Airdecks

[Gaz56]

Hi All

I could not find a thread for air decks.

I have read opposing views on air decks - from 'they are ok for doing a shopping run' to 'they are the way to go, no-one buys ali or wood anymore'.

Also I am wondering if they are so light does this not have an effect as to how the boat handles at speed? I'd be looking at a 12 ft plus 18hp tohatsu 2 stroke combo. Will this work with a light deck? Will I need trim tabs?

As my knowledge of boats is rather limited I confess I do not know the effect that a heavy or light deck would have on the way a boat handles/performs.

What about their integrity - are they as strong as wood as claimed and do they lose pressure?
Will I have to carry a pump?
Does quality vary from manufacturer to manufacturer?
Do they flex at the proper pressure?
How resistant to punctures are they? I will be fishing from my boat so I am assuming I really should lay down some marine carpet or the like for protection against hooks & knives.

As you will gather, I will be moving the boat on my own and inflating for each use.

Any thoughts welcomed, please.

Gaz.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Airdecks

Gaz,

You won't find much air deck threads as air deck sibs could be loved or hated depending on the type of boating you intend to do. If using one on a sib tender or shore, shop to main boat or viceverse you'll love them specially when needing to be raised on board. An air deck is not a ballon nor a air matress, imagine a wafer but instead of having horizontal layers have thousands of crissed/crossed top/botton vertical filaments.

For deck rigidity needs to be topped inflated for the sib to work as expected. On the market you have standard fabric air floors used on standrad sibs and much thicker air floors fabrics used on the military models which are more solid to stand on and expensive. Air deck quality betwen Asian brands are same, made by a third party, comes in rolls which are cut & shaped to match sib size.

Standard air decks don't perform well on larger 350 size sibs, have more flexing issues than on smaller size sibs. Much better are Bombard, Honwave air deck models which are V shapped air decks which has nothing to do with flat ones, still needs to be air topped to work as expected, the issue being V non flat suraces is when using a foor, hand pump once at sea, re inflation is a bit tricky.

If you want outstanding standing on top air deck perfection, must be air topped daily, remember you will be standing on top air deck not un top tubes which could be bit deflated with no issues at all. An air deck is a thin high pressure low volume air device as in car tires, tubes are huge volume low pressure flotation devices.

The weight difference between same sib size air deck and alum panel deck is about 8 Kg. Will need to place a thick carpet on top air deck as fish spines are extremely sharp. Imagine live fish jumping on top air deck. Air decks are extremely slippery & dangerous when wet. Once at sea, will not ba able to reinflate to max psi with a standard foot or hand pump, will need high pressure ones and that if being a heavy champ, if skinny no way, better throw yourself over board...

In you case using a air deck sib as a fishing standing platform it's not the way to go. Have had 2 air decks and know very well it's tech limitations, Even made once a valve adapter and place it on the extreme of a 12 V inflator, inflated a 360 air mat to 14 PSI went to sea and by mid afternoon due to temp issues was not solid as of the morning outing. Re inflation with foot or hand pump standing on top air deck was a heck of a problem. The best for your fishing, cruising activities and taking your rasta friend along with you way to go would be :

JP-380 Patrol Series + Tohatsu 18 HP + trailer, an unbeatable low budget combo.

Happy Boating

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Airdecks

The people who make derogotory statements about air decks have either never owned one or never inflated them correctly. Four out of five people at boat shows walk up to our inflated airdecks and comment that they have NEVER inflated them as hard as ours. IE people are stupid. No, they do not lose pressure anymore than any other compartment and the thickness is completely unimportant. The porosity of the material may be an issue 10 years down the line, but seriously, who would actually think anything will last ten years without repair, maintenince or replacement? As to fish flop...Depends on the spines in the fin. Most fish will not be able to do any damage. Catfish are a risk.

The world is an imperfect place with all sorts of Things That Might Happen. Don't waste the time and thought trying to stop the oddball problem and just go out and enjoy what you have. If you do manage to put a hole in a boat just patch it like we have been doing for the last 40 plus years and move on. If you want a boat with a board system, get one. They are a PIA compared to an airdeck, but spending the 20 minutes inserting and removing the boards isn't the most horrible thing in the world to do. I personally would never own another board boat again because the performance difference is slight and I am increadably lazy. I like being lazy and not working when I am about to go out for a day of fishing, fun and frolic. If someone else wants to break a sweat, pull a muscle carrying the boards and tear up their knuckles putting the boards in and out....Good for them. The world needs those kind of people too....Someone needs to be the sharkfood and better them than me.