Experience Inflable Boats

[gbc0010]

Anyone out there who has experience diving from an inflatable boat? Specficially I am looking at a SeaEagle 9 rated to carry 1200 lbs. and a 4HP motor or a SeaEagle 10.6 Sport Runabout which is rated for 12 lbs/ and a 15 HP motor. Any experience with such boats for lake diving? Stability?

 

[captain]

Inflatables are great for diving, very seaworthy and stable. I had a 14 foot Zodiac at one time.

Captain

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Those are pretty small inflatables. Listen to some folks
who have dived from boats that small.

 

[ChrisA]

Anyone out there who has experience diving from an inflatable boat? Specficially I am looking at a SeaEagle 9 rated to carry 1200 lbs. and a 4HP motor or a SeaEagle 10.6 Sport Runabout which is rated for 12 lbs/ and a 15 HP motor. Any experience with such boats for lake diving? Stability?

It all depends on _where_ you are intending to go and how far and what the conditions are like in the area you dive and how many people and how many tanks per person. What are typical local wind speed and wave/swell hieghts like? Is the weather easy to predict in your area or do sqalls come through with little warning?


I certainlly would not attemp a 20 mile crossing in the open ocean with a 10 ft inflatable boat and 4HP motor

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

I'm obviously not familiar with ANY type of diving that would use something as small as a 4hp on a boat as small as a 12 footer. Keep in mind it ain't just gettin' there, it's gettin' back and if you have some type of an emergency it means being able to get back in a hurry if you had to. I guess there are people who dive off of kayaks, but unless it's a real short distance from the launch point, little or no current and in a well protected area...it ain't for me. I'd say minimum is a 14 footer with at least a 15.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I don't think I would go with anything smaller than the 10.6 Sport. I have a 10'2 that I use and it has just enough room for 3 people and 2 sets of dive gear. I've taken it a few hundred yards offshore and it hasn't acted like it wasn't strong enough to take some of the 3-4' swells I've run through with the 9.8HP motor I have on it. The boat fully equipped with motor(no passengers or dive gear) weighs around ~150#s or so I'd imagine, so a little motor gets it moving fairly easily. Now with 3 people and 2 sets of gear, I can't get it to plane out in choppy water, without the gear, no problem, with 2 people and 2 sets of gear, no problem.

Stability is great, you'd be hard pressed to turn the thing over rolling off or climbing back on. Just don't expect a smooth ride out or back to the beach I don't think I'd have it any other way though...

 

[Wildcard]

I have a 14 footer with a 30 horse pusher. Does great for 2 people with gear, 3 is getting snug and four leaves no room for second tanks. For stability, nothing beats an inflatable, even a 10 footer. For lake diving, it sould be just fine. Had a 10.5 Zodiac also. Rolled it in a surf landing once but still real stable in open water.

 

[Snowbear]

I'd say minimum is a 14 footer with at least a 15.

How about a 13' with a 25?

 

[miketsp]

The big problem is the weight of the cylinders. My wife & I did some OW dives in January using a small boat (13ft) with a fibre hull and 25hp. Two of us plus the guide(boat owner & DM), driver and 7 AL80s + small O2 cylinder. The dive spots were 8 - 10nm off shore. Without the cylinders the boat would fly along on the plane, and fuel consumption was really good. With the four of us plus the cylinders we just crawled along and the fuel consumption was terrible which upped even more the weight we had to carry. Plus the risk of keep changing fuel tanks.
I talked to the boat owner recently and he told me he moved to a 50HP - he said the improvement was dramatic. The boat started planing again and was much more economical.

 

[eirikexplorer]

I have been using my 20 ft RIB for diving the last year and i am hooked. Fantastic way to get out there and back again fast.

Try a 175 Evenrude on a bombard 20 feet rib boat

http://community.webshots.com/user/eiostbo

Its a dream to dive from