If you cant afford the price of new ribs for sale, or space constrains you to an inflatable, then the most popular size inflatable for family use is the 3.4-3.6m airdeck inflatable. So we decided to do a head to head on the most popular boats in this range. To make things easy to digest we did a series of tests to gauge slightly more scientifically which one would come out on top. Below are the boats on test and our test criteria.
The test boats were:
Zodiac cadet inflatable fastroller 360 Acti V
Max engine size: 15hp
Max Persons: 6
Packed Dimensions:
1.20 x 0.65 x 0.40m
Weight: 44kg
Price £1549
URL: http://www.zodiacmarine.co.uk/
Bombard Aerotec 380 inflatable
Max engine size: 25hp
Max Persons: 5
Packed Dimensions:
1.15 x 0.72 x 0.39m
Weight: 43kg.
Price £2239
URL: N/A
Avon rover 340 inflatable boat
Max engine size 15hp
Max persons: 5
Packed dimensions:
1.04 x 0.53 x 0.43m
Weight: 40kg
Price £1495
URL: www.avoninflatables.co.uk
Seapro 360 Air
Max engine size: 20hp
Max persons: 6
Packed dimensions:
1.12 x 0.58 x 0.40m
Weight 45kg
Price £750
URL: www.seaproboat.co.uk
Each inflatable boat on test has a similar design, that is to say they are all airdeck boats, some have a VIB floor and keel like the bombard, whilst the others have an air deck, with inflatable keel underneath. These air decks make assembly a piece of cake - as there is none required! Simple as that. Portability: well the lightest of the bunch is the avon which is not surprising as it is the smallest, but the second lightest is the Bombard aerotec which is surprising as that is the longest boat in the lineup. I did not say its the largest though, that was intentional as the bombard is not a very Beamy inflatable, if we look at the beam of each boat in turn: Zodiac 1.75m, Bombard aerotec 1.65m inflatable boat, Avon 1.6m, Seapro 1.67m. This shows that although longer, the bombard is not the biggest boat on test. That accolade falls to the Zodiac acti v. So weights rate all pretty similar per sq. Of floor space. The packed dimensions are VERY important in an airdeck portable boat, as most of them will spend the majority of their time in the back of the car or stowed away in the garage/caravan storage locker. The smallest is as expected the avon, which has the least floor area. But surprisingly the Seapro is quite a bit smaller when bagged up than the other two, which are quite cumbersome when stowed.
We will end there and finish this test in next weeks article where we will look at outboards for sale to fit each boat, and performance, longevity and build quality.