zodiac advice needed? Don't know much about them?

[fender22]

I'm thinking about getting a secondhand small zodiac as a tender, come flathead drifter. I don't know much about them? Is there any thing you need to look for apart from the obvious 15 patches and repairs? Do they rot. I saw one advertised at a good price and the guy said it had mould on it but it was ok, just looked a bit daggy cosmetically.

[Roughasguts]

Hmmmm inflatables.

I have a quicksilver 3300 sitting in me garage must be 11 years old and been out around 5 times. It's stable and comfortable and goes okay with a 5Hp outboard.
But it's heavy can't go antwhere it might get a scratch or cut. Personally I use me Kyak now for drifting playing, fishing and general water fix.

It even fits inside me 5 metre boat for exploring esturaries.

I give inflatables a thumbs down.

[on-one]

It would want to be fairly cheap as there a lot of cheap inflatable coming out of china that work well. Another consideration is where you'll put it, my father had an inflatable on his 21 ft boat and working out where to store it on the boat or towing it was a constant hassle

[QuinnyDory]

Gday, My brother in law has an Archilles inflatable RIB he brought 3rd (4th?) hand. Its around 13ft, quite old now, looks rough but very tough skin. rigid bottom, stable-as you get and you could almost fish anywhere in it so long as you dont mind getting wet. He does zero maintenance with it over the years and has had no issues. Did I mention they are good fun also ?

[cormorant]

Deflatables- allergic to fishing tackle. Well with a myriad of material choices and seams and glues it is a minefield. Limited warranty god I hate that. Look they have their place and that is if you need a lightweight with good carrying capacity but they vary in quality and design directly with price. Sand in joints abrades them. They take a long time to pull out and to store after dry it's just not pumping them up. If you have the money go expensive and replace it every couple of years and treat it well that way it is the next persons problem ( as if you can afford that). You won't see the difference as they all look pretty when new but seams and hull connections are all different. The only time I will ever consider a deflatable is when my life won't depend on it, I am so short of space, can'nt afford the weight and want to spend my life being careful. The rollups are good for car trips where you need portability and have no space or trailer. Apart from the weight saving you are better off with a tuff poly or the aluminium copies of inflatables. They both carry the weight , they don't deflate and can take a beating.Plaka boats , polycraft etc etc. You can let anyone use them and the worst they can do is scratch them. Roofracks and a lightweight fibreglass dinghy is also good.

Avoid deflatables unless you have a purpose that you can't resolve without using one.

[bastard]

Zodiacs are fantastic,if you by a cheaper import you will have problemes.

[onerabbit]

Stay away from Aquarians......................they are weird.

Muzz