Why?Our original tender was a small sailing catamaran in GRP. It was an interesting boat and sailed quite well, rowed and motored OK, but it was just too heavy for a two person lift and was a difficult thing to drag up the beach. It needed proper fendering or else...
After that we had two inflatables, the first with a wood slat floor and the second with an aluminium floor. Both tended to wallow and were pigs to row. Both started to go to pieces after 18-24 months, despite UV covers.
Finally, I had a big rethink and searched around for something more fit for purpose.
The CLC Eastport Pram was selected because it rowed well, sailed OK and could also take a small motor. Furthermore it was a perfect fit for hoisting on the davits of our sailing cat. I know there will be some who will not understand why; but I am completely over the compulsory motoring of RIB/inflatible boats and miss not having a small sailing boat to mess around in when there is not much else to do.
I was hoping to do a short wooden boat building course before embarking on this project but the local agent, Denman Marine had none of these scheduled in the near future. After thinking it through I was thankful that there was an Australian supplier of the Eastport Pram kit so I committed and started reading and watching Youtube clips etc.