I have a 3 HP Yamaha 2-stroke for my 9 ft.
dinghy with inflatable floor. It moves the
dinghy just fine, albeit I''m not about to tow skiers. I wanted a light weight engine, thus the small HP and the 2-stroke. As for make, my research came down to Honda and Yamaha as the "best" in an area hard to find good data. I chose Yamaha because it cost less than a Honda.