10 foot inflatable dinghy on a 28 foot boat

[skylark]

Do you think that a 10 foot dinghy works for cruising on a 28 foot boat?  There is an Avon Rover R3-10 for sale here, asking $450. 

I have had a lot of difficulty finding a good dinghy that I can pull on board.  I sold the Portabote, too big for the foredeck, and gave up on trying to haul the Optimist Pram out of the water, too heavy.

Do you think that an inflatable is a better choice?  I would prefer a smaller inflatable but the price is right on this one.

[Tim]

Paul, I would think that if the inflatable is going to spend any amount of time on the deck you would be better off with something smaller. Though it may seem like a good deal now after a couple of times struggling with getting it on and working around it you may change your mind.

[hearsejr]

 10' seems a little big for a 27'er. I'm thinking your widest beam is 7-7.5ft? that means it'll take up the whole for deck when inflated.
what I tried in the past was a canoe tied to the outside of the stanchions and turned on it's side. it worked great for me but I was on a 30'er. I also tried to swing the a pole from the front of the mast and lift the boat out of the water but it was easier to just tie the dingy to the stern  and tow it along.
I just got an inflatable that works but it's still heavy and bulky. it's an 8'er, but someone rebuilt the floor in 2 parts instead of 4.
 You might also consider that it has to be put together on deck and inflated. that takes a little room and can get you a little tense when you have to jump across from one side to the other trying to get it inflated and the boards  in the right place.
 I had one of those toy like 6 man rafts from Walmart that held two people  and it was easy to roll up and carry around and I use that for just going ashore. and stuff. it costed like $75 new but I got it after the summer was over and gave $25 for it.  
a trick I learned a while back was that you could put a bumper on the stern, and lift the dingy's stern out of the water and tie it to the stern of the sailboat, and tow it along . it worked ok for me. I can better explain how I did if you are interested in trying it. I think  Good'ol Boat magazine had a guy talking about once about 3 years ago. my magazines are all boxed up in storage and I don't remember which one it was. it was about a guy who sailing from up north  for his first cruise. lol of course that type of story is in every Good'Ol Boat magazine. lol.
 I'll try to explain it if you want.
hope that helps some.
 Bill.