On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:55:55 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Cruising around the Abacos with my wife and 15 yr old daughter on my
28' sailboat. I have a home built 2-paw-9 nesting dinghy with oars,
no engine. She sorta fits on the foredeck but must be assembled in
the water as there is not enough room on the foredeck. She rows very
well and my daughter who is in Crew enjoyed rowing us around much to
everyone elses amusement.
However, as we had the furthest mooring from town, rowing to shore is
not something you want to do more'n twice a day. It seems that long
distance rowing will be necessary in the future too with moorings and
anchorages.
Worse, the dinghy really obstructs my forward view on deck and tows
very poorly. So, I gave her away in Marsh Harbor. On to dinghy
experiment #5 (cheap rowing inflatable, hard shell Nautilus,
inflatable kayak, 2-Paw-9) so I would like some ideas. I might be
amenable to having a motor on the dinghy.

===

Most hard core cruisers usually end up with a rigid bottom inflatable
about 12 ft long with a 15 horse outboard. As an alternative you
could consider a roll up inflatable with rigid slats in the
floorboards. I've used both and prefer the rigid bottom, now on my
second one. Your issue is stowage space so you'll have to tow it
everywhere. Towing is not that big a problem except in big seas but
you'll want to bring the outboard up and mount it on your stern pulpit
somehow. A 15 hp ouboard is a hefty 100+ pounds but with a sailboat
you can lift it up with a halyard winch and a bit of cranking. West
Marine sells generic hoisting straps for outboards which makes the job
easier.