The load of the dinghy can make it very hard to tack in some conditions. I would suggest the lightest dinghy you can find. A light dinghy will tow more easily and will be easy to toss on deck if you need to. One option would be to build a D4 or D5 pram. The plans for the D4 are available for free at the link below. I built mine from 1" blue construction foam with epoxy fiberglass over the foam. It weighs about 40 pounds and rows very nicely. The foam core version costs about $600-$700 to build (not including oars). You can also build one from 1/4" plywood for under $200 again without oars. The D4 is 7'10" long and rows nicely. You can also build it as a sailing ginghy. The skill needed to build a D4 is minimal if you build it from plywood using the stitch and glue method. A foam cored fiberglass version takes some fiberglass expertise, but not much