Choosing the right ride for cruising yachts
Cruising yachties will need to know what they want before buying the right type of inflatable tenderEveryone has a dream of what they’ll do once the golden age of retirement rolls around. For some, it’s the dream of owning a cruising yacht and sailing off over the horizon.
It’s your chance to leave the rat race behind, visit far-flung beaches and places, sit in the shade of palm trees and gaze out over clear water reefs brimming with rainbow-coloured fish.
Okay, so you have the yacht of your dreams front of mind. But what are you going to use to get between where it is tied up, and all those dreamy vistas we’ve just painted?
That’s where you need a tender. In many ways, an inflatable tender makes a lot of sense; they’re compact when stowed, they punch above their weight in terms of the load they can shift, and they’re a great back-up in an emergency.
But there are so many inflatable tenders available. Which one will you need?
Inflatable lifeline
In short, the tender is a yachtie’s lifeline, providing the vital connection between the yacht and the shore. Without it, you’re stuck on the boat and excluded from all that freedom and enjoyment that you have dreamed of.
Making the wrong choice when buying an inflatable tender, then, can be crushing.
Mike Orsmond of Gold Coast-based RIB Force Inflatables says he has one clear memory of when someone got it very wrong.
He said a German doctor circumnavigating the world didn’t follow advice when upgrading his tender, and ended up buying the wrong one. Fixing the problem proved very expensive.
“We got a phone call from Phuket [in Thailand] from the doctor with the instructions ‘you know what tender I liked, bundle it up and send it by air to Thailand’,” he said.
“The doctor had his cruising dream wrecked by the purchase of an inferior tender that did not do the job.
“When told about the huge cost of air-freighting a RIB to Thailand, he said ‘these are my school fees for not doing my homework and buying the right tender in the first place’,” Orsmond said.
Ask the right questions
Asking yourself a number of questions before you buy an inflatable tender will help you choose the right one the first time:
- From a safety perspective what inflatable tender will provide me with a safe, seaworthy inflatable tender – if my yacht sinks will my tender be able to save everyone onboard?
- What is a practical size for the type of work the tender will do – how many passengers will I need to carry, and to what degree of comfort?
- What do I want to do with this inflatable tender. Do I want a general tender that will work for carrying passengers, snorkeling, fishing, carrying provisions and so on, or do I need a more specialised tender, say, as a good scuba-diving platform?
- How do I know this tender will have the right components and be robust enough to withstand the challenges it will face on a cruise, such as running up on beaches, UV exposure, heat, pounding of the sea and so on?
- I will have to perform maintenance on the tender, so is the one I’m buying require the least amount of maintenance?
- How far will I need to go, and how quickly?
Writing down the answers to the above will help you form the framework for choosing an inflatable tender that will best suit your needs.
Remember that safety is paramount, and lives cannot be measured in terms of the dollars saved on buying a cheap inflatable boat. Seek the help of reputable dealers with experience, and be wary of rebadged cheap imports – it is your lifeline after all, so you should buy the best available.
If you are going cruising it is best to buy recognised international brands that can offer more support via their global networks.
A rigid-hulled inflatable boat is generally preferable to a soft-bottomed inflatable for a cruising yacht as they are more resistant to damage and provide better seakeeping abilities – steering a soft-bottomed boat in a stiff breeze is almost a comedy.
Materials matter
The main choice between rigid hulls is whether the hull is made from fibreglass or aluminium. Both have their advantages, with your answers to the questions above helping to determine the correct choice.
The inflatable tubes on a RIB are critical. If a tube is punctured, the RIB will still provide buoyancy – the tubes have in-built cells that build in redundancy should a failure happen.
The materials used to build the tubes varies. The best is welded polyurethane (PU) – the prescribed material for the US military –
but this is not yet available for recreational purposes in Australia.
Inflatables available in Australia are made from either chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber (CSM, a more expensive material that is also known as Hypalon) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
CSM has the better reputation, with PVC suffering from a legacy of cheap imported inflatables made from glued materials that have failed within a short space of time. A PVC-based RIB that has welded seams is better.
Bear in mind, too, that a properly made, welded PVC-based RIB can be better than a cheap Hypalon version, and RIBs that use a mix of Hypalon and PVC can be better again.
Unlike PVC, Hypalon can’t be welded.
It warrants an answer
When you buy an inflatable RIB, always ask about warranty claims. Businesses selling cheaper, lower quality RIBs will have more customers coming back for a fix than those selling the higher quality, longer lasting ones. Don’t believe that the quality of a cheaper RIB will be the same as a more expensive one.
Get all this right, and your bid to live the cruising yacht dream will become a fuss-free reality.
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