Portabote

[reelman]

Does anyone have experience with the Portabote? I want to get out on the lake with my family and turn my kids into fishing buddies, but don't want to have a trailer taking up space. I'm looking at a 12'portabote. I want something that I will be using 20 to 30 years from now too. I like canoes, but there is usually a fight over who gets to go and who has to stay and wait. It then evolves into "he got to go out twice" and "She got a 2 hour ride and I only got..." Then there's the whole stability thing (not talking mental) with young children and the loading and unloading off the top of the vehicle. I am hoping that the portabote might be the answer.

Thanks for your input.

[kzoo]

I've got a 12 ft porte boat that me and my wife uses. I bought it for crabbing when we go camping to the San Juan Islands. It's an older one, I bought it last year and I think it's 10 years old. No leaks, plenty of use from the former owner.

It's a different feeling to the boat, due to being made out of plastic, it definetely flexes more. I don't know if you want to take more than 3 people in it, definitely more stable than a canoe. And you can put an outboard/trolling motor on it.

Of course the pros is you can store and transport it any where and it's really light.

There's a guy name urban angler on the site, he seems to use his porte boat more than I do, you can PM him for his opinions.

[urbanangler]

I would be that urbanangler guy! This is my third season with the portabote. I bought a new 12 footer, which is actually 12'6", and am happy I did. They are pretty expensive compared to other alternative small portable craft, but the portabote is pretty ideal for me. I bought it at a boat show to save maybe $300, and it arrived via UPS truck maybe 3 weeks later, in two big boxes, one for the hull, and one for the seats/oars/transom. You can just order one off of their website porta-bote.com.

I chose the 12 footer because I wanted one big enough for my whole family to ride in, which sounds like you want too. Two adults and two kids work, or three adults. I didn't buy the 14 footer because I thought it might be a little too heavy for me to easily shove up onto the roof up my car, and it would hang pretty far off of the front and back of the roof. I shove it up, and slide it back down from the back of my old volvo wagon, using my spare lifevest as a cushion to protect the back edge of the roof from scratches. It rides on top of the a roof rack, strapped down with two ratcheting cargo straps. And it rides next to my cartop cargo box, which holds the seats and other gear.

After being happy to fish from the shore for many years, I decided to finally invest in a boat to get out on the water. I considered other options like canoes, pontoon boat, zodiac, jon/skiff boat, other little aluminum/fiberglass/plastic boats, and more. Advantages of my portabote:

* Easily stored in my garage, leaned up on a wall, on the floor.
* Needs no trailer -- a car-topper that does not take up the whole roof.
* Holds plenty of people and supplies.
* Designed to take a small gas or electric motor, or both. I have a 55 lb thrust transom minnkota.
* Not tippy like a canoe. I can stand and cast in it, leaning a leg on a seat.
* No risk of springing a leak like a zodiac or pontoon. It is quite dry inside, if you properly tighten the transom bolts.
* Low maintenance. I scrub out the hull maybe two or three times a season.
* Flexible hull that absorbs shock.

The downsides:

* Expensive.
* Takes time and effort/practice/hassle to assemble and break down, maybe 30 minutes max.
* Flexible hull requires creative solutions for using downriggers or mounting gear on the bow.


Check out the PortaBote Yahoo group for many detailed ideas for customizing:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PortaBote/


All I have done so far is mount two plastic rod holders to the inside of the transom, and I stuck two long velcro strips onto the back seat to attach a little kitchen cutting board that I mounted a fishfinder on. I bought an aluminum bracket to hold the sonar transponder onto the back of the transom.

I call it my poratble fishing assault unit! I would be happy to tell you anything more about it.
Eric

[kzoo]

Keep an eye on Craigs list, they pop up here and there, I bought mine for 500 bucks, but it's 10 years old and has some wear and tear.

[reelman]

Thank you urbanangler. That was very informative. I'll type some more so I don't feel ungrateful, because you put a lot of effort into your response. I've been trying to sell my wife....that didn't sound right. I've been trying to convince my wife that we should get one. She seemed more convinced after reading her your reply. Thanks.

[urbanangler]

Right on. It is liberating to not be always shorebound. Glad I could help.

[reelman]

I searched everywhere in WA. Wasn't finding anything in my price range. Got this crazy idea: seach under "folding boat". Found one for $350. I am now the owner of a porta-bote. I've taken it out 4 times now. It has a tiny leak in the transom that stops after about 20 minutes. It's a little scratched up, but it floats, and I can get 4 kids out fishing at one time. Awesome!