Annie Hill wrote:
I am not a fan of rubber ducks: expensive, short-lived, covetable (which seems to show that people who steal have really bad taste!), result in wet backsides and miserable to row.
I'd like to give a shout out for John Welsford's Scraps, which is a very burdensome 6ft 3in dinghy, handsome, light and rows well. JW is a genius when it comes to designing dinghies.
Having experienced an 'Elegant Punt', I would rate all the above as much better.
Well now, having owned a few rubber ducks I have to say they have their place. My previous 2.7m Aakron with the inflatable floor and keel was robust, (for 7 years), a very good work horse when cruising, safe, a good load carrier, dry even in rougher sea conditions, at least as much as any small dinghy, and rowed Ok once I had replaced the play oars supplied with the dinghy with some proper wooden oars, and I could get it on board myself, and launch it without needing to resort to any kind of lifting device. But Annie is right in the short lived comment, after 7 years plastic fittings began separating from the dinghy fabric. when I queried this with the dinghy supplier I was told that 7 years was the expected lifespan of the dinghy. Really!? So now I go and spend another $1200?? Anyway I managed to glue things back together with some quite expensive special glue. Three decades ago when I was doing my Pacific cruising I had a plywood floor, inflatable keel Avon dinghy. That was an excellent work horse for a family of four over a five year period doing very well everything expected of a cruising dinghy. That dinghy was already well used when I inherited it and I had five years of trouble free service from it. But I expect that those older British built dinghies were a much better product than the current breed of Chinese made inflatables.
So it probably comes down to an analysis of what is required from a dinghy in terms of load carrying ability, storage space onboard, ease of getting onboard, number of people or other loads to be carried, amount of money to be spent, is it to be rowed or propelled by an outboard, and longevity required. Although I have a 2hp Yamaha outboard I use it infrequently because I much prefer to row.
I had a look at John's 'Scraps' dinghy, it seems to be only for 1 person. My Elegant Punt was very easy to build was so light that manhandling it was not an issue, it rowed easily, and being flat bottomed was a good load carrier. But speaking of covetable - in the end it got stolen. Someone must have had good taste!!