Some serious dumbass, my least favorite person of the week, and I can hear the sound of our founding fathers spinning like tops from my anchorage in the Caribbean...
Not everyone wants to build their own dinghy... I get that.
That said, inflatables that will hold up for the long haul are seriously expensive and good hard rowable dinghies that will fit on a deck are both hard to find and when found most often quite expensive.
Then there's the Walker Bay...
I was thinking about the Walker Bay dinghies the last couple of days because there's a used one for sale nearby for $300. You may or not remember that for a while we had an 8-foot Walker Bay and really liked it except for the fact that it did not quite fit into the space available on the deck. The other problem is, at the time, the longevity of the rotomolded hull was something of an unknown factor.
Of course, some years later having seen any number of Walker Bays used, misused, and (in some cases) seriously abused it's obvious that like an old Timex the rotomolded construction holds up extremely well.
While they might not be as sexy (or expensive) as a Trinka or Fatty Knees they do their thing as well or better. We used to have a Trinka and while it was a pleasure to row it was also extremely tender and not a very good load carrier when mega shops and ferrying water was the order of the day. Then again, not everyone rows but they power well with a low horsepower outboard (anything over 3HP is overkill) making it a frugal ride for the cruiser on a budget.
The fact that the Walker Bays also have an inflatable collar (at an admittedly higher price than I'm comfortable with) and a reasonably good sail rig available makes them even more attractive.
The only downside I can recall is the oarlocks are plastic and anyone who wants to row regularly will want to replace them with something better...
Listening to Emily Portman
So it goes...
