When we bought the boat, it came with an Avon inflatable dinghy. Unless we overnight at a marina pontoon, the dinghy is our connection to land. It came with two paddles which are fine when there is little wind, little current and not too far to the beach. A few times we have stayed on board because we haven’t been sure we will reach land and in Plockton we were stuck on land unable to reach the boat. Luckily the crew of a training yacht saved us with their tender.
On arriving in Wales we found the largest Chandlery we had seen since Ardfern and they had a small outboard motor just like we had been searching for. Out came the Visa card and on to the dinghy went the motor. We tested it in the harbour and today used it to for the half mile to the pub at Porth Dinllaen. At about 3 knots we are now much faster than with “Neill power”.
We have been going to marinas when we need diesel, water, electricity or a shower. For diesel and water we now have canisters which we can take with us when we take the dinghy to land. We are going to become expert at begging tap water. Electricity mostly comes from our wind generator and solar panel. So now we just need it to get warm enough to shower on deck 🙂
You’re becoming real water jipsies, lol