EQUIPMENTS AND ACCESSORIES -
July 28, 2025
WHAT SIZE DINGHY FOR YOUR CATAMARAN?
When it comes to dinghies, there’s no absolute truth. It all depends on your sailing style... and life on board! Everyone has their own way of anchoring, disembarking, or exploring.
That’s why we need you: your feedback will help us make the right choices moving forward.
Big or small... which dinghy is right for you?
A large dinghy means comfort, volume, and capacity. But it’s also heavier, bulkier, and more demanding on the engine.
A small dinghy is maneuverable, lightweight, and easy to haul... but as soon as there are four on board or you want to go a bit far, it quickly becomes a bit tight.
In short, it’s all about compromise. And your plans.
Tell us about yourself, your crew, your outings
To refine the future options we will offer, we’d like to ask you a few questions:
- How many people regularly board your dinghy?
- What types of trips do you usually take? 100 meters to the dock or exploring a cove 2 miles away?
- Is it primarily for utility (supplies, boarding...) or pleasure (snorkeling, fishing, paddle...)?
- Do you need to transport specific equipment (boards, scuba tanks, waterproof bags)?
Your feedback will help us better tailor our future options: size, engine, storage, hauling... Every response counts. Because every detail contributes to a smoother, simpler, and more fun experience.
Over to you!
Share your habits and preferences in the comments; together, we can evolve the catamaran of tomorrow.
3
comments
We will use the dingy for resupply, exploring, fishing and diving trips. The dingy must be light so Vicki and I can safely beach it through surf (right it if it is overturned) and carry it above the tide line on stony beaches. It also must be light so it does not affect the performance of the Excess 13 or overload the davits,
We value quiet anchorages and will not be towing water skies. We have used for a long time in New Zealand a 2.6 metre RIB with a 3hp two stroke outboard. This is small but can do most jobs.
For our Excess 13 we will fit a 2.9 or 3.1 metre Highfield Ultralight or 3 metre carbon OC tender with either a 2.5hp or 6hp 4 stroke outboard or an electric 3hp equivalent outboard. The lightest option (2.9 metre + 2.5hp) weighs 56kg. The electric outboard (Mercury) adds another 7.6kg including the portable battery.
The 6hp Outboard has the advantage of more speed - the dingy should plane with 1-2 persons and a light load......but at the moment we are probably going to select the 3hp electric option. This is because our Excess 13 will have induction cooking, no gas on board and it is nice to have no petrol on board. We can still go distance in our dingy but more slowly.
We hope this helps.
Pourquoi être équipé en Gonflable si l’annexe est toujours à poste, exposée aux UV. J’ai opté pour une OCTenders de 3.40 de 45kg seulement et nous en sommes ravis.