Havent got it yet, but when the boats in and the tinny is purchased i'll get an 18hp 2 stroke tohatsu, same weight as the 15 and the same $$$
The dinghy will be my car and will be used to travel many many miles up river systems or out to nearby reef leaving the "Mothership" in a secure anchorage.
previous dinghy had a 2 hp Suzy, so will be a bit of a change.
I'm using a Yamaha 2.5 four stroke on a 8 foot hard dink. She alllmmmosst gets up on plane with just me in it, but travels along smartly with two people....enough for me plus it's light enough to lift w/one hand...hard to beat.
When you're cruising a small outboard limits your fun. Your dink is your car. You take trips in it to out of way spots, it takes you to the good fishing spots. Most years we sail with three or four boats that we've known for years. Quite often we'll all pack a lunch and some refreshment and take off for a day to beaches far from our anchorage and beachcomb. All sorts of treasures out there. Of course we all have RIBs and 15 hp Yamaha two strokes.
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Rick I
Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.
We use oars and a Min-Kota saltwater 50lb thrust. It works great and I dont have to carry gasoline. We have a 10 foot zodiac, and neither myself or my lovely wife are light weights and it moves us around fine. We are moored on the CT River and at times the current is running very strong, and no problems.
I use a 6 hp 4 cycle tohatsy on a 13 ft rigid inflatable and with 2 people on board we plane at a speed of 12/13 knots the advantage of going up to 6 hp is weight , a 6 hp weights 44 lbs or 20 kilo,s and can still be hnadled by one person while an 8 or 9.9 go up to 38 kilo and it is to heavy ( for me and my wife anyway )
We use a lightweight RIB made from carbon and Hypalon 40 lbs empty .
Our Caribe is a 9' lite and we use a Nissan 9.8 for long distance, diving/snorkeling and hauling loads of groceries, etc. But since we carry it on davits all of the time we like a small light weight 3.5 left on it so no extra weight on the davits and since most of the time it is just used to go short distances to shore from the boat this combo works well. We can also carry both at one time in case of complete failure on long distance runs.
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Chesapeake Bay, ICW Hampton Roads To Key West, The Gulf Coast, The Bahamas
I have a Walker Bay 8 with tube and I use a Merc 3.3 as I opted for a lighter motor as I head to old fart status. The Merc 3.3 two stroke is 27 pounds and much easier for my wife to hand it to me in a dingy that a heavier 45 pound motor. In the Pacific North West and coastal BC, generally you don't need to dingy very far.
Island Mike,
I use the 27lb thrust Minn Kota on my dinghy and we use a 50lb thrust on the big boats. Very quiet and plenty of power. Funny how between the 4 and 5 setting is such a big difference on the the 50lb thrust. Our "big boats" are 19 to 26 feet. Great for making docks or moorings or even going up our only navigable river here in Hilo.
JohnL
P. S. The 27lb thrust motor is only 17lbs in weight but then you have to consider the weight of the battery. Then, again, if you have a 4HP Johnson you also have to consider the weight of a 3gallon tank of fuel. Oh well. I like the electric.
We produce a whole range of lite weight dinghys all with hard botttoms
both in a deep V and a V that shapes toward a catamaran rear bottom from 40 to 55 lbs see attachement
To me, an outboard motor is just one more thing to break, maintain, get stolen, repair, etc. Oars work really well and provides a good workout.
If you ever go cruising you will quickly change your mind. Many cruisers do row or more properly paddle as kayaks are becoming very popular but only for fun and exercise. When it comes to going ashore for provisions they all use their RIBs and outboards. The bigger the better.
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Rick I
Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.
Have you ever tried rowing into a 5 knotcurrent and force 4 in wind because if you do you will change your mind fast about not having a outboard or sail to get where you want to go
Rowing is great as long as the circumstances allow for it but if not the outboard comes in handy
Love it Gord. Seems like not that many years ago when no one had outboards on their tenders. How quiet an lovely the anchorages were then. Maybe I'm just getting old. LOL