Hey guys,

just wondering what everyone is rolling for their dinghy and outboard. Inflatable / fibreglass ?Our new yacht has an old lamoore 6 6 snubnose. Had a go yesterday for the first time, fair to say I am not much of an oarsman!
Thinking towards family joining us on the yacht this little thing is not going to cut the mustard.
I can already see mum stepping on or off and flipping us both with our gear lol!

With family on we intend to just cruise about the Pittwater and Hawkesbury with plenty of shore trips for walks and swims, so a good solid dinghy is important to us.

I have been looking at a Sunset dinghy catamaran or tri hull. www.sunsetdinghy.com/range

Does anyone have any experience with one of these?
What size outboard would be suitable to move 4 people ok? I have zero experience in small outboards just 350 V8s!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I made my own 3 metre version of the cat dinghy and it a great boat. Non sailors are fine with it. If you get the 8ft version all you will need is a 2 or 3.3 hp outboard. Carry them in one hand and they will push you around fine. Any bigger and you just make waves or scare yourself silly.

gonadman said..
Hey guys,

just wondering what everyone is rolling for their dinghy and outboard. Inflatable / fibreglass ?Our new yacht has an old lamoore 6 6 snubnose. Had a go yesterday for the first time, fair to say I am not much of an oarsman!
Thinking towards family joining us on the yacht this little thing is not going to cut the mustard.
I can already see mum stepping on or off and flipping us both with our gear lol!

With family on we intend to just cruise about the Pittwater and Hawkesbury with plenty of shore trips for walks and swims, so a good solid dinghy is important to us.

I have been looking at a Sunset dinghy catamaran or tri hull. www.sunsetdinghy.com/range

Does anyone have any experience with one of these?
What size outboard would be suitable to move 4 people ok? I have zero experience in small outboards just 350 V8s!

************ Any advice would be greatly appreciated.****************

Go with the 8 foot cat, it has a nice tunnel to run a V drive for the 350 Chev rear mount

I have few the main I was using was a cat type pro was extremely stable and handles the sun con's very heavy and can be a bit wet in chop 3.3 motor was fine
I also have a 2.4m inflatable with air floor I use this for traveling I use the same motor will plane with one person it's light and I can stow on deck either rolled or inflated. However it will deteriorate in the sun.

The best dinghy I have ever owned was an 8ft alloy it was stable but not as stable as the cat but a hell of a lot lighter.
I personally well not tow a dinghy at sea and don't even like doing it inside. You need to be prepared to cut it free and say good bye if anything happens not trying to rescue as by the time you have tried it may be to late and cause more dramas.
What you buy depends on your use, storage both on land and onboard.

I have one of the tri hull models that came with the boat. Mine must be a smaller & older model than the ones shown on their website if the salesman has recommended the 8' tri hull. I know ours is only rated to 2 people + outboard + a bit of gear. I run it with a 3hp two stroke and that's adequate for two people. It's really light weight, which is great for launching off the beach where we store it, or hauling onto the deck when offshore. Mostly we tow it though and I've lost count of the number of time it's flipped when a 30 knt gust comes out of nowhere (pretty common in my area). The last time it got hit with a big gust, coming out of Dover, I watched it lift into the air, do a complete barrel roll and land right side up again, that was hilarious. I've taken to bucketing some water in it if I suspect the wind is going to come up too much, that settles it down nicely. It's also not hugely stable getting in and out of the thing on the water, but manageable. The bow doesn't have nearly as much stability as you'd expect. It rows reasonable well, the tri hull allows you to keep it in a straight line, and again the lightness is a bonus there. If you really want stabilty though, I'd be looking for an inflatable.