oldschoolto
Contributor
I would not buy it. If you look past the marketing spiel, it's a made in China glued-seam PVC boat. Even a Zodiac's older glued seam boats only lasted a decade or so. These Chinese boats tend to average about 5 years before catastrophic failure. Other problems I've had to fix:
Seat holders disintegrated (cheap nylon strap, no UV resistance)
Rotted transoms (poor quality wood treatment, not water sealed properly)
Leaky valves (loose tolerances, hardened rubber seats)
Sundamaged tube material
Disintegrating factory covers (low UV resistance...kinda silly for a cover)
One of my personal favorites : The factory forgot to silkscreen on the pressure ratings around the valve on one side...so they used a sharpie.
If you do choose to pick up a cheap inflatable, store it inflated in a cool, dark area. I've heard stories of people storing roll-up boats in garages or attics, then pulling them out a month or two later to find all of the seams are starting to fail. Heat and peeling are the bane of anything glued.
For diving, you want a RIB, you want hypalon, you want a trailer, you want a big outboard, and you want some smart tabs (it's tough to get on a plane without them). Best of all, you can stage your gear by just throwing it in the boat. 430 (~14 ft) is a perfect size to accommodate 2-3 divers fairly comfortably.
As of about 2010 or so, ALL of Zodiacs mid-tier and above PVC boats have RF welded seams. It takes an act of god to cause a welded seam to fail.
I thought the Hypertex was a " good " material ? And as far as getting it back in the bag... I drove a flatbed 18 wheeler for years and always had nice tight rolled up tarps... They were 38 ft long with 8' sides (24') ... I'll get it in there......
jim...