Picking the Right Tender?

[WilliamForeside]

We have an Albin 28TE (1998) and we love it. We spend most of our time island hopping in Casco Bay. We have finally come to the conclusion that we'd like a dinghy to make island hoping a bit more convenient. We already have davits installed on the swim deck but we want to pick the right tender.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Any thoughts on the proper length? I have a family of 5 so I'd like to go as big as possible without being foolish.

Any opinions? Does anyone have an pics of their tender on their Albin?

Thank you,
Rafe

[Norseman]

I got this one for my A28TE

CB81A305-9F30-4399-A9D6-F8D68366B785.jpeg

About $2k from Defender.
One of the few dinks made in Japan, rather than China, quality seemed good, airfloor and blow up keel to save weight, 64 lbs.

Got a 3.5 hp Mercury to power it.
Good combo, but after a while we decided not to hang davits and sold the dink/motor.
(Change in plans)

[DCatSea]

I have a new slip neighbor with two 9' kayaks suspended on spreaders from davits. I'll post pix next time I'm there. Seems like a no-brainer. Yaks beat Zo-diacs.

[WilliamForeside]

We will likely only use it once a week so I am tempted to get the RIB-310 Compact from West Marine.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... --14460885

For $100 more the same boat comes with a single floor rather than a folding floor but it weighs more...

[Kimotee]

Just picked up a Highfield CL260. Bought it as year end deal at a boat show for about $1850. At a little over 8 feet, we felt it was the right fit for the boat's beam. Only 3 person capacity. We are mid-70's, so at our age, keeping it light and stable were key objectives and a RIB inflatable does both reasonably well. We are now looking at davit systems. Looked hard at the Weaver system with swim platform clips, but the hassle of managing the engine and trying to swing the boat out of the water is a huge question mark. so thinking seriously about Kato davits.
https://www.highfieldboats.com/classic-260/

[Nancy]

We just bought a Highfield RU250. PVC throughout; air floor. 8'4". 71 lbs. We're going with Weaver davits and will figure out the engine problem later. At the moment, it's a moot point since we only have an ancient 2HP Evinrude, and I don't think it's been run 25 years. I've come to the conclusion that every davit system has its pros and cons. No clear winner.

[tconnelly254]

If anybody is in the market for davits, I am selling my mint condition St Croix davits currently configured for my 35TE