True kit inflatable Catamaran

While anchored in Culatra in Algarve I meet Dave and Rose, a very nice couple living aboard Blue, a beautiful Amel Shark . They had a nice looking dinghy. It looked similar to any inflatable tender like my zodiac, but I soon realized it was much lighter and much more stable than a regular inflatable Yacht Tender.

My old Zodiac dinghy is a solid, tough boat, but it's a bit unstable, wobbly and weighs over 50 kg, which is a real pain when you have to move it around. My Honda outboard gets the job done in the anchorage, but it takes a lot of effort for him to move me and the groceries. After seeing my curiosity about their dinghy. Dave explained to me the catamaran hull design, with significantly less drag than a typical v hull. Like my old zodiac. This allows them to use a smaller electric outboard motor and gives it also a catamaran stability alowing anyone to stand in it without any issues. even I could do it..

Dave And Rose are in their 80’s and they used their tender effortlessly, on the dayly trips to the Island. They even come to pick me sometimes for a snack. This was my first experience with Tue kit inflatable Catamarans. They had an electric Outboard motor that easily took us betwent the anchorage, the beach and the dinghy dock. After a couple of days I ask them to let mr try it on my own, to see if I could use it and store it safely on Belle coachroof alone. I did it and it was surprisingly easy. With its landing craft bow I could stand and easily step into the beach or Belle swim platform, Just a line from hit’s bridle bow Handle to Belle and I could guide it to starboard and hoist it single handly to Belle Deck. The electric outboard was also bery easy to lidft and store in the cockpit to charge during the night. My old Zodiac it’s great but a bit wobbly to embark and disembark though it's big tubes and very heavy and didficult to hoist. I have to use a spare halyard, winch it out of the water and “dance” with it to be able to store it properly on deck. I have to confess that most of the times I just stay aboard to avoid avoid all the hustle of using it to go ashore. Budget dont allow me to buyone True Kit discovery for now but it's "definitely" on my wishlist.

True kit Discovery

My Honda outboard is the lightest one available, but it still weighs over 12 kgs. My Zodiac is 50kgs, so that's over 60kgs to haul onto the deck each night. In contrast, a real inflatable catamaran kit weighs 30kgs, and the lightweight outboard is just a bit over 6kgs. That means we'd be dealing with almost half the weight to put away on deck in the evenings.