Great Lakes
Well-Known Member
- Oct 11, 2016
- 1,446
- Boat Info
- 2008 - Formula 400ss
- Engines
- Volvo Penta D6-350
I need guidance on buying a dinghy. I have no clue what I’m looking for or brands to avoid, etc.
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My budget is around $5k. Is this not enough for a decent setup? I don’t need anything too big but I get what you’re saying about get the biggest one you can..like boats. We’re going to use it for cruising the marinas and take it to the bay and on weekend trips.
My buddy has a zodiac too. Not sure which one. It seems perfect for our application. However I was told to look for a v-hull flat floor.
I got a 10 1/2’ Newport last year and paired it with a 9.9 4 stroke Mercury.
Its a nice enough set up for tooling around but I don’t take it with me on the boat as much as I thought I would because the combo is too heavy at well over 200 lbs.
If I had it to do all over again I would first find myself a good used lightweight 2 stroke 5HP that was easy to handle and then pair it with a nice lightweight boat that weighed no more than 50 lb’s.
If I had a combo like that I’d probably take it with me all the time.
I have Nautley Dinghy Ramps that go in to Weaver Davit brackets that are mounted on my platform. That’s how I transport my Dinghy around. It’s not hard to pull it up with two adults, and it stays in place when secured. I’m not sure I’d trust it through a rough inlet or on the ocean on a rough day though.JVM, I'm still in the tweaking process so bare with me. I made my own davit ramps that go into my weaver mounts. I was a crane operator (now operations manager for the crane company). I use a pulley system to get the dinghy up on the ramps. I hook the eye of the line on the cleat of the boat and then through a pulley that I clip to the dinghy, then back through another pulley that I attach back to the same cleat on the boat. I have this set up on both sides of the boat. The wife gets the bow of the dinghy and I get the aft/motor end. It pulls up and launches with ease. Once you get it set up and clips on the pulleys it removes easy and stays all together. You don't have to reeve the pulleys everytime. The easier you want it the more pulleys you reeve through. Hope I explained clear enough.