After fighting water current for 6 months using our trolling motor when trying to get to shore and back, we decided to outfit our dink with a new Mercury 3.5hp gasoline engine. There were too many times where the little 30# thrust motor just didn’t feel like it was going to get us back to the boat. I’m looking forward to the upcoming weekend trips and the chance to try out the new motor.
It was a gorgeous weekend, but we didn’t get any sailing in. Blake was sick all weekend and had a fever Saturday. He was doing better yesterday morning and did make it to school. This coming weekend is supposed to be just as nice, so we’ll be out on the water for sure. It’s storming at the moment though and is supposed to last through tomorrow.
We did ordered a new dinghy today from BoatsToGo.com. Very good customer service who has been prompt in returning emails. Even price matched a competitor who I didn’t choose to purchase from due to the lack of customer service.
Below is a pic. It is 7’6″, which should fit on our deck nicely while underway. It is inflatable with a high pressure inflatable floor and v-keel, so we’ll keep it below deck during the days we daysail and keep it on deck otherwise. Our current dinghy is about 9’6″, so it takes up a lot of space on the deck. It also doesn’t tow well at anything above about 4.5 knots, so I hope the new dink performs better in that department too.
We’re still going to use the electric motor though. I typically take our dog to shore to do her business around 5am; that’s easy to sneak over and do using the electric motor without disturbing other camped boaters, so we’ll stick with that for now.
Just as our current dink is apparently easy to spot, being not your typical dink, the new one should be easy to spot as well with it’s large name “Saturn” plastered on the side.
Here’s our new dinghy. We were using a little 2 person (with three of us on it) Coleman inflatable, which wasn’t very rigid and you would get wet. So for the extended camping weekend earlier this month, we picked up a new dinghy and trolling motor. It all deflates and stores easily when not used. It also holds the three of us, without getting wet.
 | Welcome to s/v Monomoy's blog. This site is a journal of sorts in regards to sailing and maintaining our 1987 Hunter 37.5 named "Monomoy". Contact the Captain at: bharris [at] RationalRealty.com |