The reason the West dinghy fell apart is probably because it was glued. It also may have been Hypalon which is no longer available. Most dinghies now are thermowelded. Make sure any inflatable you buy is thermowelded.
In a recent thread, a lister gave the advice on dinghy motors "go big or go small". Good advice. I have a 1980's vintage Evinrude 7.5 for my dinghy. Bought it cheap from a buddy. While it will make the dinghy scoot, because of no wake zones and anchorage courtesy I rarely have the opportunity to "scoot". It's heavy and while the Admiral and I are very adept at raising and lowering it on/off the dinghy with a halyard, it's still a pain due to its weight. Lately the motor has stayed in storage and I've simply rowed everywhere. If I was starting from scratch, I'd buy a lightweight motor and just putt putt slowly wherever. I'd lean toward the lightest motor with both internal and external fuel tank I could find. As for the type of inflatable, that depends on your usage and storage. I find a wood floor inflatable suits us OK. There are arguments for both RIB's and air floor inflatables. Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 12:24 PM, Bruce Whitmore via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Hello all, > > The last thing I want to do is to start "The Great Dinghy War". [image: > *;) winking] > > That said, our '94 came with two outboards, one 6.5 hp Honda 4 stroke > mounted the the stern railing and an old Torqeedo. Haven't even gotten > around to testing either one yet - too many other things on my list! Thre > was a West Marine inflatable dinghy folded up under the v-berth, but the > floor had entirely peeled out of it and is was in really poor shape. > > If we want to go on any kind of getaway (even a local one), I'm going to > need a dinghy since transient slips here in the Tampa area are darned > expensive. > > I'm really liking the idea of a porta-boat, especially given the ability > to store it on deck easily. I've seen a couple of you comment very > positively about them. I am also finding relatively few detractors. That > said I want to keep my mind wide open as I way the options. > > I've read a number of articles that really push for a RIB with a 15hp > yamaha as being the "standard" in the Caribbean due to combination of > dryness, speed, and ability to get parts. However, in our harbor, we > cannot keep a dinghy in the water next to our boat, so I think that may > strike a RIB unless we hang dinghy davits from the stern which would > probably force us into a bigger dock (which may not even be available in > our marina). > > So,what dinghy, what size, and what outboard size/type? > > Bruce Whitmore > > (847) 404-5092 (mobile) > bwhitm...@sbcglobal.net > > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you > wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > > All Contributions are greatly appreciated! > >
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
