Dinghy for 28 footer

[boatman61]

I have owned boats smaller than yours and have done long open water passages in them.
My thing is a slat floor inflatable partially inflated, folded in half and lashed on the fore deck. a dry bag with pump, flares, survival blankets and some water is secured in the fold along with the 2 piece oars.. personals grab bag in saloon.
If the worst happens a sharp knife frees the dinghy and there's enough air inside to support you, also easier to climb into.. once in you can pump it up enough to keep it flexible enough to bend with the waves instead of rigid.
Takes up space fwd but I can live with it.
But I'm weird..

[TreblePlink]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I have owned boats smaller than yours and have done long open water passages in them.
My thing is a slat floor inflatable partially inflated, folded in half and lashed on the fore deck. a dry bag with pump, flares, survival blankets and some water is secured in the fold along with the 2 piece oars.. personals grab bag in saloon.
If the worst happens a sharp knife frees the dinghy and there's enough air inside to support you, also easier to climb into.. once in you can pump it up enough to keep it flexible enough to bend with the waves instead of rigid.
Takes up space fwd but I can live with it.
But I'm weird..

Sounds like a well-thought out, creative solution. I guess you row it as a tender?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by TreblePlink

Sounds like a well-thought out, creative solution. I guess you row it as a tender?

Row, carry a little 2hp on the pushpit or.. lift the 5hp that's hung on the back for the boat and switch it to the tender.
But in that case I'd rather row being a lazy guy.

[Aswayze]

I have a 26 footer and have probably put more thought into dingys than strictly necessary. In fact, I have a spare room full of the silly things but that is another story.

My experiences:


#1 Tow rigid hull inflatable. I used this RIB at home to scoot to and from the mooring ball so I already had it. Nice little critter, stable and fun but a drag to tow. Didn't take it on any trips after this one.







Achilles LT-2 with a 1.2 HP Tanaka outboard. Wads up quite small and is very easily stored, motors around just fine although obviously not at any kind of speed. It was a PERFECT dingy for scooting around in sea caves as it was low and light but otherwise was a tidge short on carry capacity when there were two of us aboard. Initially I used a plywood floor that tucked under the mattress on my quarter berth when not in use, I have since switched to a slat floor made out of Ikea bed slats. I default to this one now for single handing.









Instaboat folding aluminium boat. Sort of a pirogue shaped fellow that folds flat and traveled lashed to the forward lifelines of my buddy Stagg's boat (sister boat to my own) Paddles like a canoe, motors with little effort at all, he used my 2hp Suzuki but the smaller Tanaka pushes it with no problem either. Similar to a Portabote but lighter and obviously made of aluminium. Not a planing hull so it's not as fast as the Portabote but it much nicer to paddle/row around.


Avon Redcrest. Takes up about 2x the space as the Achilles LT-2 which sounds worse than it is. Much more of "there's the dingy" as opposed to "where is the dingy?" MUCH more carry capacity and very well built. This one belongs to my buddy Stagg. I also bought a Redstart which is about a foot shorter than the Redcrest and lands somewhere between the LT-2 and the Redcrest size wise that I plan to use when traveling on my boat with crew.

Other than the RIB which still gets used locally and now sports a 15HP engine all my dingys use very small and light 2 strokes. My #1 choice is my Tanaka 1.2HP (Also sold as a Cruise n Carry) It is very light at 12 pounds and moves any of the mini dingys along just fine. The Suzuki is a nicer motor (actually got it for my square back canoe) but given the choice I would take the Tanaka any time.

Obviously your mileage will vary but I figured that since your boat is bigger than mine anything that works for me would be a snap for you to stow.