Have I told this story here? After asking around, I finally purchased an inflatable. I went with air floor Zodiac based on weight and easy storage. Got a small 3.5HP Tohatsu to go with it... all brand spanking new. (I had a bunch of points on a credit card and this was a perfect application)

So the dink and motor arrived separately as they were from different sources. The admiral and I hauled everything down to the marina with the idea that we could assemble it all on a grassy area and then haul it down to a launch ramp. The instructions for the inflatable were terrible... poorly worded and and in way too many languages and skipping details about some aspects. (I still have no idea what this plastic piece is nor this belt thing in the center of the floor. Motor on the other hand was well documented.

So we got the thing into the water, and fired up the motor for the first time. Started right up. I took some quick swings around the dock and figured I was ready to try it out. We got the oars on, grabbed some throw cushions and I grabbed a handheld (learned that from here). I asked some of my dock mates about the range, and they said "all day." Off we went.

We were having a blast. It was a hot day... and the slight spray off the bow was just enough to make it very enjoyable. We went around to places the mother ship is too tall to enter. We decided to go down to a different launch area where I had previously always launched my little sailing cat. I hand the tiller to the admiral and she takes off with confidence... hey, this is fun.

Well about 1/2 mile short of reaching the other launch area... the motor died. Brand new motor. OK we're in a closed bay, shore is not that far away and I have a hand held... so what is the problem... Did the admiral do something? No, we are simply out of gas. Turns out that "runs all day" only applies to dinks with independent large gas tanks, not the tiny, motor top tiny tanks... oops... lesson number one.

We were about 2 miles from the nearest gas... so row I did. Only the oars were not set up right, and one kept popping out of the oarlock... Hmmmm, gotta fix that. And even though I am a strong swimmer and have good upper arm strength... well the hands are not calloused, due to the fact that I usually "push a mouse" for a living and wear gloves any other time... blisters formed.

We finally got to a launch area with fuel... and laughed as we put in a $1.25 worth of gas while the big trawler next to us pumped on $400 worth of dino juice. We shared a cold tall one from the marina store and laughed about our "lessons learned." We motored back to the mother ship, fixed the oarlocks, and took on a spare gas can and struck out again... with thoughts of further adventures.

We now know the dink rows well (I need gloves), we now know the range, we know how to put it all together and we have now hauled it on and off the mother ship, and yes, I have replaced the teak board for the motor mount on the mother ship. We've gone out a few times now... No doubt this opens up new vistas.