Dinghy And Outboard

A dinghy more than most other purchases, is always a compromise. For most people, the best compromise will be a 15HP outboard and a 10 - 12 foot RIB. This gives the ability to go and carry anything you want, at the cost of increased cost, maintenance, and space taken up aboard. That’s why you see this as the most common solution, and if your boat and budget are big enough, it’s the best place to start.

On Paperwing, we can’t easily fit a RIB or large outboard. And even if we could, we aren’t comfortable with the added windage, weight or maintenance for our goals. Below are the compromises we’ve made and future plans.

Dinghy

Currently, we own two dinghies with almost opposite strengths.

We have an Achilles LT2 which is a 7’ 3” inflatable weighing 37 pounds. It came with Paperwing, and we used it exclusively for about a year. We’ve found the material to be far more durable than we would have guessed, it’s stable, and rowing it is not nearly as difficult as advertised. 7’ 3” is just a little too small though, and the wooden floor causes it to drag. If/when we upgrade, we plan to stick with Achilles and get the LS4-RU which is 8’ 8” at 66 pounds. That extra 30 pounds will be significant, but the extra space is well worth the compromise, and we hope that the ride won’t be as wet with the extra length. The ideal length from a space perspective for two small people with minimal gear, would probably be about 8 feet. However at 7’ 3”, the person in the front gets soaked in any kind of wind and chop, and the more length the better for planing and stability.

We also own a home built plywood dory that’s about 10 feet long and incredibly heavy. We had planned on building a nesting dinghy in either the PT 11 or Spin Drift models, and bought this dory to get a better understanding of the features we’d want. It’s rowing ability is horrible (a bit of a surprise). But the stability is great, it has endless space, and it can be pushed well by the smallest motor. When going through 20 knots winds, against the current, with small waves, we barely get wet.

The natural conclusion from these extremes, is that a RIB would offer the benefits of both. And again, for many boaters that’s true, but on our size boat, it feels like too big a liability. Outside of cost, transporting a RIB offshore is a recipe for disaster from popular opinion, and the experience of those we trust. Even the storms we’ve encountered make us wary of adding any structures on the deck. For this reason, we only feel comfortable between a small nested dinghy which is firmly secured (like these people for instance), or an inflatable. The inflatable wins for stowage, planning, and a little less weight forward. The nesting dinghy feels better for everything else, but sometimes you really need the ability to plane.

There are also other compromises like a folding RIB and inflatable like this, but few are on the market and we will need more research. Other options include things like the Portabote, Portland Pudgy, Takacat. We’ve seen each of these last 3 in person, and for one reason or another they all seem like bad options for us. Either not durable enough, too heavy, or let in too much water in chop. Investigate further however, as they might work for your use case.

Outboard

Electric

We’ve owned a 24v 86Lb thrust trolling motor that we used exclusively for 1 1/2 years, and then a 36v Newport Electric Outboard we’ve used since.

Electric is great for not having to do maintenance, being quiet (real advantage at night), and reliability (in theory). They are the best solution for consistent short, or occasional long dinghy commutes. They aren’t suitable for exploring, not so much because of range, but because planning with them would take far too much energy. At low speeds with a rigid dinghy, they are quite efficient. However when you move up to the 3kw or “6 HP” equivalents, it becomes very hard to make the math work in charging, unless you can generate many kWh per day. Other disadvantages are obviously the cost and risk of theft of both the motor, and external or integrated batteries. Due to this, we recommend electric outboards for any distance you would consider rowing.

For the specifics on what kind of electric motor to go with, there is no great option right now. Electric outboards are all very over priced with inflexible battery options, but trolling motors aren’t reliable enough. Initially we went with a trolling motor after realizing that the “thrust” was actually greater on a 86lb trolling motor than a 2.3 HP gas engine or electric outboard. This proved to be true in our experience benchmarking against neighbors in heavy wind and current. The top speed and acceleration are however are slower (but not really by that much), but the extra efficiency and lower cost made up for it.

The problem is that when left outside and never rinsed, the controller in the trolling motor would need to be replaced about every 6 months. It would slowly start not recognizing inputs, and then when left out a little too long, reliability caught fire and would melt the housing. After this we tried the electric outboard which is faster and a higher build quality, but still doesn’t feel worth the price or like it will be reliable. Having tried both, the best solution is probably to use a trolling motor, but replace the old controller with a custom solution. The electric motor portion itself seems bomb proof, and there are many electric motor controllers on amazon like this one. Otherwise, will report back when the Newport outboard has failed.

Concerning batteries, it’s almost always easier to get a light smaller capacity battery rather than a large one. We found carrying more than 15 pounds was very annoying (or around .5 kwh), and it’s less to get stolen and lock up. Even .5 kwh will give a very good range if following the “any distance you would consider rowing” rule.

Gas

Gas is more difficulty, but if you need to plane, or have very low power generation abilities, it’s the only option. We’ve only borrowed a friends for testing, not yet owned one, but are planning to purchase a 6 HP before cruising.

Ideally you’d get the largest engine possible, but stowage, cost, weight all become bigger problems as you move up. It’s helpful to think in weights and features more than horse power. Then get the highest horse power you can for the weight you’re interested in. 2 HP - 3.5 HP is a class, 4 HP - 6HP, 8 HP - 10 HP — that sort of thing. As you get larger you get features like electric start, but lose other features like an integrated fuel tank. The 4 - 6 HP class is the largest engine with think we can fit and handle, and for stowage we plan to build a box above deck on the foredeck which can be closed and secured. We have a similar solution for our combustible liquids installed, and this is better than brining the engine below or attaching to a stern rail. Also, be sure to pair with the longest dinghy possible, as that makes planing easier. Will update after more experience.