Achilles Inflatables

[keninaz]

I rode in a Zodiac inflatable once. It appeared to be a nice boat.
A local guy has an Achilles SE 12D for sale locally with the floor and all. It appears to be in good shape. I am not sure of the year of the boat at this point.
I would like to use this with an electric trolling motor on the local lakes for fishing.
Is Achilles a good brand to consider?
Can they be repaired pretty easy if the need be?
Can one person handle this model normally off the top of a van?

 

[1fishbone]

Re: Achilles Inflatables

I rode in a Zodiacinflatable once. It appeared to be a nice boat.
A local guy has an Achilles SE 120 for sale locally with the floor and all. It appears to be in good shape. I am not sure of the year of the boat at this point.
I would like to use this with an electric trolling motor on the local lakes for fishing.
Is Achilles a good brand to consider?
Can they be repaired pretty easy if the need be?
Can one person handle this model normally off the top of a van?

Remember, the wind is more apt to be an issue pushing this around, so using an electric trolling motor will drain the battery.
Another thing, using them in lakes and rivers is dangerous, there are a lot of sunken trees or submerged branches that will damage them.

Achilles is a good brand I had one for 14 years no leaks.
Yes, they can be repaired.
Putting it on top of a van would be a challenge for a very strong person...it's 12' long and about 5' wide...guessing it weighs about 150#.
You may be able to rig a some PVC pipe to help slide it on.

FYI If it's faded real bad or the wood floor is rotted, chances are it wasn't taken care of and will be more trouble.

 

[keninaz]

Re: Achilles Inflatables

Thanks, I figured the weight at about that. My van does have a roof rack so that may help.
I have no option as to a motor as my local lakes do not allow gas motors.
Thanks for the tip on the fading too.
I am going to have to take a good look at it.
It is apparently not a current model, it's an SE 12D model, but at $500 or less it might be worth it to me.

 

[keninaz]

Re: Achilles Inflatables

I just found out that this is an '84 model. but it looks good in the pix and I don't think it's been used that much.
The guy is the original owner and it's an SE-12 not a 12D.
I pulled the specs from Achilles archives and I think it will work for me.
he sent me a couple of pix and it's not faded and the floorboards appear good. I will inspect it when the WX clears in the next few days.
I don't know how long these boats last but he is asking $500 and it may work well for me for a few years yet.

 

[smallboatlover]

Re: Achilles Inflatables

if you lookig for a lake boat try some thing like a sea kayak or some like a cradad please dont buy an achiles boat i had a zodiac and this is a problem with all of them if there over ten years you have to woryy about the floor coming un glued my zoadiac floor came unglued at i was going 8 mph and the in side was swamped but they stay afloat and i made it back to shore safley and sold it the next day those boats are made to be tenders for sailboat beacuse there light weight and esalily colopsoble not ment for fishsing