Then came all of the research as to which dinghy to get, IF we were going to do so. We looked at EVERYTHING! We even went to the Miami boat show to look at them first hand. (Ironically, the Miami boat show vendors aren't very interested in displaying little boats - not enough revenue possibilities compared to the more expensive items they could sell.
Anyway, we looked at hard sided boats - like the Livingston boats. Then we considered every brand of soft sided boat. We talked to everyone we knew who had a dinghy to ask their opinion plus we read everything we could on many of the blogs out there. We finally made our decision and purchased a Achilles RIB. Plus we purchased it from Triad Marine in Kemah, TX.
http://store.triadmarine.com/cart.html
These folks were great plus they were close to home. By the way, they also have a blog with great information. They do a lot of work on search and rescue boats, but their blog has lots of info on safety issues and equipment.
http://triadmarine.blogspot.com/
We've now hauled it home to Boerne, to Lake Travis and back again. So, yes, we have had it in the water, but unfortunately, not for long. We hauled it back to Triad for them to attach our registration numbers and now she waits patiently for her attachment to HEY JUDE.
All of that stuff inside the boat is the Davit system that must be installed on HEY JUDE so we can raise her up and carry her as we travel. I'll give info on the DAVIT system purchase later.
Now, the conversation has been, do we name this little boat or is that to hokey. We do envision times that our dinghy might be tied up along with several others at a dock, at a restaurant, etc, so manybe a name would be a good idea. Then, if we do name her, should we keep that name somehow connected to the Hey Jude idea? No decision yet.
