New to the boating world.....

Welcome to YF and to boating. BTW, I think you meant 1000 hours, not miles.

I would not worry about the life raft, and get a dinghy only if you anticipate anchoring out and needing one to transport you to shore. Most of your cruising will be done in shore or near shore, so the life vests should do you fine. Your boat is not an off-shore rough water boat. The most dangerous thing you're likely to do is run the inlet. If something happens there it'll happen fast and (if wearing a vest) you can probably get to shore in the same time it'd take for you to get into a dinghy.
What I will suggest is that your entire family take a basic boating course if you haven't already. Another will be to make it a practice to always wear your PFDs when running the inlet (even on calm days). Often on the way out you won't know what you're heading into until it's too late to turn around without going broadside to the waves, and on the way back in you can't see what the waves are doing until you're on top of them, because you're looking at their backs.

For now put some money aside for the unexpected expenses that always come with boats. Over the summer you'll be learning a lot from your fellow boaters. Then next winter (probably at the boat shows) you'll have a long list of things you want to buy. Boating is probably the easiest way to get rid of "spare" money short of a mistress, which explains why we refer to boat as she. (Flack jacket is on.)

BTW, you might want to check this thread about life rafts: http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/g...on/22562-canvas-cover-life-raft-canister.html

Don't know any artists, but we had Boatpix.com take some arial shots that are nice.

"two-foot-itis". Now you see why, when I have a client thinking about two boats I always recomend they go with the larger.

I know 2 good boat stretchers. The best is called a savings account. The other is called a bank. Very effective but can drain option 1.

Stretchers? I thought he wrote sketchers.

LOL, NYCAP123, I see you are referring to my thread. Yes, you too can learn from my mistakes! Welcome to the forum Carver38 and congratulations on your purchase! You as the captain of your boat are responsible for the safety of your passengers. For that reason alone I bought a life raft. I wish I had bought new though. You can pick up a new 4 man Zodiac with a fiberglass hard shell case for $2000. The stainless cradle is another $550. Ya it's a lot of money. Good luck with that!

Cheers!

Welcome aboard Carver38. I would add my recommendation to take a boating course. I have been around sail boats for 25 years but took a USPS course when I bought my Carver 355 and learned some good stuff.

You didn't mention where you plan on using your boat. Look around your marina and you will probably see very few if any boats in your size having a life raft except for perhaps a few larger sail boats. They are for open water passages something you shouldn't do in your boat.

However having a dinghy is essential if you plan on anchoring at night or even for lunch. It's the only way you're going to get ashore and of course can be used as a life raft if necessary if stored in such a way as can be deployed quickly.

My bought used 12 ft +or- dinghy is stored on the swim platform using weaver davits and for the motor a weaver leaver. It's a relatively simple and inexpensive way to store a dinghy and can be deployed very quickly.

One suggestion; before spending a ton of money on the boat, use it for half the season or so and you will get an idea of what you need and what you want. You would hate to buy that expensive electronics suite when instead you would have been better served by a good dinghy and motor and a way to store it and deploy it.

The inflatable life vests are a good idea. They are comfortable so you will be more likely to wear them. The admiral always wears her's when we dock or she has to go fwd to un-clip the anchor safety line.

Happy boating and make sure you post how your adventures and upgrades go.

Carver38, you've already received 2 of the best pieces of advice you're going to get: Take a boating course and hold off spending much money the first year, or at least the first half of the season. You probably haven't figured out what kind of boating you'll do. You may visit other marina's, or make just day trips, or you may find that spending a weekend on the hook is heaven. You might raft with friends or spend the time along. You might not raft but have a few friends in the same or nearby bay and visit them for cocktails, etc. A dinghy is nice to have to explore and visit. It's nice for safety too - but no match for a lifejacket.

When it comes to dinghy's, you can spend a lot or a little. My first dinghy was a Quicksilver 11' with a 15hp Merc that I bought used for $1000. It had a little leak but I had 3 years of fun with it. Replaced it with a small Rib and kept the Merc. I then moved lakes and with it my boating changed from small day trips and buzzing around the marina to weekends and longer out at anchor. My next dinghy was a Caribe 15' with a 90hp Yamaha. We had that for almost 5 years, towing it everywhere and putting tons of hours on it. We explored, waterskiing with the kids, visited friends, used it to take the dog to shore to pee. When I bought the 466 a couple years back it had a big crane but the Caribe was too big and heavy for the platform so I bought a 13' Walker Bay with a 70hp Yamaha. It's a fantastic dinghy, drives better than the Caribe in rough water and is so well laid out I don't miss the smaller size (with 5 of use and our Chesapeake Bay Retriever). I'm even having a hydraulic jack plate installed this spring to help withe shallow and rocky waters that I like to explore (and it will make me faster

I had a friend about 5 years ago that was new to Georgian Bay and spend a lot of money outfitting his boat with inverters, and all kinds of things for extended anchoring. He ended up probably spending under 10 nights on he hook in 3 years and sold the boat as he just lost his boating nerve. That was money wasted.