Portable 2-3 Person Boat

[kestrel452]

Originally Posted by office888

Zoom = Made in China, glued construction
Fish N Hunt = Made in China, glued construction
Fastroller = Made in France, all welded construction except the pie cut patches on the transom corners and where the floor wraps over the transom wood.

Are you sure the Fish N Hunt is made in China with all glue? It's just an OD green version of the Bombard Typhoon. I thought Bombard wasn't a bad brand??

Edit: Nevermind, Bombard's own website says it's all glued. Seems like there are no good 3.6m solid floor boats...

The next best thing IMO is the Cadet 340S, though smaller than the 360 which is a big negative for me. What concerns me the most right now is how will a 3.6m air floor boat perform in chop and/or with a heavy load bearing down on it.

[office888]

Originally Posted by kestrel452

The next best thing IMO is the Cadet 340S, though smaller than the 360 which is a big negative for me. What concerns me the most right now is how will a 3.6m air floor boat perform in chop and/or with a heavy load bearing down on it.

Suggested maximum wave height is for a Category C rating (Force 6 winds, up to 2 meter swells).

[kestrel452]

Finally decided on which boat I'll be going with. I decided upon the Cadet 340 Solid, since the solid floor should perform better as a primary boat with a >10hp engine (Zodiac only recommends a 10hp engine for the Fastroller 360, but recommend a 15 on the 340S). The solid floors don't look like a big deal to install either after watching people do on youtube.

However, Zodiac is changing up the Cadet line for 2015. The Cadet 340 Solid is being bumped up to a 350 Solid. Slightly heavier, but should perform just as well with my Mercury 15. The increase in weight from 115lbs to 147lbs seems like a lot, and Inflatable Boat Center was somewhat certain it's too high of an estimate. The smidgeon of extra interior space will be welcome (Interior width goes from 2'7" to 2'9", and interior length increases a few inches). Floors will also be aluminum instead of wood, to which I have no idea the difference that will make.

Now I just have to wait a month or two to be able to order.

[Fenlander]

>>> The increase in weight from 115lbs to 147lbs seems like a lot... floors will also be aluminum instead of wood, to which I have no idea the difference that will make.

Alloy floors are usually heavier than wood and often harder to assemble which only really matters if doing a daily inflate. On the plus side they should be maintenance free and it's my impression an alloy floor gives a tighter feeling more stable boat.... as in stability at rest and more rigid feel punching into a chop.

[Ronaldj]

To the OP.
Do you plan on keeping this boat on a trailor.
If not 12 feet or 3.5 meters is as large as you can go.
Also unless your 20hp is 2 stroke , you are going to run into major weight issues as 4 stroke engines weigh a ton.
I have found with one possible exception , that any 4 stroke outboard greater than 15 hp puts to much stress on the transom.
For the Great Lakes region a Thermowelded PVC boat is good for about 5 to 10 years.
If you are in the Southeastern U.S. Then that's more like 5 to 7 years.

[office888]

Originally Posted by Ronaldj

For the Great Lakes region a Thermowelded PVC boat is good for about 5 to 10 years.

That assumes dinghy use / stored without a cover! I've seen a lot of 1995-2000 Zodiacs still in use where I reglued the floor back on (old boats had a glued floor), where the material was still in fantastic shape.