Our Achilles dinghy stored for Summer - 2018

 The first thing to get moth balled for the summer was our Achilles LSI-310E dinghy. 


April 2018 - Currently in Marina Vallarta, Banderas Bay Mexico (Puerto Vallarta Jalisco)

 The Achilles LSI-310E dinghy is rolled up and being stored on our fore deck.

In the past we have built a PVC cradle for the dinghy to sit on so water does not get at it or it does not sit in water and keeps it aired out. A cradle out of PVC presents it's own issues. It needs four feet to sit on the deck and then after the dinghy is moved below deck for storage what to do with the PVC cradle? Then when the summer season is over and we are ready to cruise it gets tossed into the trash. I suppose now we could take it apart and store it in our trunk of the VW Jetta we have. Still the PVC cradle does not do well when sailing and we are not yet done sailing. So I came up with this idea of using the "Dry-Dek" flooring. It keeps the dinghy dry (off the deck) and does not slide around so the dinghy will not move around under sail. It is easy to store and in fact we were using it anyway in our forward bilge for our tools to sit on. 

 Our only issue with the Dry-Dek flooring is getting more in Mexico? This pic shows the two pieces of Dry-Dek  next to each other at one end of the dinghy, that would be preferred.

 We have five pieces of Dry-Dek  going down the middle of the dinghy. We have two side by side at one end but ran out of Dry-Dek .

The five down the middle will do the trick but double wide would be better.

When we leave for the mountains this summer we will put the dinghy inside the boat where we will have our dehumidifier running so all stays nice and dry and moisture free. There is no room for us to live with the dinghy so it stays up-on-deck until we leave. 

We will also throw a small tarp over the dinghy.

We purchased our Dry-Dek at a marine swap meet some time ago 

and who knows which swap meet?

There should be similar products out there and I think we saw some here in Mexico but in what city or store, who knows? 

We did order a spare valve as we have 4 I think on the dinghy and two are now loose. They work fine but the plastic tether that holds them to the dinghy has broken. That means they could get lost and next time we go to inflate it we could be in trouble. They are not available anywhere here in Mexico the we know of. So, in the off chance one drops in the drink or gets lost, we would have a spare.

Note:

Debbie is going to visit the US for her birthday. She will be seeing her sister and our brother-in-law and our daughter, grandson and son-in-law. Also Debbie will bring back our solid boom vang and some small items. She will not be using any checked luggage except for the boom vang so items need to fit in the carry on or boom vang box.