I agreed with you, If there is no wind an anchor is your best way to bail
you out. Where the current is strong the water is usually not all that
deep.
As for the outboard engine, yes it takes a little time to get rafted again
your boat. Once you're all tied up you can leave the outboard running and
use the sailboat rudder to steer while staying on your boat. Last year we
brought my sailboat back home using the rafting method. It went well.
However you can only go so far with a 5 gallons of gas and you have to run
the outboard at low throttle when ever you can. Now the four stroke
outboard is way too heavy to lift and store on your stern rail. I may have
to settle for a 8 to 9.9 HP two strokes outboard.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:54:00 GMT, wrote:

With my new boat I am considering getting a 9-10' inflatable dinghy with a
9
HP outboard. This way, when there is no wind, if I loose the engine I can
rafted the inflatable against the boat and use the 9 HP outboard to bring
the boat to a safe heaven.

That works but it takes a few minutes to get organized.


I hope that I will not have to do that by having a good diesel engine and
a
good maintenance program.

That's a good start but I've been having really lousy luck with water
pump impellers lately, on my generator where it's not critical, but
still a big pain. Any single engine boat is at risk but the anchor is
your best friend if there is no wind to bail you out.