Baltik Inflatables

Dani-Lu

Dani-Lu

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2007
1,352
Delray Beach, Fl
Boat Info
2001 410DA
Engines
3126 Cats
Anyone have any experience with this brand inflatable? I am considering buying the 9' one with the High Pressure Air Floor, versus the Mercury Air floor one.

Feedback would be appreciated.

Jeff
 
Some forum members have had good experience with these. Solid construction and a whale of a deal for what they cost.

besides size you need to decide if you want a hard floor or inflatable floor dinghy.
 
Jeff,
I had the same delema and ended it by getting it on ebay for 1/3 of the price I would pay for mercury. I've purchased 6.5' baltic boat. The seller is pretty good and prompt. I'm very happy with the dinghy. It looks and feels very solid and strong. I'm not an expert but I think it's a good quility dinghy and very competetive to mercury. Also, the floor was a big question. There're few options (aluminum, wood and air pressured) the one that baltik makes (air pressured) is very nice and comfortable. It makes it also easier to fold the boat in to a carrying bag. It also makes it lighter.

Good luck with your search.
Alex.
 
I just won mine last night on E-Bay. I go the 8.5 with the inflatable floor.

My buddy has had one for 3 years, no issues at all. Another boater in our marina has had his for a year now. I was very impressed with it.

I can't wait to hook up the ole' 8hp Merc to it and let her rip!
 
i wound up buying a new 270 air floor mercury dinghy from busters. I felt for a couple hundred more, I'd rather give my money to a local store front business, and hopefully I will get good value from a name brand. Thanks for the advice. By the way, once the Baltik on line guy thought he was losing a customer, he started throwing in freebies, and even offered me a larger inflatable for the same price. Still ok with my decision to buy locally.
 
I bought the Baltik 8.5' with inflatable floor and we absolutely love it. I think its a GREAT price and quality when I set it next to friends Zodiac. I kind of wish I would have gone a bit bigger though. So for the Money .. Its a GREAT buy! You can't go wrong. :thumbsup:
 
I bought the Baltik 8.5 with the wood floor and am very impressed with it... I run it with a little 3.5 2 stroke and she runs just fine. The inflatable keel really makes it very manuverable... Best inflatable I ever bought... The tubes are alot bigger than I expected too.
 
Sorrento 25 said:
How does everyone manage/utilize a dinghy on a 25' boat?
Click to expand...

I use two options. One is to have it tied on the swimming platform. The other, is to put it flat on the deck where it's easy to tie it to the rails. I also keep it on the deck (bottom up to prevent anything getting inside) when we go home for the weekend. This is why I got 6.5' so it's lighter and takes less space.

Alex.
 
Our dinghy is 8' 6" long, and I thought it would fit easily on the swim platform. That was before I realized that the 8' 6" beam is measured midships and the boat is much narrower at the stern :smt021.

Still, we kept it inflated on the swim platform, using lines from the stern eyes to the cleats. It did hang over a bit on the ends, but not too badly. However, it was a bit of a PITA since it limited access to the transom door and transom locker, and made snapping the rear of the mooring cover difficult.

I have a set of Weaver davits but haven't installed them yet. I plan to use stand-offs to improve access to the transom door.

Jeff
 
The Baltiks are PVC so they need to be kept out of the sun right? The price looks great and we're considering the 9.5 version. If we keep it deflated and stored for a majority of it's life how long should we expect it to last?? I think we'd pull it out for a trip to the San Juans each year and maybe as a fishing boat for a couple of weekends a year to supplement or ease the fuel cost of our 300 DA. Should I expect 5 or 10 years? Is it OK to store it deflated or is it best to keep it somewhat inflated?

Are there any negatives with the Baltik?
 
Last edited:
I have run the Baltik 11ft model with a 5hp for all of last year and....not bad at all.
Planes off and flys solo, needs more hp to do well with pax . Keep it out of the sun and clean, I bet you get 10 years out of it. It is a little tipy as its not as wide in front as my smaller Quicksilver 270 (smaller/lighter boat) but, it is faster with the same motor! I wished I purchased a bigger one as I use it all the time in the summer.
All and all great for the money.
Mark.
 
Is a special pump provided with the Baltik so you know what PSI you're at when you pump up the floor? Is there a gauge that you can see as you are filling it?
 
Just adding to this thread as another happy customer of the Baltik product. We bought the 9.5 last summer with a 6hp. Does the job. Will have to bottom paint it this spring though as we left it in the water most of last summer and growth made a mess on the bottom.
 
I was wondering what size of dinghy to get. Either the 8.5 or the 9.5. We have two children under 12, my wife myslf and a Golden Retreiver. I have talked to a few people and they think smaller is better so it can be removed from the water easier. We are in our 40's so we can lift it I think. I would expect it to be deflated when we are not at the boat and mounted on the swim platform with tie down rings when traveling. I am not interested in the Davits only because of mounting something to the boat and drilling holes in the swim platform.
 
Reply for Sundancer,
Baltik boat came with a pump with no pressure guage.
Mercury boat came with a pump with a guage built in.
You mostly fill these boats by feel anyway.
3psi in the boat and 12psi in the floor.
Mark.
 
We have had a 10.5ft Mercury for 2 years now and it is alright. The quality is not there and wish I would have bought a Zodiac. The boat looks like its made alright but the wood is NOT waterproof and starts to fall apart after getting wet a few times. I have never heard of a Baltic but looks like people have had good luck. I recently was looking at a Walker Bay with the plastic rigid hull. Has anyone had any experience with them? I would worry that the plastic would start to yellow and distort/warp over time?
 
I don't know if the plastic would yellow or warp, but I know it would be a pain in the rear to store! I guess on a 40 footer, there is plenty of room on the back. The nice part about the WB is you can add a sail and keel to sail around a bit. That's a nice feature to keep kids or adults busy.

I have looked at the Zodiac and there are advantages. The one we looked at was around $2K vs. the $800 for a Baltik. They are both PVC boats and there are a few advantages with a Zodiac, but I'm not sure it's worth $1,200 more? I've never owned either. All I have is a $40 two man hypalon raft we bought in 1982 that still works. It's a little leaky, but after 20 plus years, I think it's pretty amazing. It's been stored most of the time, but it doesn't look any worse for wear.
 
i was facing this question in the winter of 2005 when i started looking for a dinghy. the ebay pvc jobs were appealing but i decided to stick with hypalon and bought japanese (achilles) from Defender in Connecticut. super happy with the quality and stability. i was NOT interested in buying french (Zodiac) and, at that time, the recurring boat on ebay was korean. the question i'd ask is, "where is the company that was running 25 auctions at a time back then?" i dont see their boats up there anymore.

not sure where baltics are made (eastern europe?) and i wonder about their 5 year warranty - exactly who warrants them? still have my achilles but it's about to go on the block b/c of lack of use. anyone interested let me know...:thumbsup:
 
For those with express cruisers:

Where do you store the dingy?
Where do you store the motor?
How long does it take to inflate?
Once deflated, how big is it?

I assume most with a mid-sized express are getting a dingy around 7’6”- 8” 6” ?



Presently we have a Coleman 3 person rubber raft. No motor, just oars. I can inflate it in about 10 minutes. It has an inflatable floor and three other compartments. Deflated, I store it in the cabin in under a cushion in the forward V birth. It takes up a small portion of this space. Under $100 with oars.

I am interested in something with a motor. We don’t need anything fancy.
 
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