MacGregorSailors.com

I also bought the Baltic 8.5 boat and have used it over in Catalina and our local lake. It is a great boat, inflates fast and easy and somewhat rolls up for storage . The inflatable floor is great. Would buy it again. I paid $650 with shipping last year. I put a piece of carpet on the seat to keep from sliding around.

Baltic boats, I guess the true test of if the boat is any good is if you would
buy again. I bought three, 9.5 airfloor, 7.5 airfloor for a friend, 6.5 airfloor to leave on the Mac. On those days that I dont want to lug the
9.5 75 pound boat around.

Where did you buy yours?

Got mine by sitting on an Ebay auction for an 8.5 baltic, from affordable inflatables. But at this time I do not see any air floor 8.5 's for sale........ only the wood panel ones........ which I do not recommend for Mac use.

I would buy another....... I n fact I am looking at about a 14 or 15 to leave on a trailer up here for fishing,

I have used it for catching silver salmon on my bay here...... banging down class 2 streams, and it is my lifeboat for my mac..If the mac ever gets broken into small enough pieces that I need to abandon ship.

Hello all.....BTW, I see the Baltik 8.5 by Affordable Inflatable on ebay today for $700 plus shipping..as a buy it now. Jack

I have the AquaStar. It works just fine, but I messed up going with the wood floor...get the inflatable. As mentioned in the thread already, the wood floor is almost impossible to put together while on the boat!

If you are using PVC lightly, it will work well for you and, by reports, are easier to repair from the stray fish hook or .........

However, if you are going full time cruising you should look for some other material as PVC will be a worry at the wrong time.

on ebay 9.5 cost 550.00 7.5 375.00 6.5 350.00 now add about 75 bucks each for handling and tax as I picked them up at the guys house.

great quality and worth the 1/3 price you would pay west marine for
about the SAME BOAT. The west marine pvc 9.5 is in the 2000.00 range and its not as wide as the baltic. The baltic blows up hard as a rock
and the air floor is solid. Its rated for a 9.9 hp engine. but a 4 hp does a good job. I ran mine with a 15hp and it scoots but a little tippy. so Ill use the 4hp.


on the autions wait for the boat you want that doesnt have a buy it now or a researve price. The guy sells them like that all the time.

you can best offer his buy it now price and he does take a couple hundred less sometimes....

Great tip tks Mike.

Just saved me big boat bucks.

Now I can spendem at the T.O. show Jan 20th.

Cheers

g

The air floor models generally come with an inflateable air keel as well which makes them track much better than a roll up wood slat floor. I have the same 9'9" model as Duane but in Canada they call it Titan, but it is the same as the Maxxon. Larger is better and roomier, I can lay right out in it, but be forwarned, it is also heavier @ 79# and a brute to manage on land or load onto your bow. If you get a small dinghy it can only be used ship to shore in a safe mooring, the larger one can double as an extra toy boat to scoot around in, fish from and can take some heavier conditions and more passengers.
You do not need Hypalon in northern climes for the reasons Duane stated, waste of money.
Shane, Can you provide me with some info on the cross border box number companies, sounds like something I should try.

Sevylor has an 'outlet' store on eBay, still unloading the older model Sevytex dinghies, 8.6 ft. at ~ $300, delivered. I bought one last summer, with motor-mount transom, based on prior posts by Bobby T.

They're PVC with air-floor, made by Zodiac in China. IMO. It might just be the perfect dink for the Mac @ 52 lbs.

eBay link

~146 lbs per person... obviously not made for us Yanks!

That Sevlor looks pretty light duty. My 8.5 Balitc weighs 17 pounds more but has a capacity of 770 pounds. The last time we were in Catalina it easily carried my buddy and I along with our scuba gear and heavy steel tanks.

Another feature I really like is the reinforced motor mount plate. My wood floor Mercury only had a plywood transom and the motor started to chew into the first time I used it.
http://www.affordableinflatable.com/Pho ... ALLB_4.jpg

Having owned both a Hypalon and a PVC dinghy I can atest that both are equaly durable. I do not worry about either on rocks, barnacles, oyster shells etc. Up here in the Northwest you are hard pressed to find a landing area on any beach that is not full of sharp stuff. There's no soft wide sand beaches up here.

Now I'm talking real zodiac grade PVC 1000+ decitex material. (Every Zodiac made uses this material which will give you an idea of it's toughness.) There are some thin cheap PVC ones on the market that aren't any better than vinyl ones and will tear if you look sideways at them.

PVC is not as good a Hypalon for UV resistance but it is every bit an equal in durability. If you store it inside between trips PVC will last just as long as hypalon even in the tropics.

There are two ways to build a PVC dinghy. Zodiac and some others use thermobonded welded seams. Others like my Maxxon and most of the ones made in China use glue to assemble the boat. After 2 years with my glued PVC boat I have yet to detect even a loose edge. Mind you all Hypalon boats (like the one I've had for 11 years and is now my backup) are glued together as it is the only way to assemble that material

Terry wrote: Shane, Can you provide me with some info on the cross border box number companies, sounds like something I should try.

Terry, I pm'd you, although if others want, we could start a new thread.