Bond, this is my understanding of these two suttle categories but I am sure you could end up with many different answers.
A Dinghy is a small light boat, usually equipped with oars and usually under 14 feet loa (length overall) and portable enough for car-topping or tossing into the back of a pickup truck. The Mirror dinghy is a good example of this utility. Rubber inflatables are called Dinghys as well. Dinghys are commonly used as ship to shore boats.
A Daysailer is a light boat usually a bit more equipped than a dinghy and could even be longer than 14 feet but may not be suitable for overnight trips due to lack of stowage space etc.
Bond, this is my understanding of these two suttle categories but I am sure you could end up with many different answers.
A Dinghy is a small light boat, usually equipped with oars and usually under 14 feet loa (length overall) and portable enough for car-topping or tossing into the back of a pickup truck. The Mirror dinghy is a good example of this utility. Rubber inflatables are called Dinghys as well. Dinghys are commonly used as ship to shore boats.
A Daysailer is a light boat usually a bit more equipped than a dinghy and could even be longer than 14 feet but may not be suitable for overnight trips due to lack of stowage space etc.
I agree there's no hard and fast definition, and the use seems to change over time and with country. When I was a kid in England we'd go "wet seat" sailing in a dinghy and everything else was a yacht. There were also day boats, mostly for racing that didn't have accommodation.
In all, I'm not sure what to call a Capri? It certainly isn't for car topping, and the storage is good for little more than some dry clothes and a few cans of beer.
My copy of Chapman's "Piloting" defines a dinghy as "A small boat used as a tender, the term is also used for a small racing sailboat". That seems to fit my Capri 14.2 since we race and I almost always sail it during daylight, so both apply. RK
Though the Olympic committee describe the 470 class (which is slightly bigger than a 14.2) as a "two person dinghy", and in the UK a small boat for getting ashore would be a "tender". It seems to me the choice is partly fashion and partly country.