Hi Guys. Small RIBS and big crocs are not a good mix. If a croc decides to chew on your 2.4 RIB while you are in it, you are in big trouble.

Cheers, Ross

When it comes to safety in dinghies with crocs, the bigger the dingy the better. You don’t want a big croc to see you as an easy target in a small dingy. I wouldn’t feel safe in a 3M RIB either and would be very wary about how far and where I went in the KC in a small RIB. It is likely you will come across crocs that are over twice the length of your 2.4M RIB. Then you will understand what I mean. If a reasonable size croc attacks a small RIB, it will tear it apart in seconds if it wants to..

Much of the fun in the KC is exploring many miles of creeks and rivers in a tender. If you don’t take a decent tender, (preferable not an inflatable) you will miss the best places, because after you come across your first big croc at close quarters in a tiny tender, you probably wont want the experience again.

You might be lucky enough to sail the whole KC without any trouble from crocs, but speaking from lots of KC experience and meeting plenty of people over the years who have regretted taking small RIBS to the KC, my advice is – don’t take the risk.

Cheers, Ross

We’ve got a 3.3m inflatable with 15hp motor (not a RHIB – inflatable side tubes, open front (like a small Thundercat), and inflatable floor). Too small and/or risky?

If size matters, then if we were to buy a tinny for the Kimberley how big should we go? We’re a sailing cat and could tow it.

Thanks!

At least 3.6, or longer if possible. Preferably with high sides. Check out a Kapten Boat Collar for stability, buoyancy and built in fender. They are great on small tinnies.

Cheers, Ross

We’re looking at high-sided tinnie’s such as the Horizon 355 Angler and Stacer 349 Territory. These only seem to be available new, which we’re not sure about as I’m not sure we’ll keep it once we leave croc country and head into SE Asia, so we’d be selling again in Darwin.

What’s the availability of used tinnie’s in WA? Gumtree seems to show a bunch of small Stacer dinghies. We’re hoping to not buy before we get to WA, but if we did buy new it seems about $1k cheaper on the East Coast.

As Ross has suggested inflatables just put you too close to the water line.  I lived a couple of decades in the Kimberley you’ll want as big a profile as you can afford to tow/carry to bluff a big crock.

In planning our last trip through the area I could comfortably fit a 3.2m boat on the davits but didn’t want to exceed 100kg total weight.

Ended up buying a 3.4m Stessle Daredevil for the high sides and fitted a Kaptain boat collar.  I compromised on the engine and only bought a 9.9 two stroke Mercury to keep within my self imposed weight restriction. It will still plane with just the two of us.  (One of us is really thin.)

This is the minimum boat I would explore a creek in during the dry.   I would not be comfortable though during the start of the wet season (October onward) in something this small when the crocs’ behaviour is more territorial.

Its pretty terrifying drilling holes in a new boat but once you’ve had a tinny with a collar fitted you will not go back.

I tried to upload a couple of pics but they may be over the size limit. Message me if you want to have a look.  I’m in Perth. Currently moored at Palm Beach.

Port a Boat is probably a little better than a similar size RIB, in that it wont deflate if a croc bites it. I have never been in one, so you will have to be the judge of how sturdy it is if a croc gets too friendly. My advice will always be that the biggest and toughest tender, with high sides, will be the best tender you can take to the Kimberley. Add a Kapten Boat Collar to it, will only improve its safety. https://boatcollar.com.au/

Cheers, Ross

G’day Teedrk, Have a 3.85m with 5HP 2 stroke that has done 2 trips kimberley coast,one Wyndham to Broome.Planes with two people,tough and stable,use full length wooden oars as they row well and you can punt them along in water too shallow for outboard.
Don’t have a collar as suggested by Ross as we fold it to fit beside cabin on 10m yacht,lots of advice re crocs elsewhere on this forum,cheers steve

Some of the long time Kimberly cruisers call inflatable’s teething rings ! Also some advise to lift tender on davits at night to avoid cranky crocs that territorial >

