is light, and relatively easy to inflate on the foredeck.
It is also possible to paddle it like a canoe when exploring rivers and bays around our anchorages.
The publicity say it can be paddled like a kayak, but You can forget that, it does not have enough
directional stability for that.

http://saturninflatableboats.ca/saturn- ... boats.html