Nice picture! You should post it on
www.reddit.com/r/oldschoolcool
I am a little worried about the possibility of it getting a rip as well. On a river is a dingy really even a must have? I assume I'll never be too far from shore if something catastrophic were to happen, and i will of curse have life jackets with me. If it did rip, i could always order another one for $100 and have it shipped to the post office in the next town.
One of you mentioned that I'll only be sailing about 20% of the time. This brings up another important question i should have asked a long time ago. How much will i be spending on gas? I have a two stroke 9.9 evinrude. I'm just looking for ballpark figures here.
It seems that you are looking at the dinghy as a "lifeboat" and while this is a necessary function it's main purpose will be going ashore, visiting other boats, fishing, setting a second anchor, exploring backwater channels, etc. It's an all purpose auxiliary vehicle that will earn it's keep and make the trip more interesting. You need something up to the job.
A good dinghy opens up more areas to explore and things to do. Here we are spending a
whole day exploring the back channels of the French River in Lake Huron and then running the rapids in the kayak back to the anchorage. The red Achilles sport boat in the first photo is the one I bought from our friends at the end of that trip.
I don't want to discourage you in any way but I will just put this out there. If I were doing this trip I would have a decent robust dinghy, either an inflatable sport boat or a hard dinghy and a small 2-3 hp outboard for it and to act as
backup for the main motor. You could even tie the dinghy to the stern quarter and use it as a pushboat.
I plan for a range of 50 miles on 6 gallons with my old Merc 7.5 two stroke. You will do much better going downriver but two strokes are thirsty engines. What do you know about that engine? Can you service it yourself? If not take it to a shop and have them tune it up, replace the water pump impeller, and get a spare one too. Have them replace the pull start rope or carry a spare and now how to replace it. I have had my share of
engine problems over the years on the Lakes and it's an inconvenience.....on the river it
could be serious trouble.