www.iFourWinns.com

The best dinghy for you depends on your situation and how you will use it. The RIB will generally perform better and be more durable if you are beaching, but any boat will suffer from beaching. If you are looking at a RIB that is capable of planing speeds with 2 or more people then it may be more than you would want on davits on the back of the swim platform. I understand from other posts that you have a 268. Most dinghys don't tow well at planing speeds. Are you planning to tow it, carry it on davits, or deflate and roll it up if it is a small inflatable. We have an 8 1/2 foot Westmarine/Zodiac roll-up and a 6hp Merc. We trailer our 268. When we bring the dinghy along it is rolled up in the bag. The dinghy and motor are usually on the back seat. When inflated and set up, it is either towed behind at non planing speeds, or pulled up on the swim platform and ratchet strapped to the back of the boat. We have traveled several hundred miles in the 268 at planing speeds with the dinghy on the swim platform strapped to the back of the boat This dinghy does not really do well trying to plane. I've only seen pictures of one 268 with a dinghy on weaver davits. Dinghy size would probably be limited to around 8 1/2 feet if its on davits. I know that docking with the dinghy on board requires a little more caution and consideration. Hope this helps.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

The instructions for my 6hp 4 stroke Merc say to fold the tiller handle back and lay the motor down so the tiller handle is is down. I pad the back seat and lay it there. The dinghy bag goes on the starboard side of the rear seat. The dinghy is 260cm or 8 1/2 feet which is slightly wider than the rear of the boat.

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Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

You can always fab up a vertical mount using one of your grab rails or adding a rail system. Here I added a piece of plastic and two mounting clamps to attach to our swim platform bar. I've layed it on it's side on the floor but really prefer to keep it vertical and outside of the cockpit in case of any spillage. I had a friend fab up the attachment brackets to mount the C lift system to the backside of the bar, worked beautifully!
North Channel 2017 by Ben & Dana, on Flickr
North Channel 2017 by Ben & Dana, on Flickr

As far as RIB vs traditional I'm in the same situation as Surface Interval with needing to have something compact for travel. If you're not even looking for a planning dinghy I would probably save the money and go with the sectional floor or HP inflatable for some weight savings

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

I've been really happy with the 3.5 although its not a speed demon it does move the dinghy with the 3 of us very nicely at a low throttle setting. I bought the 3.5 and a 6hp 2 stroke Johnson and honestly the 3.5 pushed the dinghy better so I sold theJohnson. The thing I like the most about about the 3.5 is how lite it is, I can transport it from the dinghy to the swim platform very easily since it's only 38lbs.

Edit: something else I just thought of that might help in your search is our dinghy has large tubes @18 inches which makes it very nice to help contain a toddler on a long dinghy ride. Not sure what brands you're looking at but we could not be more impressed with the quality of our Newport Vessels dinghy

Hopefully we can find time to update the blog soon while the trip is still fresh in our minds, thanks for checking it out! Sounds like we are in the same boat with a little one(pun intended). We can't believe how well he adapted to living on the boat for 2 weeks, he seemed to like being in the wilderness/anchored better than being in town just like us! Where do you boat at on Georgian Bay?

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

"Does the 3.5 allow you to run a remote fuel tank as well?" --- Even if the 3.5hp does not have the remote tank option you could always just bring along a small plastic one gallon gas tank for reserve fuel if need be. We bring a one gallon gas tank with us when we use our little Honda 2hp on our inflatable and we plan to be out long enough that we want the extra gas for piece of mind of not running out.

On a different note, we had our son first on the boat when he was 8 days old, at 15 days old we crossed the lake to Michigan and our son has enjoyed boating with us ever since. He turned 15 yesterday. How time flies.

Enjoy your family boating time.

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Current Boat
- 2001 Four Winns 328 Vista "Hour Decision"
- 2010 310 Mercury Inflatable

Previous Boats
- 30' Doral Prestancia
- 25' Doral Citation

This is exactly what we do, just bring a 1 gallon can of gas with us. The 3.5 does not have an attachment for an external fuel tank, I believe the 4hp is the first in their lineup to offer that. We have gone on some long dinghy trips and haven't run out of gas yet because these little outboards really sip the fuel. We fit our gas can with safety valved neck and our Honda 2000 both in the rear storage locker and have some room to spare for ropes and other small items. The benefit to having a small portable gas can is you can use it to refill your generator and then take it with you on dinghy rides so you only need one can of gas.

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

After having two non-RIB's with wood floors, we have now purchased a RIB with an aluminum floor and transom. Weight is about the same as the wood floor, but it rides so much nicer. Two stroke motors allow you to put them in any placement for storage, most 4 strokes I've seen allow you to store them on one side while laying down. The downside of course is that it doesn't roll up, and unless you have a pickup, you need to have trailer to transport it. Highfield makes a very nice Al hull RIB, but they are harder to find used. We found a Titan (2008) with Hypalon fabric and am very happy with it. The fiberglass RIB's are so much heavier and I would stay away from them if you are planning to use davits.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD