Trinka 8

[Sea Hunt Video]

Sooooooooooo, I was at the sailing club yesterday and saw a guy rowing into the dinghy dock in a hard shell. After docking, etc., we talked for a few minutes. It is/was a Trinka 8. Beautiful. I was intrigued. He said the factory was just up the road in Vero Beach, Fl.

I had never heard of Trinka before. I checked their website http://www.trinka.com/trinka8.htm
and called. I spoke with Mark (owner). He is a super nice guy; very patient; spent time talking to me about Trinkas and the difference between a Trinka and other similar (Fatty Knees) and not so similar (Walker Bay) dinghies.

The prices are pretty steep. $2,800 for the basic hull with no "add ons"; all "add ons" (there are many options) are extra.

I discussed the Trinka with the Admiral. As soon as I mentioned the price I was unceremoniously stripped of my one credit card and my checkbook. I may not see either again for several weeks or longer. As an aside, I confess the following: I fear no man; I am scared to death of one little woman.

Every time I mention Trinka she says "You can buy three (3) Walker Bay dinghies for the price of one (1) Trinka". This is arithmetically correct. However, a Trinka is a truly beautiful dinghy. I think it would look great being towed by S/V Bali Ha'i.

So, my post is to ask two questions:

1. Does anyone own (or has anyone previously owned) a Trinka who can offer some positive words of experience with the Trinka to help me in my efforts to persuade the Admiral

2. Does anyone know of a used Trinka for sale in Florida

[Jim Walsh]

Admiral's can be bribed.

[Steve Laume]

Now you are looking in the right direction. Trinkas are very nice but for about $2000.00 less you could find a nice CD-10 to fix up a bit. Your boat should not feel ashamed of it's tender, Steve.

[Paul Clayton]

They make them in 8, 10 and 12 foot lengths. They are built by Johannsen Boat Works in Vero Beach. Bruce Bingham designed the 8 and 10 footers, and Bruce Kirby designed the new 12 footer.

For a picture of one sailing (I think this is an 8 footer), http://www.neuseriversailors.com/photographs/trinka.jpg

[tjr818]

One could buy three Yugo's for the price of a Ford or Chevy too, but what would one have

[David van den Burgh]

Roberto,

I have a Trinka 10. You can read some of my observations via this link: http://ariel-cd36.org/wordpress/?tag=trinka-10. Scroll down for the review article.

It's a very nice dinghy, but I wouldn't pay full price for a new one. Nor would I pay top price for a used one. I'd find a used one at a great price - like the one I bought!

[Klem]

Our new boat came with a Trinka 10 which we like a lot but it is not perfect. In calm water, it rows very well with between 1 and 4 people in the boat so we don't carry an outboard which is really nice. It also does quite well with the little sailing rig. There are 2 things about the boat which I feel could be improved upon. The first is weight, it is about 150 lbs which is really difficult for 2 people to carry up a beach covered in seaweed. The other thing is that the blow flare makes it so that it is really tough to make progress into chop that is greater than about a foot.

Realistically, I still think that it is one of the best production offerings out there. My favorite dinghy design is probably Ian Oughtred's Acorn Skiff but many people would consider it far too tippy. If you are willing to build something yourself, a Joel White Shellback dinghy is good as well.

We have a Walker Bay 8 for our CD30k and it works well for that boat but I much prefer using the Trinka. The Walker Bay does not row nearly as well, especially once there is more than 1 person in it. The advantages are that it is light enough that I can carry it myself and it fits well on the cabintop of the 30k. Dinghies are compromises and with the 30k, the Walker Bay makes more sense but with our larger new boat, the Trinka is a much better dinghy.

[sharkbait]

If you like a rigid dinghy and enjoy the rowing qualities of the Trinka you might want to take a look at the DYER DHOW.

Weights less and I believe costs less. There are also quite a few recycled on sailboatlistings.com or e-bay. You can buy one in very sad shape for about $200 or less and completely rebuild it for another $500. All parts are available from the factory. I recently sold a completely rebuilt sailing version for $1500 with about 80 hours part-time work I more than doubled my money.

I am 78 years old and I can carry the Dyer by myself about 100 lbs ready to drop in the water.

There are two versions some have teak seats and the lesser version has mahogany. Gunwales and guards are all oak.

[Joe Myerson]

Robert,
That Trinka looks beautiful.
Here in New England, almost everybody is familiar with the Dyer Dhow (thanks Sharkbait). I'd love to have one or the other ... but I'm still using my tippy, lightweight WB8, until I get my act together enough to try my hand at building something myself.
--Joe

[tjr818]

Many, many years ago the first boat I feel for was made by Dyer, but if memory serves, it was a Dyer Dink not the Dhow. It didn't really matter with my 25 cent allowance and an extra buck every time I lost a tooth it was going to take me a long time before I could buy any boat.
Joe, let me know which design you pick, I want to build our own dinghy, but I am torn between several designs, the Auk or the Humble Bee by Oughtred, or one of the Atkin's designs like Precious or Anabelle, or???

[sharkbait]

Here in New England, almost everybody is familiar with the Dyer Dhow (thanks Sharkbait).

Here in Texas I find them out in cattle pastures. They always need new gunwales and guards (about $400 preformed and ready for install). It takes about two days to install the new wood and hand peen all those brass nails.

I would suggest anyone wanting one look carefully around the boat yards; those dhows and dinks are quite often just pushed off to the side and forgotten. So far I have reworked 4 of them. The first one cost me a 12 pack of beer to get some help loading it into my vehicle. I spent almost $500 replacing the wood and sold it for $1800. My personal one arrived as a rower only. I built a CB trunk, Center board, rudder, mast and sails. It is not for sale.

[Jim Walsh]

Here in New England, almost everybody is familiar with the Dyer Dhow (thanks Sharkbait).

those dhows and dinks are quite often just pushed off to the side and forgotten.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. While you're out scouting for these Dyer's keep your eyes peeled for a 427 Shelby Cobra. I'd be happy to reimburse you the cost of shipping.

[sharkbait]

I have a fiberglass replica of a Austin Healey 3000 with a really twisted 383 small block in the garage;

450 Hp in a 2000 lbs car.

[Jim Walsh]

Here's one in your home state.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f15 ... 44077.html

[Sea Hunt Video]

Jim:

Thank you very much

I just sent the seller an email. Hopefully, he will respond.