Zodiac Capabilities in PWS?

[bottom_dweller]

I thought about your situation and some of the responses. A bigger boat is always better. You say that you are handy. A good way to get on the water in a bigger fibreglass boat is find a hull in someone’s yard that hasn’t moved in years. Usually it’s an inboard with either a bad motor or outdrive or both. Tear out the motor and outdrive, patch the hole in the transom and then either build or buy a bracket to mount an outboard. You can propel it with a small motor. That’s what I did.....35 years ago when I had more time than money and the urgency to get out there was overwhelming.

 

[pbcanada]

I was in a Mark 2 (12.5 ft) zodiac for 6 weeks in a trip around the Aleutians - Unalaska Island with an accidental trip to Umnak through Unimak Pass in crazy weather. We had two zodiac Mark 2s (4 of us) and we did just fine. Did not wear wetsuits or anything other than our Helle Hansens/regular boating outer shells. We camped on shore each night and if the surf was too high to launch, we just remained there. Did not have to wait more than a day though.

I swear by these boats and PWS is much easier compared to the Aleutians with the wild currents and winds there. I have also navigated in PWS in a Mark 2 and it was very easy compared to the Aleutians. Both trips in July-August I believe. When the seabird #s were highest.

You just need to be able to read the weather accurately.

 

[pbcanada]

Forgot to add - we had Evinrude 25 hps engines. Any much more than that would have been too much weight, since we were carrying so much gear. Although we had made food drops around Unalaska via a Grumman Goose two days before we launched out of Dutch Harbor.