Zodiac Marine & Pool

Zodiac Marine & Pool, the French manufacturer of Zodiac Rigid Inflatable used worldwide. The company belonged until 2007 to the French Zodiac Group and is now majority owned by US-based Carlyle Group. The inflatable boats are still built and sold under the proprietary brand name Zodiac.

History

As early as 1930 developed the concept of the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat. The French physician Alain Bombard and adventurers came up with the idea to combine all three existing design elements from the field of Bootsbaues, namely the dinghy boat-shaped, solid ground and the outboard motor to a RIB. Bombard crossed the Atlantic in 1952, without taking any water or food. However, he sailed most of the way and was staffed by its route passing merchant ships. In contrast to the modern rigid inflatable boats be rigid was flat. In the former French aircraft manufacturer Zodiac Bombard found the workshops and the staff that he needed to take a series production, which are then handed in but not rigid inflatable boats, but again fully inflatable dinghies, albeit with wooden shelves.

A friend and comrade of Bombard, the former naval aviator Jacques Cousteau had only been waiting for a light, fast and space-saving unterzubringendes aboard boat like this. The success of the dinghy also led not only to the successful Atlantic crossing Bombard but the fact that Cousteau in his marine biology films never spoke of his " boat ", but only by his " Zodiac", which resulted in the French -speaking world, that back in the 1960s years, " Zodiac" as a synonym for dinghy input into the language of the local boat building and found that everyone knew where you could buy such a boat. This led to great economic success and the establishment of the Zodiac brand in this field. The Zodiac rigid inflatable boats are used worldwide by government, military, environmental organizations, fishermen and private users.

Zodiac rigid inflatable boats

The Zodiac rigid inflatable boats are in use worldwide and are characterized by a greater lift than a conventional boat and by a higher load carrying capacity. Thanks to the large buoyancy tubes that give it a low center of gravity, a Zodiac inflatable boat is very stable on the water and minimizes the probability of capsizing. Certain models of the boats are equipped with the H2P inflatable keel, which greatly contributes to more stable handling characteristics especially at high speed.

The Zodiac boats are often used as offshore boats with one or more powerful outboard motors. Zodiac boats do not necessarily need an outboard, but can also be moved with straps.

Milpro

Zodiac sells its boats - especially rigid inflatable boats - for military and professional applications as zodiac Milpro. Currently, the manufacturer produces the series:

• Zodiac SeaRIB: The boats are equipped with a deep V keel and are suitable for long term stay in a stormy sea.
• Zodiac Hurricane RIBs: Larger boats for more man crew. The boats are made for specific purposes from the 20 years of experience in this series. The boats are equipped according to customer request with parts made ​​of aluminum or fiberglass reinforced plastic, with internal or outboard engine, propeller or water jet propulsion. Zodiac offers in this group of boats in the following versions: Commando (two or more crew members, little radar shade for unobtrusive operations ), Search and Rescue (equipped with Jokey seats and Selbstaufrichtungs design against capsizing ), Law Enforcement ( for small crews, stand-up Center consoles and T-tops ), cabin ( for two to six crew members in heated, enclosed cabins for longer trips ), Hurricanes Custom ( user-specific boats from 6 to 14 meters, mainly for military units).
• Superyacht tender: Boats with a length of about 5.5 m. The boats are used to transport ship-to -shore of large yachts. The ships are modified models of the Zodiac Hurricanes. The boats are certified by ISO. The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency ( MCA) accepts the Lloyds - certified models Zodiac ProLuxe 561 and 638 ProLuxe diesel RIBs as lifeboats.

Zodiac liferafts

Zodiac builds liferafts for commercial shipping. The islands are built 9650 ( international standard for developing life rafts ) in accordance with the requirements of ISO.