I don't think that there is a "best dinghy" for the simple reason that we
all have different ideas about cruising. I like small and spartan, you might
like big & fancy. My perfect dinghy is a simple 9 ft pram with a 3hp motor
small, easy to row and ugly enough not to be a thiefs first choice.
"Keith" wrote in message
...
This is what I have, with a 25HP Yamaha.
http://www.bossboats.com/default.asp?Page=Yachtsman_10
It's a RBB, rigid buoyancy boat. Built like an inflatable, except the
tubes
are fiberglass. Stowage in the tubes, no worrying about air pressure,
works
well for me.

--


Keith
__
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt
so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a
hunter came along and shot him... The moral: When
you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut." - Will Rogers
"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
"just me" wrote in message
news:TEgYa.83823$YN5.60652@sccrnsc01...
I my opinion it simply depends on space and weight.
I personally use an 10' air floor Zodiac. It weighs 65#.
I use a 10hp 2 stroke merc. It weighs 75#.
I can pretty easily lift, move, stow it by myself without much
trouble.
Rigged a 4 point lift and use a halyard if I want ot put it on deck.
It ain't perfect, but what is!

"Over40pirate" wrote in message
...
If we had enough room on the fore deck for a 9' Boston Whaler, that
would
be my
choice, with a 15 hp motor. I was in a friends, and he and I (est.
475#
total)
got up on a plane easily, and it was a dry ride!
Our Avon 10'er is nice but wet in anything but calm conditions.
My .02


With our 28' S2, we use a 8' Nautilus hard dinghy with oars. It can
only handle two adults when being rowed or two adults and a kid but it
really rows well. It is dificult to get back aboard but I use the jib
halyard and have gotten s sort of system to do this. It stows on the
fordeck over hte hatch and in the summer causes some sort of draft
where the V berth is considerably cooler than the rest of the boat.
Now that we have another child, and bigger kids, we have tried using
an inflatable kayak along with the Nautilus with limited success. The
Nautilus tows very poorly so we dont do that. The Nautilus can be
rigged for sailing but we have never done that while cruising as its
sailing performance is poor at best.
I suspect I will eventually go with an inflatable with lower hp
engine. How long does it take to onflate one of these?

DBO
"Ragtime"