I got a
nice salty lapstrake style fiberglass 8'6" rowing/sailing dinghy in good condition for 600 bucks locally on craigslist. gonna use it to teach my 6 year old sailing this summer.
It's slightly heavier than a plastic walker bay, but hey, it's got teak rubrails/seats, all the sailing goodies and brass oar sockets. woot. I've seen just decent rowing dinghys in good condition for 200 bucks.
inflatables annoy me, but that's just me. people who put motors on rowboats also annoy me. I was figuring out if I can add a large sculling oar to my 24' sailboat and just ditch the motor but my wife vetoed that idea. ;^)