Fitted dinghy steering and seat

[2savage]

I need to downsize my dinghy as it is a bit heavy for my fly bridge winch.
I have a spare Highfield 310 rigid aluminum RIB but it has no motor, rear seat or steering wheel. I want to create what Defenders sell, like this:

https://defender.com/en_us/highfield-ultralite-310-fct-rib-with-tohatsu-15-hp-efi-4-stroke-grey-pvc-2023

Does anyone know who sells the seat, steering station etc?

 

[mvweebles]

Sold as a kit

https://gamarine.com/product/highfield-fct-steering-console-and-seat/

Peter

 

[Shrew]

A friend of mine tried to do that with his dinghy. It ended up being cheaper to sell the dinghy and buy the exact same dinghy with the seat and console (and slightly larger motor) installed.

YMMV

 

[Pete Meisinger]

It might totally change the dynamics of the ride. May cause it to "plow"

pete

 

[mvweebles]

A friend of mine tried to do that with his dinghy. It ended up being cheaper to sell the dinghy and buy the exact same dinghy with the seat and console (and slightly larger motor) installed.

YMMV

My friend with the large fancy power cat thinks I'm nuts for going old school sit-on-tube RIB outboard with tiller steering. He thinks a center console is bare minimum. Of course I think he's nuts, especially since his RIB is too heavy to drag onto a beach. Too nice to tie to a dinghy dock without fear of marring. He has a hard time keeping the battery charged (LFP would really help). Weight distribution isn't good for planing, though a big outboard seems to solve that. It of course has a small dashboard with electronics and a stereo that never seem to all simultaneously work And frankly, it doesn't carry much.

But his wife looks fantastic with her large sun hat and oversized sunglasses. Somethings are expensive, others are priceless.

Peter

 

[rslifkin]

Our dinghy strikes a middle ground. It's a hard skiff, not an inflatable. The driver sits on the rear bench seat (and can sit almost centered), but it's a tiller steered outboard. Definitely a step up from sitting sideways on a tube in my opinion. With trim tabs added, it has enough stern lift to get on plane just fine with 1 person sitting on the rear bench despite the sub-optimal weight distribution.

 

[2savage]

Sold as a kit

https://gamarine.com/product/highfield-fct-steering-console-and-seat/

Peter

Thanks MVWeebles, that is exactly the information I needed.

To everyone else offering 'advice', everyone has and opinion, and you know the rest of the quote.

If you take time to review the original post, I ALREADY own the dinghy. It's a $3500 dinghy and is practically new. If the kit is around $3000 and a motor is the same I'll have a fitted dinghy for about $6000 out of pocket. My current 13'6" with 30HP four stroke will sell for about $8000 (and it comes with a trailer) so I'm simply juggling assets to get what I need.

 

[danderer]

Sold as a kit

https://gamarine.com/product/highfield-fct-steering-console-and-seat/

Peter

I have a CL360 with this seating configuration. My back is very appreciative of no longer sitting on tubes.

 

[mvweebles]

Thanks MVWeebles, that is exactly the information I needed.

To everyone else offering 'advice', everyone has and opinion, and you know the rest of the quote.

If you take time to review the original post, I ALREADY own the dinghy. It's a $3500 dinghy and is practically new. If the kit is around $3000 and a motor is the same I'll have a fitted dinghy for about $6000 out of pocket. My current 13'6" with 30HP four stroke will sell for about $8000 (and it comes with a trailer) so I'm simply juggling assets to get what I need.

Glad I could be of help. You may want to ping Defender for their special-order group. Things may have changed recently, but in the past, they've been good about getting decent pricing on special orders such as this.

Peter