Lee, we have a 14 ft. hard bottom inflatable stored on the boat deck of our raised pilot house trawler. It's 12+ feet from the top of the hoist to the water. If the mother ship is moving at all the dink will swing on the cable. The longer the cable the greater the swing arc. There are many times we will not attempt to launch or retrive the dingy, because of the big boat's motion. We have not found any way to stop the dink from swinging other than trying to fend it off with our hands as it goes up and down. A hard sided dink would make a mess of the big boat's finish. Fenders tied to the dink would help if you go with a hard sided boat. Malcolm