Venturing Darker Side.

If I had the space to park one it would be this…

https://www.zodiac-nautic.com/en-us/shop/produits/boats-en-us/pro-en-usa/pro-7/

As seaworthy as anything out there and half the weight

Not sure about the price these days

If you’re in the market for a zodiac rib there’s some on boattrader in Florida…..18’ ball parking around $65K

Personally I don’t see the appeal, they look completely impractical for fishing. No mounting surfaces for traditional fishing related rigging and you’re losing like 3’ of deck space because of the side pontoon width.  Id also be concerned about how long those rubber tubes last and what the cost is  to replace them.

Stabicraft makes an all aluminum boat based on the rib style.  Very highly spoken of for their ride quality, build and safety.  I’d look that direction before.

After seeing your post, I did some looking and found one that I would like. It's quite simular to Raydon's boat. A little spendy, but what isn't these days. The seller is asking for $29000.00. it's an older hull but with 115 hp and 9.9 Honda motors, both are still under factory warrenty. Says always been garaged...
 https://www.smartmarineguide.com/1997-arima-sea-ranger-a2595

Such a pretty boat!    I should consider buying in with someone else that wants to store, maintain, and meet me at the harbor with it 

If you’re in the market for a zodiac rib there’s some on boattrader in Florida…..18’ ball parking around $65K

Personally I don’t see the appeal, they look completely impractical for fishing

Yikes prices are pretty high so will depend on me winning the lotto

Definitely trade-offs with the inflatables, like you say less deck space for sure and no option for a cabin there. What I liked was how it handled in rough conditions and how light it was which translated to easy for me to launch and load solo. At one point I hired a dive tender to help me with all that but figured out that was a bad decision.

I bought mine as a work boat and put a custom built stainless railing on it partly for hanging various gear I had to carry. I fished salmon on it on my off times and it was a great boat, just no creature comforts which I didn’t care about.

Originally I wanted a whaler but ended up with the zodiac which was a lot less to deal with than the heavy boat I had before it. Mostly I fished it alone so the small space wasn’t an issue. A 20’ boat should have plenty of space for 3-5 people. Mine was smaller and once in a while I took people out but got sick of dealing with seasick sailors

Sounds like prices are out of my league these days anyway

Just a note about seaworthiness

I already mentioned we watched a whaler go over at HMB and my friend’s adventure flipping one under the gate. I also saw a zodiac upside down at the mouth of Santa Cruz harbor so it can happen to any boat

What I like about the Zodiac is it’s a lot more nimble in rough conditions so you can turn into any big swell that pops up a lot quicker than other boats. Mechanic where I used to get my car worked on was w friends a couple miles out from Pigeon Point got hit by a rogue wave and had to swim in These were not people in great shape and not everyone made it to shore

It’s a thing to think about if you’re going out under the GG and Potato Patch where it gets seriously wild

Of course you need power, my 16’ boat had 50hp which made a lot of difference

Damn things have gotten expensive

One big downside to zodiacs is when someone hurls they tend to not always make it over the side