The dink and Mercury 4 hp two stroke outboard and future - 2011

 Debbie was going to make a cover for the Mercury 4 hpt but I am trying to talk her out of it. The 4 hp will just be stowed away for back up. The temp cover is set to be sewed but to heck with it.

February 2012 - Currently at Marina Kona Kai  Shelter Island San Diego, CA  

The dink and outboard are going to be purchased when I retire. Just before we leave I will sell my Jeep Wrangler and use the proceeds to purchase a dink. Do not know if there will be enough for the out board. We are not sure what we want yet. Could be a Carbide or some other inflatable with a hard bottom. It needs to plane with two people and food etc. It needs to have large pontoons and probably be about 10.5 feet. The outboard could be a two stroke or four probably 9.5 horse. This is all to be determined. We will be installing dinghy davits and motor lift this summer.

 We have not had the need for a dinghy but will in a few months when the boat is ready for anchoring again. We can then drag the one we can use over if need be. We usually like to just chill out while at anchor. Using a dinghy to go ashore just brings us back to the city life thing and ruins the serenity we build up at anchor.

 We have the use of an inflatable dinghy now that needs a seat hint hint. We have never used it yet.

 We now have a 4 hp Mercury outboard that we had on with our Catalina 30. We sold the dink as we did not like it. It has forward and reverse and has the gas tank in it. It's a two stroke 4 hp and is a nice little motor and runs great. We plan on keeping it as a spare and storing it under the bed. Runs forever on a tank of gas. I think it takes a gallon.

The lock we re-built a couple years ago. We took it apart and stripped off the rusty spots and painted it with Rust-Oleum and oiled up the lock good. A little oil once in a while and it works great. They do not paint them for the marine environment it seems. The cover Debbie made works great to keep the lock working good.

 Along with the chain gypsy we do have a rope drum on our windlass which would work great for lifting the dinghy alongside at knight.
 We can add that we have thought about the inflatable kayaks for tooling around the anchorage and meeting people. Often we know people at the anchorage and would like to paddle over. Debbie does not swim well so they need to be stable and soft. They seem easy to store without losing the view and stable.