Deb and I had always thought it would be great to have one of those dinghy’s with a little steering wheel and a bit more comfortable ride.  We never really worried much about it however because we could make do easily with what we had.  But then pretty unplanned we saw one of our marina neighbors put a for sale sign out on the one that he had on his dock.

It was a really nice one that typically rode up on the roof of a 54′ motorboat.  I called the number on the sign and arranged to have him meet me at the boat to start her up and listen to her.  I was really impressed with the price and new he kept it in good condition.

We test ran it and quickly made the deal.  We were able to get it put into the water to play around with it this week.
She is actually a bit smaller than the one we have, but you will quickly see why we like her.  It is a zodiac with a 30 hp motor on it so it planes GREAT.  It has a bow seat with hold rails and a steering console with bench seat in the back and a small seat besides the steering station.

There is a built in gas tank, storage, fishing pole holders, lights, a bilge pump, anchors, a cover and all new tubes put on it last year.  We are thrilled with it.

We took it out this week and did a little riding around the Tchefuncte river near the marina.  We look forward to doing a few dinghy crawls with our friends in the Marina too.

We went up the river a bit and saw this great boat house a few miles up the river from us.  It looks like it is built on a large barge rather than the smaller ones we see that are built on a pair of pontoons.   I am not exaggerating when I suggest that this house is likely 15-1700 square feet.  It is 2 stories all the way through and has a great roof deck in the center.

The best thing about this dinghy is that the motor is big enough to get it up on a plane very nicely with Deb and I and the 2 kids on it.  I would think 3 or 4 adults and we can still plane very well.  Here is a quick video of us doing just that with Me, Deb and McKinlee on board.