TIWAL 2
This was by a good distance the favoured sailing dinghy of all those on test. The second iteration of this inflatable sailing dinghy is smaller and faster to assemble than the Tiwal 3 but has retained much of the sailability of the larger model.
Of all those we tested, the Tiwal 2 falls mostly into the toy category rather than being an out-and-out tender. As such she has no cockpit, with the main inflating hull being something closer to a paddleboard. A metal tripod holds both daggerboard and mast in position offering a solid frame from which much of the performance of the boat is derived. This boat also required the highest pressure when inflating. Though it would be possible to inflate it with the included hand pump – variations of which come as standard with all the inflatables on test – ideally you would want an electric pump to achieve that pressure without either exhausting yourself before you have hit the water or significantly increasing the time it takes to put her together. With this particular model, setup speed is something of a unique selling point.
The rig is made of a three-piece glassfibre mast that simply slots together like a windsurfing mast. The Dacron sail features vertical battens making it easy to roll around the mast when not sailing and a two-piece ‘boom’, similar in design to a thick sail batten, slots into a sock at the base of the sail.
SPECIFICATIONS LENGTH: 2.8m BEAM: 1.9m TOTAL WEIGHT: 49kg BIGGEST BAG DIMENSIONS: 148cm x 40cm x 35cm ASSEMBLY TIME: 13min WEBSITE: www.tiwal.com/en
SETUP
The Tiwal 2 was the fastest boat to assemble in our test from packed to ready-to-sail. In total she took 13 minutes to put together. Much of this speed came from her simplicity – so even after owning her for a while this time would only come down a fraction.
It must also be noted the final few minutes of building time were largely waiting for the electric pump to finish getting her to the required pressure. This will always be a limiting factor in terms of time to the water.
There is little to report on in terms of difficulty or confusion. She was the easiest boat to assemble. As with the other inflatables we tested she comes in two bags, one containing the main inflatable hull and the other for rig, sails, daggerboard and rudder etc.
The Tiwal 2 was the second lightest of the boats on test, weighing in at 30kg for the main boat bag and 19kg for the rig bag. As with everything on test the larger bag is quite cumbersome and would be difficult to carry any distance.