On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

[Chopperbill]

New member here. Pretty sure minds made up on a Saturn and Tohatsu 9.8 motor. Like the motor because of price and only weighs 81.5 lbs. a little over 10 lbs. on boat. Will have to launch myself with the transom wheels so every pound could make the difference. Would both boats plane out about the same? Seems there is not really much difference in the inside measurements for being a foot difference in length so a 11 footer would work out for us. Oh, I'm 230 lbs, wife's 130 lbs and dog is 35 lbs. an we are just going to use it river cruising on the CO River near Parker, AZ. , if any of that makes a difference. Any thoughts on one of these combos.
Thanks for letting a new-bee ramble on.

 

[ronaldj]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

New member here. Pretty sure minds made up on a Saturn and Tohatsu 9.8 motor. Like the motor because of price and only weighs 81.5 lbs. a little over 10 lbs. on boat. Will have to launch myself with the transom wheels so every pound could make the difference. Would both boats plane out about the same? Seems there is not really much difference in the inside measurements for being a foot difference in length so a 11 footer would work out for us. Oh, I'm 230 lbs, wife's 130 lbs and dog is 35 lbs. an we are just going to use it river cruising on the CO River near Parker, AZ. , if any of that makes a difference. Any thoughts on one of these combos.
Thanks for letting a new-bee ramble on.

If the internal dimensions are the same or close then go for the 11 foot boat.
Since you are launching by yourself , weight is a major concern.
It is not just getting the boat to the water. It is getting it in and out of the car as we'll
Ordinarily I would say go with an air floor but the dog changes that dynamic

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

Wlcome to Iboats,

If small price difference is not a concern, go for the 12", with a less powerfull engine will slide, run at fast displacement speed and even plane faster than with a smaller size sib. Less hull drag to overcome faster. Have tested both sizes, both top inflated to with a 10 HP underpowered engine and the boating capabilities are much better with a 12 footer. How much weight could it be ? are you and wife going to carry the sib all the way to the water, definitely not, you plan using transom wheels, right ? then why worry about minimum extra weight..

Happy Boating

 

[Chopperbill]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

If the internal dimensions are the same or close then go for the 11 foot boat.
Since you are launching by yourself , weight is a major concern.
It is not just getting the boat to the water. It is getting it in and out of the car as we'll
Ordinarily I would say go with an air floor but the dog changes that dynamic

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mention I was going to put down out door carpet on the floor. Dog is a mini Aussie. Didn't foresee a problem but like I said I'm a new guy to these inflatables.

 

[Guest]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mention I was going to put down out door carpet on the floor. Dog is a mini Aussie. Didn't foresee a problem but like I said I'm a new guy to these inflatables.

Welcome to the forum Chopper, I would suggest the 12ft. When i fish by myself I sometimes feel short of room.

 

[gm280]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

My 1 1/2 cents worth is go for the 12 footer too. You never know when your thoughts or situation will change and want another setup and the 12 footer will appeal to a larger crowd as well...

 

[seasdes]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

My 2c worth. I have owned 2 SIBs. Both were 12 footers (3.6m & 3.8m). There is not much room left once you put in a container with safety gear, fuel tank and pax etc. I would go for the larger version.

 

[Jim Hawkins]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

12'

 

[oldandintheway]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

They always seem to shrink when you put them in the water.

 

[Chopperbill]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

Thanks guys, told the wife what the replies were so far. When I told her 12' she said "12 foot, I'm on board with it" pun intended!

 

[fbpooler]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

We are campers and limit ourselves to 10 or 11 ft due to weight. The typical 12 ft boat tends to be heavy and awkward for a couple to handle unless you have a ramp or easily accessed launch area. We can launch from places where transom wheels would not work.

Room? If you need room, you need a conventional boat which does not use tubes for sides. Our 9 and 10 ft hulls work well for two people fishing as long as care is taken with how much gear we carry.

For a river, have you considered a square stern canoe with a small motor? Put the canoe on a roof rack and you have room in the car to carry your motor and gear. We used a 16 ft aluminum canoe with a 2 or 4 HP motor for years in the rivers and it was a snap to move around and launch even in some not too convenient places. It would handle more gear than we ever needed on the water, typically decoys, the dog, and safety gear.

