As a sympathetic owner of a Westsail 32, myself, I would discourage
you from even considering any of the Walker Bay products that were
previously recommended. Although their boats are very affordable,
they will only provide you with years of frustration. After owning a
new 8' WB, we sold it for pennies on the dollar just one month after
we bought it. It was more unstable than the proverbial pschyzophrenic
and totally useless in anything above a very light chop. Besides, any
WB of adequate size will occupy a lot of real estate on your deck and
is cumbersome to deploy and recover from the Westsail's deck.

My wife and I are back to using our Avon inflatable. It stores easily
enough in the fo'c'sle and provides a wonderfully stable platform for
snorkeling and diving. The only disadvantage, of course, is with
rowing, which is why we tried the WB. If you still consider it, be
sure to try the one with the inflatable collar. I hear that it
resolves some of the problems I mentioned and still provides good
performance while rowingl; always a plus when cruising.

Good luck on your search!

Louis
s/v Synergy
Westsail 32 #679

"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