I'd look long and hard at the Defender 8.5' hypalon
dinghy. I worked there in their warehouse store last year, and I really liked that dink. I ended up with a much pricier Achilles, because In the end, I decided I really needed the folding transom. We
fish off the stern all the time, and the dink gets in the way if it's on the
davits.
Send them an
email or call with any questions. They will ask you things you hadn't even thought of. They really want you to be happy with whatever dink you buy. They use good
fabric, and they stand behind their inflatables. The tubes on that Defender
RIB are big, and the footwell is deep -- important to us because my husband is very long-legged. It comes with a rub strake installed on the bottom, and lots of handholds. Sounds like a
commercial, I'm sorry! I stopped working there because it was an hourlong commute and my feet couldn't handle the concrete warehouse floors.