We have a Smart Wave 3.5 dingy. We were planning on getting Davits while in Darwin the last 6 month but this did not happen. We are planning to tow it through the Kimberly and then sell it. What is anyone’s advice on towing and potential places we could sell it before sailing south. We are a 41 foot monohull. Cheers Anthea

I am planning an extended cruise in mid 2024 in a 28 foot trailerable power sailer. It can motor in 50cms of water and travel at 15knots under outboard if needed on very rare occasions.
Like the original poster my current dingy option is a small inflatable which lifts up onto the foredeck virtually at all times via my spinnaker pole and deck winch acting as a crane.
I get the inflatable croc teething ring worries and the travelling in a very small dingy in croc infested waters.
Having a smallish, very shallow draft and nimble main craft however I am wondering how much I will miss with not having a big hard dingy?
I have looked at lots of dingy options but carrying the dingy onboard and not dragging one behind is a huge attraction.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Grith.

Hi Grith. If you want to explore the KC properly, you will definitely be heading up very narrow creeks and squeezing your way through overhanging mangroves in a tender. To turn your 28 ft boat around in a creek, it would need to be at least 30ft wide between the mangroves. I would call a 30 ft wide creek, big. You will miss many of the better creeks and not get anywhere near the rock bars and fresh water that are a feature of many places.

You will also be pulling your tender up against rocks to get ashore in many places. Much of the rock art is accessed from the rocky creeks or rocky coastline, not sandy beaches.

If you misjudge the tide in a tender and get it beached, you can at least drag a tender down to the water, but not your main boat.

My thoughts are that you would be wasting your trip to the KC without a decent, safe tender. Many smaller yachts tow their tenders around the KC, so its not difficult if you have a good tender.

If you are in any doubt about crocs and small or inflatable tenders, check out this video, from one of our Kimberley Member’s Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/870238784269713/?s=single_unit

Cheers,

Ross

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Ross.

Thanks for the info and I will have to consider my options. It would be difficult for me to even get much of a hard dingy up to the Kimberley’s from South Australia given my towing and travelling package shown here. I would have to buy up there.
The guys in the video appear to be idiots however. Who the hell teases and draws in an apex predator and expects they are not drawing in danger.
I have no intention of fishing from a dingy or fishing in likely croc locations at all.
I have kayaked in croc and in my view the more dangerous hippo infested water previously and walked amongst apex predictors.
Caution, respect and some understanding of their wants, needs and habits helps in my view understanding they can all suddenly do the entirely unexpected. 🙂

• This reply was modified 12 months ago by Grith.

We’ve bought a well used 3.65m tinnie with a 2003 Mercury 15hp 4-stroke engine off the street in Exmouth. Luckily it (just) fits our davits weight limits and space between our hulls. So creek exploring we can go. However, the back end is very heavy (engine alone is 51kg!) and there’s no way we can drag it any distance at all on land. I don’t think the beach wheels from our other dinghy would be much use on anything other than hard pack, so we aren’t planning to move them.

With the big tides, does that mean we are very limited in the amount of time we can spend on land?

That’s a fairly standard tinnie for the KC. You will be limited to the tide times if you land on mud or beach and going ashore for a while, If you are concerned, you can use an anchoring off system. I have one, but rarely use it. If you make one, use floating rope, as sinking rope catches on every rock and weed in the area. (speaking from experience). https://kccyc.org.au/topic/dinghy-anchoring/

Cheers,

Ross

G’day all,
<p style=”text-align: center;”>I have just returned from a short cruises in the eastern Kimberley in a small trailer sailer. My tender was a 10 ft Walker bay with inflatable sides. Very stable. But, I was very limited as to how far I could travel, was constantly concerned about crocks and definately not able or game enought to fish from it. And due to that fact I missed a lot of fishing opertunities, which for me is one of the big draw cards of the area. I am sure a bigger, stronger dingy would have made my Kimberley experience so very much better and now, after it’s all over, after much expense and organisation and getting there, and now after six days on the road and still not home,feel a bit disappointed about some of the things I missed due to the small tender. Take a bigger tender if you possibly can.</p>