Inflatable boats
- Thread starter Todd n Natalie
- Start date
SDDiver5
Expedition Leader
Lol
You don't understand how and inflatable is doable with an inflatable??????
Let me clarify, mounting an inflatable to the roof of your vehicle is doable when taking said inflatable to and from the lake.
Boom.
Although we currently have kayaks a SOAR canoe is in our near future. They fit in a large duffle, can be self bailing and have options for a rowing frame or motor mount.
Cheers,
Scot
https://soar1.com/soar-16/
Cheers,
Scot
https://soar1.com/soar-16/
F350joe
Well-known member
Something else to consider with inflatables…. Glued seams are more flexible and better for folding it up for storage but only last about 5 years. Welded seams don’t like to be folded and can leak if they are, prefer to stay inflated, but last forever.
A grumman 19’ square stern canoe or bigger Portabote, i think, would be good choices for you. Both are super tough, just different experience, can go on the roof and are easy to set up and tear down. I have an electric motor for my canoe as well as a 9.9hp Tohatsu and a 1940s 1.5hp Envinrude. They all have uses depending on the trip.
I’ve been down the inflatable road and they just not that fun. They dont like rocks and dirt, don't paddle well, pain to set up and bigger pain to put away when camp dirty and wet.
A grumman 19’ square stern canoe or bigger Portabote, i think, would be good choices for you. Both are super tough, just different experience, can go on the roof and are easy to set up and tear down. I have an electric motor for my canoe as well as a 9.9hp Tohatsu and a 1940s 1.5hp Envinrude. They all have uses depending on the trip.
I’ve been down the inflatable road and they just not that fun. They dont like rocks and dirt, don't paddle well, pain to set up and bigger pain to put away when camp dirty and wet.
DirtWhiskey
Western Dirt Rat
I was going to suggest a moto-cat like you have. They are great especially with a drop stitch floor. What exactly do you not like about it? Seems like a great portable solution. I personally don't mind dealing with wet inflatables, but I'm sort of a river rat. I have four packrafts, a 3 man SOAR inflatable canoe, a 2 man IK, various SUPS and a 14 foot cataraft that I'm just now outfitting. In truth inflatables are probably the only practical solution in a compact, portable size. Not too hard to rig a framed raft/cat with temporary wheels for shuttling the boat to and from camp on the lake. You can easily store them on a roof if you don't want to trailer, although trailering is easy. Also, I have multiple craft in PCV, Hypalon and urethane, a hodgepodge of glued and welded seams, some of them over 15 years old and have never had a seam failure. YMMV of course.
RAD rig BTW! Love to see more of it, do you have a build thread?
The_Squid
Member
I have a Stryker HD 380. 12'5". It's collapsible, solid aluminum floor, inflatable keel. Works fantastic. Rated for 30hp. I have a 15hp Mercury outboard for it and it easily gets up on plane and does 30 km/hr (19 mph). The 6hp Mercury doesn't get it going as well (12 km/hr), but is adequate for smaller lakes.
stryker-hd-380-12-5-inflatable-boat
ABBB
Well-known member
I can’t account for the dude who’s experience was that they fail in cold water, but I spent some time in Svalbard and they use zodiac boats everywhere up there. After a backpacking trip we were picked up on one and ferried a couple hours back and it was driven like it could slam into an iceberg or whale or 10ft swell and breeze on by. My tailbone wasn’t so lucky…
I can’t imagine the locals, tour companies, and Norwegian authorities would invest in these things if they failed in cold water.
I can’t imagine the locals, tour companies, and Norwegian authorities would invest in these things if they failed in cold water.
F350joe
Well-known member
I sold that rig and miss it but We’re the Russos on Youtube bought it and have taken it to the next level, they have a walk around on their channel.
older glued seams were much better, the new stuff has about a 5 year life span. Welded seams will last forever if you keep the boat inflated or don’t work the seams too much. Loved the Cat in the pic but it literally fell apart and i got sick of chasing and patching leaks. There are some really good inflatables, like a Zodiac in Hypalon, but for that kind of money you can have a boat that wont pop and last a lifetime. Just have to store it on the roof where an inflatable can get rolled up and put the the truck bed. There are trade offs with every set up, i just wanted to share my experience to add some insight. If I were to do another inflatable it would be a quality cat, no glue nor urethane.