If you plan to use it in rough water, then the extra weight and bother of an inflatable would get the nod.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

My 2c worth. I have owned 2 SIBs. Both were 12 footers (3.6m & 3.8m). There is not much room left once you put in a container with safety gear, fuel tank and pax etc. I would go for the larger version.

Boater Weimed knows well the advantange of having a larger sib. He bought a smaller size and we recommended to go for the next larger size, the internal space made all the difference. But seems his 350 is getting short again, space is never enough..

Happy Boating

 

[Chopperbill]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

Difference in weight of boats is only 11 lbs. Pull a fifth wheel down here for the winter and have been double towing Harley and Polaris RZR and found I use them less every year. We are parked on the edge of the Colorado river and decided to take advantage of the river. It is approximately 20 miles long between dams and 2 to 3 blocks wide. Not rough going. Don't want to double tow down here any longer, so inflatable is my best option. Thought I would ask questions here because I no absolutely nothing about them. Found forums are the best source for information. Can use all the info you got. Thanks folks!

 

[Guest]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

yea my 350s is 11.6ft and its a good boat as I mostly fish by my self. Sinister and I have about 25-30 min setup times and about 45- 1hour dismantle times due to wiping down the boat at days end. (your tired at days end so be ready for dismantling the boat. When your tired and just want to roll into your car and go home). I would get air floor and put like a rubber matt over it if I had to buy again. Siniter had a merury 340 and even though I been on it once I loved it. He was set up and ready to go about 15 min faster then me and my wood floor. I been Getting better putting the wood floor together so we will see this year. Word of advice get a high pressure electric pump it will remove about 10 min of setup times

 

[Sinistre1]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

I was on the fence between 11 and 12 foot.. so i bought them both! lol. Actually I had an 11footer and traded up. In my experience it was like going from a 2 seat sports car to a smaller 4 seat performance sedan. A lot of similarities with the trade down being performance "feel" (as it actually still performs... just feels less on the edge doing so) the trade up is extra room. In my case, not unlike Weimed... I found myself running out of room even fishing by myself. The extra foot makes a difference one up and all the difference fishing with friend(s) in the boat. The absolute only real negative for me is the weight and bulkiness. Going from 340 to 365 added at least 15lbs but feels more substantial than that! The ride though is much smoother and more civilized

My vote... late as it is, would be a 12footer with the weight/ bulky caveat.

 

[zurk]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

go down in size and put a bigger motor on it. a 10.5ft with two people and a dog strains to get on plane with a 15HP. its also a handful when unloading/loading. get an air floor for going solo.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

OP wants a larger sib with just a 9.8 HP engine. A 10.5" with 15 HP, 2 up + doggy should plane all right, if not, 5 things to consider, inflation, badly trimmed, ballanced, engine/transom height issues, unhealthy engine...

Used to have a OMC 305 mt sib with a Evi 9.9, with 2 up and a baby tiger planed really fast, to do so, all 5 things were correctly dialed from day one.

Happy Boating

 

[zurk]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

none of the above.
33lbs/HP is planing power (excl. engine wt).
15 x 33 = 495lbs.
boat = 115lbs.
2 ppl = 400 lbs
dog = 50lbs
gas tank x 2 = 72 lbs @ 6 gal/tank
misc gear ( trolling motor, fishing,radios,GPS/finder etc ) = 100lbs
battery = 62lbs
800lbs > 495lbs.

 

[Sinistre1]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

Tend to agree with sea rider.. comfort aside, if you are NOT planing a 10.5 with a 15hp... something is definitely wrong somewhere. Just should not be the case. With that much power you should still almost be able to get a non planing hull to plane. Lol. I've had as many as 4 adults, 6 gallons of gas and at least another 40-50 lbs of gear in my 340 and it would plane readily.. if not quickly. Although the 310 has less planing surface and you are talking about a lot of weight, you are also at the very high end of HP options for a boat of that size. It should have planed out effectively, if not slowly. I'd look at the things sea rider mentioned and make sure they are all in order.

 

[zurk]

Re: On the fence 11 or 12 foot?

nothing wrong with it. planes fine with less people. weight is evenly distributed.
40lbs/HP is the max for planing, 25lbs/HP is for speed/instant plane.

Crouches Planing Speed Formula

speed(knots) = 170/(sqrt(weight/shaft hp))

23.27=170/(sqrt(800/15))

you need at least 20mph to plane so even at full throttle its unlikely to get over the hump.