You get what you pay for in any inflateable, and very few of us
actually need a high quality one. All of them go downhill in time when
they are left out in the sun & weather, some faster than others.

Instead, first consider whether you really want an inflatable at all (I
love mine). A hard dinghy does everything better - especially rowing,
which all inflatables suck at, like pulling yourself through molasses
with little sticks while dragging a dead body. A dinghy can be rowed
though all the conditions an inflatable needs a motor for, without the
extra cost, fuel, hassle, noise, vibration & stink, and may also be
sailed in most cases, which is impossible with an inflatable.

The idea of being able to unpack/assemble/inflate it aboard your boat,
unless you are far too rich to be looking for a cheap infalable deal &
have a 100+' yatch with a big unobstructed deck, is a bad joke you will
only try once, unless it is a rollup (and the rollups have the lousiest
performance on the water). It is also just as heavy to lift aboard -
inflated or stowed - but more awkward, than a dinghy unless it is a
costly lightweight RIB design made from Hypalon (and these are hard to
find now in small sizes). It is even easier to fit a dinghy into a
pickup truck bed than an inflatable (inflated). You will never have to
fook around with a foot pump and a clutter of hose to stow somewhere,
to pump up your nice hard dinghy every week or so to be sure it is
correctly balanced, will plane well & is safe, or so the thwart won't
fall out of it. You won't have to buy an expensive rubber numbering
kit to register your dinghy (if you even decide to put a motor on it at
all and spend more money to register it like an inflatable). When you
get bored with how your dinghy looks or change the color if its
mothership, you can paint it to your liking in an afternoon and it will
look like new. The dinghy will outlast the inflatable by a factor of 4
or better even if you neglect it.

My friend just bought a used 37' motorsailer I am helping him square
away. The first thing he did even before it was launched, was bring
his Walker plastic dinghy aboard and take the brand new & unused $1,800
Achilles inflateable (and all of its associated, locker-hogging crap)
ashore to give away to a relative. I suppose this is a good way to get
even with a relative. ;-)

My little 7 1/2' inflatable-keel job (Quicksilver), that I originally
bought as a sailboat tender and quickly replaced on the waterfront with
my fbgls rocker-bottom skiff that actually rows, gets used for cute fun
on the lake below me because it will get me up on plane with a
tricked-out 2.5hp (if there is nothing in my pockets & only one can of
soda aboard, and if the brim of my hat is not too wide). It's also
cool for casual shoreline lake fishing with a trolling motor because
you don't have to worry about dinging up against the rocks. Otherwise,
I'd have gotten rid of it a long time ago. It will go like a raped ape
with a 5hp, but to put a 5hp on/off a squishy inflatable regularly you
have to be a masochist or a gorilla who likes risking injury. Even
putting a 22 lb 2.5hp on/off an inflatable's transom at anchor in calm
water with a crew on deck assisting can be "thrilling", let alone when
it gets bouncy or Harry Hotshot leaves you a nice wake to roll around
in while you are bent over the sucker. A dinghy tows better, too, and
with less resistance, though if you are a screwup the inflatable won't
ding itself or the mothership & doesn't need a fender to be brought
alongside for close maneuvering.

There is not as much room inside an inflatable as a dinghy of
comparable length.

You cannot bail & dry all the water out of floorboard-type inflatables
while in the water, so you have to run around at planing speed with the
plug out to try to dry the boat. Mung can build up btw the floors and
the inner hull and cause things, including not only "interesting"
rotted food crumbs or toejam accumulations but abrasion & holing from
sand. You have to disassemble the boat to clean it. Dinghys have none
of these issues.

Finally, inflatables are communist or collectivist - they are all
grayish or reddish. :-)


I highly suggest that if you are going to buy one anyway, that you
completely assemble & disassemble it first, or one exactly like it.
Some are a real bitch to do, and no one talks about it.