THE DINGHY

12 November, 2004. We bought a dinghy today. There was this very nice inflatable dinghy with a hard wood bottom and motor mount that had been in the back of the office for awhile. Jason pulled it out and assembled it. It was still brand new but it was missing the front florboard. Its retail value was $1,200 but we picked it up for $500 because of the missing floorboard. It was the perfect match for the 6 HP engine, now that we had the 9.9 HP engine for the boat. So it turns out that we paid over four times as much for the dinghy as we did for the sailboat. The dinghy serves the dual purpose of getting us to shore when we're anchored and serving as a lifeboat if the need arises. We stocked up with food and water, got a small propane stove, a compass, a depth finder, bought a $100 hand-held GPS and a $100 marine radio. We've got charts and maps and our Wilson trucker antenna is secured to the spreaders on the mast, about 30 feet above the water for our wireless internet. We're ready to untie from the dock and make our maiden voyage to the gas dock, a few hundred feet away and around a few corners.