Why Inflatable Catamarans? - The True Kit Competitive Advantage

In the world of boating, inflatable catamarans have emerged as a game-changer, offering a plethora of advantages over traditional dinghies. These innovative watercraft are revolutionising the way enthusiasts explore the water, providing unmatched convenience, stability, and versatility. Below, we explore the numerous benefits of using an inflatable catamaran, elevating your boating experience to new heights.

Advantages of Using Inflatable Catamarans

Stability

Catamarans are incredibly stable with all the buoyancy on the outside of the platform. This compares to a vee-hull platform which has all the buoyancy along the centreline. This is most noticeable when climbing in and out of the dinghy. The catamaran will barely move when you step into it, when the vee-hull will feel very tippy. There are also advantages when standing up in the dinghy. Times you may want to stand up are when you are loading the dinghy or when standing up to cast out when fishing. Our True Kit catamaran platforms can also be driven in a standing position with a tiller extension. This can make for quite a comfortable steering position for many people including those with compromised backs.

Fuel Efficiency

Catamaran platforms have lower drag through the water. This makes them a great match for pairing with electric motors. With battery life being a key consideration when using electric motors like an ePropulsion Spirit of Torqeedo Travel, having a low drag platform really helps to extend the battery life.

Performance

Catamarans will typically plane with smaller outboards. Smaller outboards mean less weight and less hassle for you when moving the engines around.

Shallow Draft

Catamaran dinghies have a very shallow water mode. They are literally just a few inches of depth due to having such high buoyancy. This makes them great when approaching beaches and boat ramps.

Sits flat on the Beach

With both hull tubes sitting at the same level, it means a True Kit cat will sit flat on the beach, trailer, rooftop or deck of a boat. This compares to a vee-hull, which will always tip over onto one side or the other. This can make the dinghies difficult to deal with on the beach, and also means they can cause damage to your larger boat when used as a tender. Our Catamarans will always sit flat, no matter where they are.

Safety

With the 2 hull tubes of the True Kit inflatable catamaran being quite wide apart, you will find the roll around much less in a seaway. This makes catamarans a much safer platform to be on when the waves get up. True Kit has tested their inflatable catamarans in surf conditions, both bow into the waves, stern to the waves, and side on to the waves. You can see this demonstration in the video below

Load Carrying

True Kit cats have great load carrying capacity for the size of the boat. This is due to the extra large tubes and also the buoyancy volume that the air deck has.

Wide Bow space

Our catamarans have wide bows which increase deck space. This is handy for loading the boats up with gear. You will also find it great for dogs who just love being up on the bow of a True Kit.

Low Wake

Due to the low drag platform, you will find that catamarans put out very little wake. While other boaties appreciate this when you are zipping around in a bay, where it is really beneficial is for use with watersports. Our True Kit catamarans have been used as support boats for rowing events, kayaking events, sailing events and swimming events. All the competitors of those watersport events really appreciate the low wake benefits.

Quiet on the water

Inflatable catamarans are great for sneaking up on fish. They don’t exhibit the same slapping water sound that you get from aluminium hulls against the water. Fish finders have proven that a True Kit inflatable will get you closer to the fish without spooking them than most other watercraft.

Lightweight

Without the need for a heavy inflatable keel, or aluminium or fibreglass vee-hull, an inflatable catamaran is typically a very lightweight platform. At True Kit, we make designing lightweight structures one of our important considerations. With each detail, we consider if there is a lighter way to produce the boat with the same or superior strength. Our thermo-welded seams are a great example of this. The 2-part glues that are used for seams on some inflatable boats is actually very heavy. By welding the seams, not only do you make them stronger, but you also save weight. As anyone who has ever pulled a dinghy up the beach or onto a yacht has experienced, the lighter the dinghy, the easier it is.

More portable

Our inflatable catamarans are designed with parallel tubes. This has the surprising benefit of making them easier to pack down, and more compact than an equivalent sized vee-hull inflatable boat.

Easy Access from the water (Discovery)

Have you ever tried to climb into an inflatable boat from the water? Those benefits of all the buoyancy from the tubes is suddenly working against you! It is incredibly hard to push the tubes into the water due to the volume (normally a good attribute!). However, with out inflatable catamarans (the Discovery model) and their open bow design, you will be able to get that bow close to the water and slide onboard. This is great for divers, kids, dogs and pretty much anyone who loves to swim from their dinghy.

Great to row

Catamarans also have the surprising benefit of being quite good to row. With stability and low-drag comes a nice platform to leave the engine on shore and dip those oars into the water!

Customer Reviews:

We will let our customers do the talking...

• "Buying a boat unseen is never easy, especially when the purchase is from a different country however, the team from True Kit answered all the questions that I had, along with additional information that I requested that was unrelated to the sale of the boat."
• "Great customer service, felt like these guys care so much for their product, even getting it to Aus was a breeze!"
• "Fergus did a great job and I think another expert looked after us well by adding a few extras. True kKt has it sorted."
• "The shipping to Western Australia was quick and went through customs really easy the boat seems to be of a very high quality. I'm very happy with it."
• "Service around order placement and delivery was fantastic."
• "The boat is of great quality and as advertised. Service from staff was excellent."
• "I could not be happier. The True Kit team were fantastic. Nothing was a problem. They communicated everything and delivered earlier than I thought."
• "Love the boat! Fergus and Rod have been great throughout the whole buying process, as well as offering help and advice since the boat was delivered."
• "Great service. The staff were very helpful. Highly recommend using this company."
• "Excellent service and well-built boat."
• "Great service from True Kit - shipped by FedEx to the UK - seamless, no issues."
• "The True Kit Navigator arrived a week after ordering and was easy to set up and inflate the first time."
• "I was very impressed with the support True Kit gave me during the purchase/after care process."
• "I have made my 3.0m Navigator into a fishing weapon for all sorts of fishing which I tried out on the Manukau with my brother. The Captains Package was a great base to start with, and the addition of the high-speed electric pump. I was very impressed with the ease of setup, manoeuvrability and the stability of this boat. Thank you, True Kit."
• "The quick lock wheels make launching and retrieving the dinghy so easy, and they attach so simply."
• "The team replied to every query before, and after the purchase, the rib is made from quality materials and is sound in its construction. I used reviews to find True Kit, and they most definitely meet and even exceed them at times. Thank you for an exceptional service!
• "Great experience from start to finish. The boat was delivered to Tucson, Arizona, in about 15 days without a hitch. Multiple questions answered quickly with great support. Recommend with no hesitation."
• "They exceeded my expectations, which you need to adjust when buying from True Kit!"