On 6/13/2012 10:31 PM, Tim wrote:
On Jun 13, 9:11 pm, wrote:
On Sat, 9 Jun 2012 18:54:35 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
On Saturday, June 9, 2012 8:38:12 PM UTC-4, Frogwatch wrote:
I've tried all kinds of dinghies for my 28' sailboat including:

8' Nautilus rigid....rowed well but was very heavy and difficult to carry on foredeck. Too small for 3 people.

12' Sevylor inflatable kayak. Paddled as if it was a wet log. Awful.

Cheapo inflatable boat. Not worth the time to inflate it.

Homebuilt 2-paw-9 2 piece nesting dinghy. Rowed great. Big enough for 4 people. Not too hard to put together but not on the foredeck. Fit poorly on foredeck and blocked my view.

This time, I bought a used 8' Porta-Bote. It rows well. It fits inside the shrouds against the cabin sides. Easy and fast to assemble on the foredeck. Lightweight. It carried 3 grown men. My dinghy experiments are over.

I found the 8' Porta-Bote locally the day before I left and quickly modified the bolts that hold the seats on to use SS spring loaded pins. When I took it to Fort Lauderdale, I wasn't really sure how I was going to get it to Marsh Harbor but Twin Air Calypso told me they would ship it freight. Surprise surprise, when I got into the 6 seat twin engine plane, they had taken out three seats to ship my dinghy "Freight" with me next to it.

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Are you using it with an outboard motor? If so what size and type?

Can you mount an engine on a port a boat?

Yes, they have a hard transom...