Just curious what the consensus is on the best dinghy for a Catalina 30. Seeking lightweight, hard bottom to minimize weight and drag but sturdy and will carry up to 5 people and will plane. My boat has a substantial arch and swim platform.
Best Catalina 30 dinghy
- Thread starter 4sandybutts
- Start date
You want to carry 5 people and be able to plane? I think you'll need about as much horsepower as your Catalina has. Those are pretty ambitious aspirations for a light weight dinghy. Sorry, I don't have a recommendation but am curious to read what other will suggest.
I have a 10' inflatable and with a 8hp I can plane (have to adjust weight fwd till on plane then back) - with 250 lbs - with 10hp I can go up to about 300lbs. It would bother me to have 5 people in the thing tho.
What was on there before? Didn't you ask the previous owner, or did you have that arched installed yourself? In any event try http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|215570|1794282|1794288&id=3065949 which needs a 15 hp outboard to do what you wish. Good luck
! A beefy arch like that one is unusual on a 30-ft boat; so, this might be breaking new ground.
! A beefy arch like that one is unusual on a 30-ft boat; so, this might be breaking new ground.
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Thanks King Gambit. I do not know why he put such a stout arch on this size boat. But as you see in the pic it holds the wind turbine and I am adding 2 or 3 solar panels. It also has a holding spot for the small outboard on the starboard side and the pulley system we will install will be used for the dinghy and to hoist hammock chairs to sit in while sailing and when on the hook when the tender is not being transported.
For safety - you should make sure you can deploy the ladder while the dinghy is sitting on the davits. If you fall over it is always nice to be able to get back out of the water,