Lose your Dinghy? - Yes, It Could Happen!
by Cruising Editor on 7 Sep 2006
Porta-Bote SW
If a cruising sailor like to worry about all the catastrophes that COULD happen, he doesn't need a very active imagination. One of the minor - and sometimes maybe not so minor if you were in a remote area - possibilities is the loss of one's dinghy. It could be stolen, the painter could break. It could be punctured by something nasty - we have one friend (Bill in Timeout)who had the back bitten off by a crocodile, and another (Jay in Gandalf)whose dinghy was punctured by a pirate's bullet.
Normally, a dinghy is just something for which you don't carry a spare - until, along came Porta-Bote!
This must be the world's most portable boat. It has been in production for over 30 years and there are nearly 50,000 of them in use worldwide, many for the boater who keeps it folded in the garage until he needs it.
However, for the cruising sailor, it's an ideal back-up for the ubiquituous inflatable RIB.
We've had one of these for years now, and, while we've never lost a dinghy, we have had a leak that was so serious once we had to get out the Porta-Bote. Ours is called 'Ffugly', and yes, you have to admit they're pretty UGLY!
We can confirm that it's virtually unsinkable, as their advertising claims, but they go like a dream, and our 2.5hp outboard has it skating along very quickly. It sits like a surfboard along the foredeck of our boat, and is about the same size.
To learn more about the Porta-Bote, go to their http://www.porta-bote.com Website
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