Yacht Forum UK

In the past we spent several very happy years cruising the West coast of Scotland on our 19 feet Seamaster Sailor with our German Pointer; our tender was a 2metre Achilles, which weathered very well and was able to resist the sharpish claws of our dog!

We have just bought a Bavaria 30, which we intend to keep at Largs; sadly, our Achilles after 20 years has gone to inflatable Heaven. So - looking for a replacement: 2.4 metres ish, as now we have two dogs - wirehaired German Pointer and Giant Schnauzer! Does anyone have experience of tough tenders which might stand up to doggy wear and which won't break our already cracked bank!

We have a used Avon Redcrest. We give it a lot of hammer - so does the dog. She's a little smaller than your two though!

Avon seems pretty indestructible. It's our second - our first stood up well but unfortunately went with the sale of our last boat - so we bought another one.

We use ours daily throughout the spring/summer/autumn. The tubes are hypalon so pretty much unaffected by the sun.

Cost us £150 + £8 del from Ebay.

Wow, Jeff: that sounds like a deal! The Achilles was sold to us a "poor man's Avon" - also Hypalon, and 20+ years seems to have justified its description! I suspect that the more available and cheaper PVC boats would fall foul of the dogs' claws...

there's a lot of them about! Perhaps their business could have done better if like many others their products failed after some period of time. But because they last almost indefinitely you can still grab em for next to nowt!

Should have taken your advice, Jeff! We were persuaded to "invest" in a Zodiac Cadet 260, and to be fair it did a good job of ferrying us and the dogs from anchor to shore.

Until yesterday At Brodick, rather than mounting the engine I chose to row to shore in a force 3-4 – just before arriving at the harbour wall, both rowlocks snapped off, leaving me at the mercy of wind and tide. I was swept onto rocks, causing a three inch tear in one of the tubes. Fortunately, I was able to scull with a single oar to safety before the tube deflated, but it was an experience I should not like to repeat! I was then left with the problem of how to get back to my boat on the mooring, and where to find boat repair material and a pump at 6pm on a Sunday...

It could, as they say, have been a lot worse. But I'm doubly cross - with Zodiac, of course, but also that I ignored your advice: especially as in the end I was rescued by a Good Samaritan in - you guessed it - an Avon Redstart!

Blimey!!! What a nightmare!! Glad it worked out!

Are you going to buy an Avon now?

PS. Were/are you insured for that?

Yes, sitting in the marina in Largs with a beer, the events seem rather funnier than at the time! We are insured, but I suspect the excess will make it not worth claiming for - I'm currently pursuing Zodiac via the dealer who says it's the second case of broken rowlocks on a new Zodiac this year... Ebay search for Avon now in order!

Ah yeah forgot about the excess. It's really not good if the rowlocks can fail like that - could have been so so much worse!

Well enjoy your beer, and good luck with your new Avon!