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In my opinion (worth what you are paying for it)
the basic problem with the hard dinghies and the
non-inflatable inflatable dinghies is that they
are HARD!
That means you can not tie them up to the side
of your boat and ignore them for half a day until
you want to use it again. It will ding up your
boat's gelcoat or paint job in a hurry.
Thus they need to be tethered away from the main
boat, or the right kind of fenders set up to
prevent this damage.
The same is needed whenever you get it near any
valuable surface, like somebody else's boat.
That alone makes them, in my mind, unsuitable for
everyday use as a tender.
A good tender has to take you where you need to
go at a good and safe speed, carry your groceries
and other loads, and be relatively benign to it's
surroundings when not in use.
There are products one might use to extend the
life expectancy of one's inflatable dinghy. One is
called Tuffcoat (spelling?) and purports to add
years to an old dinghy. I think if applied when
the dinghy is new it might prevent the leaks from
developing in the first place. A new coating every
5 years or so might make an inflatable last for
several decades without any leaks.
Of course keeping sun exposure to a minimum
(cover the dinghy whenever not in use) would be a
good idea as well.
If one can find a way to keep sand and other
stuff out from between the hull and the tubes that
might also be a good idea...
Eric Thompson
S/V Procrastinator
South San Francisco
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