Tender and Outboard

Having now read quite a few other web sites and blogs about people sailing round the world, one thing they all say and have in common is that the tender to the mother ship is a vital piece of equipment and has a large list of duties to perform.

Also they all seem to share the same fate as the journey and time progresses, which is delaminating of the material and the glue dissolves on the joints due to the UV rays from the sun.

We have decided to make a basic ‘rule’ for all of our equipment, which is that anything we buy from a manufacturer, must be capable of being repaired or service parts supplied to us, wherever we are in the world. This is a fair statement, but comes with a very high price tag. Time will only tell if this is a wise policy.

The tender, we have decided to go for the Zodiac Yachtline 310R, which basically is a small RIB and looking at the technical data only weighs 50KG, as against the 310S having inflatable floor with wooden slats weighing in at 42KG.



For us a small RIB will be great for all the usual yachting roles, but it will come into its own for scuba diving and when we are anchored off a reef and do not want to get any closer with the Mahe, but still have the need to drop and pickup divers closer to the chosen dive site.



The picture above is a Bahia, sporting a Zodiac 310R

The Zodiacs come with a 5 year guarantee and have a world wide presence, so that fits our buying ‘rule’.

The outboard, again the most common complaint I am picking up from other yachtsmen is that they always wished they had a bigger and more powerful outboard. The technical data on the Zodiac says the largest engine that should be used with the 310R is 15 horse power.

In the UK, there is a trend with commercial fishermen, who are using small fishing vessels of less than 8 meters in length to use the Honda outboard or a pair of them. I personally know a few of these guys and on having any conversations about outboards they are all unanimous about which one to choose, they all swore by Honda, which for me is the best endorsement any product can get. These people rely on them for a living, that’s good enough for me!