Custom Highfield CL340

This is our custom Highfield CL340 or “Classic” 340 which is a 3.4 meter aluminum hull inflatable boat. This has been our primary dinghy about Mountain Myst and will soon be our primary dinghy aboard our Seawind catamaran “LaurieSue”.

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Highfield CL340

Highfield CL340 Specs

We had a highfield CL 360 as our primary tender aboard our last boat “Adrenaline” and absolutely loved it. It was the older style Highfield Classic with two bow storage compartments (one for the fuel tank and one for the anchor) vs this newer style Highfield Classic which now only has one larger bow storage compartment. This newer style Classic bow locker does still fit a 6 gallon fuel tank and Mantus dinghy anchor but you have to finagle the anchor in a bit if you don’t want to break it down. We love the size of the CL360 however, it would have been slightly too long to fit in between the hulls of our Seawind catamaran which is the only reason we shifted down to a CL340 which is about 11’2″

Highfield CL340

Highfield boats are known for their super high quality and light aluminum hull which makes them great as cruising dinghies for the durability the aluminum hull provides and the ability to maximize a dinghy’s size for it’s given weight, or to go lighter for a similar size. We prefer the Highfield Classic lineup mostly because of the double floor. The secondary cockpit floor has a few great advantages. Firstly, it provides a very flat stable surface to stand on. Second, it is set up a bit higher than the hull which allows for a little “bilge” section underneath where water stays. There is always a tiny bit of water in the bottom of a dinghy no matter what and it is really nice to be able to put a bag down on the floor without it getting soaked from the remnant water that basically lives in the bottom of a tender. Lastly, the fuel line runs from the tank in the bow storage locker underneath the floor to the engine so the line is hidden and unobtrusive.

Highfield CL340

Our Highfield CL340 has a tall transom which requires a long shaft engine. This hits us with a slight weight penalty both from the transom and extra weight of a long shaft outboard but we like the added seaworthiness a tall transom provides by blocking taller waves/chop from entering in the back of the boat. We tend to take our dinghy out in rougher conditions than most for exploration, surf or kiteboard missions, or for spearfishing or fishing so we want as much ability our of our dinghy as possible.

Highfield CL340 with tall transom

After using our Highfield CL36o on our last boat for years we got a good understanding of what was important to us in a tender so we requested a few customizations as well as added a few ourselves. First, just to mention these tubes are hypalon because we will generally be in the tropics and hypalon is much more UV resistant than PVC. We are often using our boat in a rough way like a small utility vehicle so we added the black Hypalon wear patches to help protect the tubes from chafe/puncture/wear of our gear. As mentioned above we are sometimes in rough conditions and often quickly in and out of the boat for spearfishing or getting dropped off or picked up out of the water from a kite or surf mission so Highfield added some rope handles for easy and secure handholds all around the boat.

Highfield CL340 Dinghy Rope Handles and Wear Patches

We also have a hard bow step on the bow of the boat with an integrated folding cleat which is nice, sleek, and out of the way when folded down and the bow step provides a great spot to step on/off the dinghy from the big boat or dock. I am not sure if this feature is currently an upgrade or comes stock.

Highfield Dinghy Hard Bow Step w/ Cleat

Highfield Dinghy Bow Step w/ Cleat

In addition to the customization done by Highfield we also did and had some customization done ourselves. We wanted a hard lockable waterproof storage compartment for gear and supplies so we had a local fabricator weld one up in addition to an awesome little stern arch.

Highfield CL340 Aluminum Storage Box

Highfield has stern arches for some of their other models but not for this model so I told the fabricator what I was thinking and he did an incredible job. I wanted the stern arch as a functional utility feature to mount things like our aluminum rod holders, a stern light, possibly a small vhf antenna, and even a tow line for towing a surfer/foiler behind the boat so he added a little tow ring. In the future I will have the stern arch and aluminum box powder coated to match the grey hull of the boat.

Highfield CL340 Stern Arch

Highfield CL340 Stern Arch Tow Ring

I added was a small fuel pre-filter with bowl to make sure all fuel that gets to the engine is perfectly clean and water free.

Dinghy Racor Pre-filter

I also added these hanging mesh storage bags on either side of the boat. In the past we always had sunscreen, phones, pliers, sunglasses, sandals, etc. just floating around the dinghy and now these mesh storage bags are the absolute PERFECT place to put all this random stuff for secure and easily accessible storage. I highly recommend them.

Dinghy hanging mesh storage bags

Dinghy Mesh Storage Bags

The Highfield CL340 specs say that max HP for this boat is 25hp. We mounted a 20hp 4-stroke. I would not go any smaller because in these Tohatsu (as well as Suzuki) engines the 9.9, 15, and 20hp engines are all the same block and so the same weight (all other features being equal).

Some of the other things we always have on board is of course all our required safety gear, tiller extension, new mantus solar dinghy navigation light, and portable vhf radio.