I want a Livingston type dinghy and the yard can provide either a 10 or 12' model.

Bigger may be better and as much as I would like a 12' dink, I worry that it will be too large to carry on the davits. Jane advises that the stern is about 11' wide. I do not see any other place to carry it on the 462 with my sail rig in the "balanced" position.

Any comments?

I have been looking at the Thotasu 9.8 Hp 2 stroke outboard at only 58 lbs. Bigger may be better, but lighter will win the day.

Depends entirely where you are going and how hard you want to play??...Toys are everything if you are cruising...as a diver we prefere an inflatable so we have a zodiac C3 military style heavy duty 3.8mtr with 9hp 4stroke Yamaha...our second boat is a walker 10 with full preformance sailing rig and inflatable tubes and a 5hp 4 stroke yamaha...will carry it above the cockpit ....sailing is fun especially exploring and a light boat is easy to drag up the beach if there is just margie & I.....we always have two dingies for safety reasons and if there are a few onboard it is very convienient....we will also carry our flying boat on some voyages....have a west marine blow up 2 man kayak and two long boards for the occasional wave?

I gave up on fibreglass dingies 20 years ago but they have there place if you have a good handling system so they do not bang the Duck...they will last longer and could be great for rocks/reef...but I like soft seats on inflatables in your bathers or without!

The two retreaving cranes on my Targa for lifting my Flopper stoppers, pivot 180 degrees, so I can use them as lifting cranes to get outboards ( or anything heavy )easily up onto the aft deck for stowage...big outboards are good for inflatables and 15hp would be fine for our C3 but I am happy to plod along with a 9hp.

Cant wait to get out there and get my clothes off!