Although you can beach the H260 or back it up to some rocks and step ashore, there are times when you need a dingy. I looked at the three main options for a dingy; traditional hard-shell, inflatable and the hard-shell flat bottom. The inflatable is very stable but costs as much as a new engine for my H260 and is hard to row, the hard-shell flat bottom is easier to row but also is is heavy and costs almost as much as the inflatable. I have a Walker Bay 8 that is bullet proof. Only 71 lbs, you can bang it, slam it, drop it all you want.

The Walker Bay is tippy but it is light and easy to row and tows well. With one person aboard you can really cover a lot of ground easily. Its harder with two people but very doable. A very nice feature on the Walker Bay is the little wheel in the stern that makes it easy to launch and recover. The options for the Walker Bay include a sailing kit and the inflatable ring (Variable Inflatable Tube) - this latter feature eliminates the tippy part of the boat. I noticed that some people had scratches on their hull from their dingy so I screwed/glued some of that white dock bumper stuff all around. Also, the plastic oar locks suck and I replaced them with brass. I think if you want to use an outboard a Walker Bay 10 is better. On trips weve found that kayaks are a more practical alternative for travel with a small sailboat. Hard kayaks track and paddle better and are more durable, but they are not as easy to store and haul as the inflatable. We dont use them at home much, but they were just the thing for our 4000 mile round trip to Key West last spring and our recent trip to the North Channel.

The West Marine inflatable kayak is the same as the Sterns 500. Very durable but not indestructible -- dont leave it on a hot beach all day or drag it over sharp rocks -- it is light, and easy to inflate/deflate. They fit a a small duffel bag, are light and easy to stow on deck. It takes a few tries before you get the hang of stuffing the paddles and pump into the bag. A bargain at $180.







There is more on the kayaks at this link: http://kobernus.com/hunter260/kayak/kayak.html