For my money, my Zodiac with a 15hp outboard is a better bet for Caribbean cruising. Very rarely will I be more than 30 miles from some island or shore, and I've got well over a 60 mile range at 20 knots with 4 people in it, not counting the extra range from a second gas can we carry aboard.
The dink is stored upright with the motor on the foredeck whenever we are underway, and only a minute or two would be necessary to launch it; much less if the boat was sinking out from under it!
Even deep sea, I would rather my Zodiac and it's ability to be proactive over a conventional static life raft. I don't know how many times I've heard of folks in a liferaft watching a ship passing just miles away without being seen, whereas at 20 knots, a few miles is but minutes away. There are also countless stories of life rafts disintegrating after only a week or two in a survival situation, but my Zodiac has seen over 8 years of hard use and has yet to spring a leak.
Of course, as in any survival situation, piling water, sails, tinned goods, pillows and blankets, etc. in the life saving device of your choice, is an imperative. It would be nice to have the life raft as a bedroom in conjunction with the Zodiac, but if I had to choose one, it would be the Zodiac.
The dink is stored upright with the motor on the foredeck whenever we are underway, and only a minute or two would be necessary to launch it; much less if the boat was sinking out from under it!
Even deep sea, I would rather my Zodiac and it's ability to be proactive over a conventional static life raft. I don't know how many times I've heard of folks in a liferaft watching a ship passing just miles away without being seen, whereas at 20 knots, a few miles is but minutes away. There are also countless stories of life rafts disintegrating after only a week or two in a survival situation, but my Zodiac has seen over 8 years of hard use and has yet to spring a leak.
Of course, as in any survival situation, piling water, sails, tinned goods, pillows and blankets, etc. in the life saving device of your choice, is an imperative. It would be nice to have the life raft as a bedroom in conjunction with the Zodiac, but if I had to choose one, it would be the Zodiac.
