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Old 04-25-2021, 04:52 PM   #13
Hippocampus
Guru
 
City: Newport, R.I.
Vessel Name: Hippocampus
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 42
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 3,892
Also think where you are and what you do enters into this decision. When full time cruising there were frequent occasions where we where anchored miles from the nearest port. Going food shopping, to a chandlery,laundering bedding or going to the hardware store meant miles of travel. Often in a desire to not do that trip too often you needed a bigger dinghy to carry the weight. Especially if you were carrying out liquids (fuel, beer, soda, water etc.) or other heavy things. Also dinghy exploring is great fun. Carry along everything you think you might need and be gone all day not knowing where you’ll be and what you make encounter.
The other occasion where bigger is better is in surf and adverse currents. It’s fun to go to a deserted beach. Often you can’t drop the dinghy’s anchor and just swim in. Either you have stuff you don’t want to get wet or the surf is enough the dinghy will fill even at anchor. So coming in isn’t a problem but you need a decent sized engine to safely get off the beach. Same when dealing with strong currents, decent sized wind waves or in some places even tides. Wouldn’t want anything less than a good 15hp and would feel better with >20hp. so that defines smallest dinghy you can get away with.
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