What if there were a heavy-duty, three-person rowing inflatable that weighed less than 15 pounds? That packed into a stuff-sack 25.5″ × 10″ × 12″? That was made in Canada, not overseas, by a company with over 30 years of experience making small, portable boats? That was price-competitive with heavier inflatables of comparable quality?

I don’t know about you, but if I ever ran across such an item, I’d want to learn more! Which is why the highlight of my visit to the Seattle Boat Show today was, without question, the Feathercraft BayLee. Wow!

[This is actually the lightweight two-person model, which weighs less than ten pounds.]

These aren’t “toy” boats. Feathercraft has been a leader in skin-on-frame collapsible expedition kayaks for a long time. This company enjoys a reputation for producing extremely high-quality products at its plant in Vancouver, BC.

This reputation is very important because once you see this boat, your first impression is likely to be “It’s gotta be a gimmick”. The BayLee boats are so lightweight, and consciously or not we often equate lightweight with cheap, poorly made, insubstantial, and inadequate. “A tender-quality craft in pool-toy weight?,” I seem to hear you saying. “Can’t be done.”

It also lacks some of the familiar, substantial-looking fittings that we associate with high-quality inflatables, amplifying the initial impression that this isn’t a “real” dinghy.

But after spending some time talking with fabricator Mitch Woodruff, I came to appreciate what I was seeing here. This is a serious boat, made by serious people. Where it strays from modern, conventional design (which happens a lot!), it does so with deliberate intentionality.

Make no mistake, this dinghy is not for everyone. If you want to mount an outboard and buzz around the anchorage, this is the wrong boat. If you need to haul more than three people at a time, you need to look elsewhere.

The BayLee is intended to do one thing extremely well, and I believe the designers had a specific user in mind: Somebody who wants a small, seaworthy rowing boat that stows away in the absolute smallest, lightest package possible. Backpackers and bicyclists, for instance. Owners of weight-sensitive performance sailboats, too. And those with small cruising boats where storage space is extremely precious.

This may be the tender I’ve been looking for. Two Lucky Fish—a C-Dory 22—doesn’t have any room to spare, especially when she’s packed for cruising. Last August, I spent more than three weeks aboard, and my solution was not to bring a dinghy along at all, which limited my moorage options considerably.

I guarantee that if this product were manufactured overseas by a company I’d never heard of, I wouldn’t give it a second glance, and I definitely would not write about it here. It’s just “too good to be true”. Except that, as far as I can tell without actually owning one, it appears to be true.

Check them out for yourself, in the east hall (booth 928) with the rest of the “Canadian delegation”. They’ll also be at the Vancouver Boat Show in booth 306.