At this year’s Seattle Boat Show I purchased a new inflatable to replace Jolly Mon’s aging Livingston dinghy. While the Livingston is pretty much indestructible, the new rigid bottom inflatable should be safer, perform better, be faster, and allow for more fun exploring anchorages.
The boat I purchased is a 9 foot Endeavor RIB. Endeavor is the brand name for a local vendor, Maritimes, with shops in Ballard and Anacortes. The boat was considerably lower in cost than other brands, but I couldn’t find anything that made me think a more expensive boat was going to be better. We’ll see how it holds up, but for now I am very impressed.
Jonathan from Briar Patch, who also purchased the same boat, and I took delivery of the new tenders on Monday and spent the day getting them set up.
The dinghy will be carried on the swimstep, secured with Weaver davits. The forward davit on the dinghy is glued to the tube, while the rear davit is a stainless arc attached to the transom of the dinghy. The quality of the Weaver products is impressive. The vinyl keel guard and beaching wheels we installed will make it easier to go to shore and hopefully extend the life of the boat. I will also be installing a Weaver Lever outboard mount, which will make deploying and stowing the dinghy more convenient.
For now, I have a couple of boats waiting impatiently in my back yard as we wait for additional parts from Weaver so the dinghy can be mounted on the swimstep.
To be continued…
I have no idea… The company went out of business a few years ago, and I’m not aware of anyone that picked up the line. Too bad, they’re great little boats.