Inflatable Boat and 5th wheel

wilber1 wrote:
We carry a 10' Achilles inflatable with a roll up aluminum floor. The bag just fits between the hitch and tailgate of our RAM short bed. I carry an 8HP Yamaha 2 stroke in the basement. I went with the 2 stroke Yamaha because it was a 2 cylinder, had the best power to weight ratio at the time I bought it (70 lbs), was light enough for me to get in out of the basement and is powerful enough for the boat to plane with two on board. Ours has never seen salt water I would definitely flush it after use if it had.

The Achilles is a great little boat but not the cheapest. Japanese built, Hypalon fabric, very sturdy and well built. While the roll up aluminum floor works well is very convenient, as I get older I am starting to wish I had gone with the inflatable floor which makes the bag about 20 lbs lighter.

I use a 110V Coleman inflator to get most of the air in and then pump it up as hard as I can with the foot pump. If we have no shore power, I use my generator or inverter to power the inflator.

Deflating is easy as the entire valves unscrew leaving large holes for the air to exit.

For launching I installed a set of these
Dinghy Wheels

For shorter distances you can wheel it around like a wheel barrow. If we have to go farther, I sit on the back of the truck holding the bow handle on the boat and the wife tows me. Very slowly.

Thanks for all the helpful info, wilber1! Glad to hear 8 hp will get your 10 footer on a plane with two onboard. Really don't want to get anything larger than an 8-9.8 hp motor---just too cumbersome. Yup, the Achilles, with Hypalon, is a very well-made boat. I think for our occasional use we'll be fine with a less expensive PVC model. There's a lot of debate about the hard vs. air floors. We're leaning toward the air floors for the convenience. The dingy wheels you linked are the same ones we were looking at. Good to hear they worked well for you. Thanks again for your reply!