What should I look for in a dinghy/motor?

[Howler]

A nice compromise to the hard bottom vs. foldable dilemma is the high pressure floor model, such as West Marine’s 9 foot. It has a pretty hard floor when inflated to target pressure. It also has an inflatable chamber running the length of the dinghy under the floor, which provides a kind of keel shape.

This dinghy is light enough to tow or lift on deck if there’s space.

We use ours with the oft-criticized Honda 2.3 air cooled outboard. It makes 4 knots with two adults aboard, and sips gas. It’s light enough to lift onboard easily by hand.

This configuration is enough to go ashore to provision from an anchorage, but I wouldn’t recommend it for serious motorboating.

[Mike Banks]

The LAST thing you need hanging off your stern when at sea is a dinghy. I would prefer anything to that--and I do not like inflatables either having owned them because they are HEAVY, row like pigs, can not easily be sailed, use large amounts of fuel, and can not easily be fitted with a bimini for a bit of shade.

The only good things about them is their stability and their softness against the hull sides--they are easy on the paint, and comparatively easy to get into or out of when properly secured.

I use a Polycraft Tuff Tender these days. It also has a trailer, so I can fill it with tents and bedding--anny bulky soft stuff and fitted with its cover use it for camping excursions as well. Two people can lift it and walk it, it does not need a ramp to launch it and it can take a ten horsepower outboard and plane easily--and it rows well. It also has a bimini--so I use it to fish and as a dive tender. It is safety yellow, foam filled, is recognised by SOLAS as a life saving device.

Another good dinghy option is a Fold-a-boat. Most who have them LOVE them. They store by being lashed to the rails, bowsed down on a coach house roof or slid below decks.

[boatman61]

What you want is a 2.5metre inflatable with a slat floor and a 6hp Tohatsu 2stroke with a tiller extension.. that way you can grab the bow line and stand up for a St Martin Surf Ride..