First season with a dinghy

luvinlife

Haven’t posted for a while so I thought I’d update the group on this past season.  For reference, we are in the Narragansett Bay in Portsmouth RI at a Safe Harbor Marina.  We purchased an 8.5 foot dinghy from West Marine along with a new Suzuki 2.5 hp engine, the lightest one I could find. The dinghy weighs 56 pounds and has a payload of almost 900 lbs and the Suzuki weighs 29 pounds.  I was hoping the motor would fit under the back seat but it does not.  No big deal, I just lay it on the floor when we travel and install it on the dinghy on arrival. The dinghy really improved our experiences as we were able to anchor or moor with easy dinghy access to shore. Our best trip was a long weekend in Block Island, anchored off of dinghy beach with a dozen other boaters from our marina. Dinghied all over the Great Salt Pond, to the beach and to Paynes and Champlains.  Overall amazing trip. Here are a few pictures. 

YYZRC

Having a dinghy is a game-changer. Sounds like a perfect setup. 

J3ff

Looks good, I specifically bought a dingy motor that would fit under that seat. I forget exactly which one it was but I'll look back through my photos and see. I believe it was a Mercury two-stroke

luvinlife

Yes Jeff you posted that your Mercury 3.3 two stroke fit like “socks on a rooster”, lol. I assumed the little Suzuki would fit too but no go!

skennelly

Bought a dinghy this past season and it was a blast....great addition to harbor life.

Liberty44140

I love it! Have my eyes peeled for a used 10ish foot hard bottom with 9.9-15 hp engine….

Ian

We got one in 2020, bought second hand, 9; hard bottom with an 8HP 4 stroke. Great for zipping around and to the local state park for walks without having to use the big boat. Just picked up a floating dock for it to dock it out of the water next season as it stayed in in front of the Rinker at my slip.

rasbury

Had to do a double take as the dingy did not overwhelm the platform. I have a really nice for a blow up style- it's pretty HD, have to use a compressor to blow it. Not sure how far I'd trust it but boat to beach/shore close was I was looking for at the time. Nice set up looks to me!

YYZRC

Liberty44140 said:

I love it! Have my eyes peeled for a used 10ish foot hard bottom with 9.9-15 hp engine….

@Liberty44140 most 15s are only a few pounds heavier than the 9.9 but wayyyyy more kick. I definitely recommend. 

J3ff

luvinlife said:

Yes Jeff you posted that your Mercury 3.3 two stroke fit like “socks on a rooster”, lol. I assumed the little Suzuki would fit too but no go!

did I really say socks on a rooster lmao.. 

Ian

J3ff said:

luvinlife said:

Yes Jeff you posted that your Mercury 3.3 two stroke fit like “socks on a rooster”, lol. I assumed the little Suzuki would fit too but no go!

did I really say socks on a rooster lmao.. 

A similar expression I use to describe the same scenario is fits like a d!ck in a shirt sleeve…..

TickledPink

I fix my dinghy motor on to this. It's great.

luvinlife

Nice!