kayaks are the best option because of their low drag and easy to paddle in all sorts of wind & sea states. dinghy's, such as a M6'8" or M7'11', have too much drag. a 'fliptail', being so light, will have a little less drag than an M-dink. the folding feature still leaves you with a LARGE item to attempt to store on-board. inflatables will take up a large percentage of the cockpit/cabin space (depending on where stowed). you can't tow an 'sevylor' type inflatable for long as the locations you tie the painter will rip out because inflatable create greater drag than a hard dinghy (and are not well made). 'avon' type dinghy's have, like the 'sevylor' types, a lot of drag and take up LOTS of space if you try to deflate on store on board. inflatables are no fun to inflate & deflate on small boats. you can't effectively row a inflatable against anything over a slight breeze and small 'wavelets'. in my cruising on the M15, M17 and Sage 17 i've only had a dinghy along once (cruising on M17). only used it once and regretted the experience (a small 'sevylor' type). sold it when i finished the trip. i've never had difficulty 'hitching a ride' when anchored out. a few times i've anchored close to shore using bow anchor and a stern anchor and waded ashore (be aware of tide situation). usually i have no problems finding dock space if i need to go ashore. the boats are small enough that you can find a place, such as the dinghy dock, to tie up for a couple of hours. -- :: Dave Scobie :: former M15 owner - www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred :: M17 #375 SWEET PEA - www.m17-375.webs.com :: Sage 17 #001 AIR BORN On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 11:58 AM, Tyler Backman <casioqv@usermail.com> wrote:
What do you guys use for a dinghy while cruising/gunkholing in your M15?
I've used Sevylor inflatables in the past, but they pop easy and take a long time to fill and empty.
I am considering building the Wooden Widget Fliptail 7 folding dinghy, as it should fold up into half of the cabin, and sets up in 1 minute. I was thinking it might be possible to also design the sail rig for it so that it could take my M15 85% jib, allowing for double purpose:
http://www.woodenwidget.com/fliptail.htm
Tyler Dsvis, CA M15 #157 "Defiant"