In prep for my possible Bahamas trip with my 28' sailboat, I decided
to repaint my homebuilt nesting 2-paw 9' dinghy. Uh-oh, rot along the
gunwale, no biggie. UH-OH, rot on transom, still not an
insurmountable problem, easily repaired with epoxy but this gets me
thinking once again about the "dinghy problem". Even the nesting
dinghy is too big to fit comfortably on the foredeck and assembling it
must actually be done in the water while sitting in the back half, it
must be funny to watch.
So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?

On 10/4/09 3:50 PM, Frogwatch wrote:
In prep for my possible Bahamas trip with my 28' sailboat, I decided
to repaint my homebuilt nesting 2-paw 9' dinghy. Uh-oh, rot along the
gunwale, no biggie. UH-OH, rot on transom, still not an
insurmountable problem, easily repaired with epoxy but this gets me
thinking once again about the "dinghy problem". Even the nesting
dinghy is too big to fit comfortably on the foredeck and assembling it
must actually be done in the water while sitting in the back half, it
must be funny to watch.
So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?


Buy the rubber ducky...at least you are likely to have one boat that
isn't falling apart...at least for the moment.

Have your sailboat's keel checked before you leave. It's probably ready
to fall off.


--
Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger:
Idiots All

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?

For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an
inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid
Porta-Bote fans out there also.

http://www.porta-bote.com/

On Oct 4, 4:30*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. *I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. *I just do not know how much I will really use it. *If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. *OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?

For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an
inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid
Porta-Bote *fans out there also.

http://www.porta-bote.com/

I wish they made a 10' Porta-bote cuz the 12' one is just too long to
fit along my lifelines.
After cutting away most of the rot on the dinghy, it isn't too bad and
I decided to repair it.
Somebody mentioned keels and both large sailboats I have owned have
had encapsulated keels meaning the lead is poured into the finished
boat instead of being bolted on. For some odd reason, some people
think external bolted on-keels are better but they can literally fall
off, especially after a good grounding. With an encapsulated keel, I
can go aground with no damage to keel bolts.

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 13:54:46 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

On Oct 4, 4:30*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. *I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. *I just do not know how much I will really use it. *If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. *OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?

For cruising on small sailboats there's really nothing better than an
inflatable with a small outboard although there are some avid
Porta-Bote *fans out there also.

http://www.porta-bote.com/

I wish they made a 10' Porta-bote cuz the 12' one is just too long to
fit along my lifelines.
After cutting away most of the rot on the dinghy, it isn't too bad and
I decided to repair it.
Somebody mentioned keels and both large sailboats I have owned have
had encapsulated keels meaning the lead is poured into the finished
boat instead of being bolted on. For some odd reason, some people
think external bolted on-keels are better but they can literally fall
off, especially after a good grounding. With an encapsulated keel, I
can go aground with no damage to keel bolts.

Here, they come in different sizes:

http://www.porta-bote.com/spec.html
--
John H

All decisions, even those of liberals, are the result of binary thinking.

In article bbcf5443-e948-471b-ba3c-
,
says...

In prep for my possible Bahamas trip with my 28' sailboat, I decided
to repaint my homebuilt nesting 2-paw 9' dinghy. Uh-oh, rot along the
gunwale, no biggie. UH-OH, rot on transom, still not an
insurmountable problem, easily repaired with epoxy but this gets me
thinking once again about the "dinghy problem". Even the nesting
dinghy is too big to fit comfortably on the foredeck and assembling it
must actually be done in the water while sitting in the back half, it
must be funny to watch.
So........what to do, repair it or buy an inflatable with a motor. I
could get an inflatable from West for $799 and prob get a used 4 hp
motor for $500. I just do not know how much I will really use it. If
I truly go cruising, I will use it a lot. OTOH, I hate buying stuff
that causes me to have to spend money on repairs and I enjoy rowing
the nesting dinghy (you really cannot row an inflatable).
Thoughts?

portaboat.. or portabot. Expensive but well built and a decent tool
too...

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:50:39 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Don't you think the title should be spelled dingy?