It's kinda hard to describe this boat.
My booth was across from theirs at the Portland Sportsman"s show. I had to watch the videos and hear the pitch over and over for days!
I was fortunate to get one of these to try out and then purchase in a program they used to kick it off. I'm not paid by them, and I actually bought this so I'm not marketing it for them. However, I have used it now quite a bit and thought I would share both our feelings on this. My wife and I have used it a fair amount and she is not an expert canoeist or Kayaker by any stretch! She was rather paranoid about this boat in the river when we first tried it out.
First, I must mention everything on the youtube videos, and their website is factual and not embellished. This boat does what they say it will. I assembled this the first time in 20-30 minutes by myself. I am just a 5'10" 170 lbs average guy, and 58 years old. I loaded it into the back of my pickup by myself. You do not have to be a 25 year old big athletic guy to handle it. My wife and I can hold the grab handles on each side and carry it easily.
The aluminum frame is a work of art. The seats and fittings fit together perfectly and the anchor system is ingenious! The supplied oars made by Cataract are high end nice oars. I wish they had a slide lock to keep them from sliding out of the oar locks when you let go of them!
The boat rows with exceptional ease, it's nothing at all like rowing a rubber raft. We have spent as much as 5 hours on this boat and covered more then two miles in breezy conditions just casually rowing it and fishing. Adding my minnKota will be a huge improvement and really get us up stream far! It floats in 3" of water so it can get through really shallow water.
If you were able to use it as a drift boat with a drop off vehicle and another vehicle at the take out point it will float the river perfectly! I added some scotty rod holders which was a great way to get the rods out of the boat and open up the space. I need a couple drink holders now!
We can row to shore and get out and pull it up easily, as well as launch from anyplace without a boat launch. The rubber is as tough as any white water rafting material made, It takes about 25-27 pumps from the air pump per chamber, 5 chambers. The pump that comes with it,.... pumps on both up and down stroke.
The stability is such that I can stand and fish or we can change positions front to back easily by just standing up and walking around each other. This is nothing at all like the stability of a canoe. It has a 650lb capacity. That seems high to me, but not sure what to compare it to. The swivel seats on the aluminum "white water" raft type frame provide fantastic level of comfort. The rear carry rack is mandatory for us. It will hold all the gear and an ice chest. It's stable enough that I can stand on the carry rack and cast from it. Although I have not tried this in the boat alone, only with my wife sitting in the front casting as well.
We could easily carry enough camping gear on this boat to stay along the shore someplace over night if we wanted to. Obviously a puncture is the weak link in any inflatable. This would really require a serious sharp thing to puncture this boat. It's as tough as any white water raft or zodiac type boat.
If you have any questions, I'll gladly give you the real scoop without any embellishment or hype. We have decided that we like it a lot. My wife, as I said was not a canoe or a Kayak person, This boat has won her over 100% for stability and "feel". She even rows for a while each time out. Oh, we have also used individual canoe paddles which worked really great too. So much so that we just stick them in the bottom of the boat now to change up from the rowing oars now and then.
It would fit in the trunk of about any car when taken down. A great feature for those without a truck that are wanting a stable and functional boat.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/medium/FullSizeRender_385.jpg)
This is not the face of a panic stricken lady fearing the boat capsizing! She is now totally comfortable fishing and rafting the river in this
![[Linked Image]](http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/medium/FullSizeRender_387.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/medium/FullSizeRender_386.jpg)
I was talking with Big Sky about this boat in the past, Troy told me they are about 3k new. I'm surprised at this price tag. However when I think about what I would have instead that could accomplish all this boat does...... well there is nothing that can, at least not that I can find. So I guess it's priced to meet the needs of people that have this requirement. It's flexibility is unmatched when compared to any other type of boat that I can think of.
We love this thing now that we have used it quite a bit. Although it's expensive, I would probably try to figure out a way to buy one if I did not have this one after experiencing it first hand.
My booth was across from theirs at the Portland Sportsman"s show. I had to watch the videos and hear the pitch over and over for days!
I was fortunate to get one of these to try out and then purchase in a program they used to kick it off. I'm not paid by them, and I actually bought this so I'm not marketing it for them. However, I have used it now quite a bit and thought I would share both our feelings on this. My wife and I have used it a fair amount and she is not an expert canoeist or Kayaker by any stretch! She was rather paranoid about this boat in the river when we first tried it out.
First, I must mention everything on the youtube videos, and their website is factual and not embellished. This boat does what they say it will. I assembled this the first time in 20-30 minutes by myself. I am just a 5'10" 170 lbs average guy, and 58 years old. I loaded it into the back of my pickup by myself. You do not have to be a 25 year old big athletic guy to handle it. My wife and I can hold the grab handles on each side and carry it easily.
The aluminum frame is a work of art. The seats and fittings fit together perfectly and the anchor system is ingenious! The supplied oars made by Cataract are high end nice oars. I wish they had a slide lock to keep them from sliding out of the oar locks when you let go of them!
The boat rows with exceptional ease, it's nothing at all like rowing a rubber raft. We have spent as much as 5 hours on this boat and covered more then two miles in breezy conditions just casually rowing it and fishing. Adding my minnKota will be a huge improvement and really get us up stream far! It floats in 3" of water so it can get through really shallow water.
If you were able to use it as a drift boat with a drop off vehicle and another vehicle at the take out point it will float the river perfectly! I added some scotty rod holders which was a great way to get the rods out of the boat and open up the space. I need a couple drink holders now!
We can row to shore and get out and pull it up easily, as well as launch from anyplace without a boat launch. The rubber is as tough as any white water rafting material made, It takes about 25-27 pumps from the air pump per chamber, 5 chambers. The pump that comes with it,.... pumps on both up and down stroke.
The stability is such that I can stand and fish or we can change positions front to back easily by just standing up and walking around each other. This is nothing at all like the stability of a canoe. It has a 650lb capacity. That seems high to me, but not sure what to compare it to. The swivel seats on the aluminum "white water" raft type frame provide fantastic level of comfort. The rear carry rack is mandatory for us. It will hold all the gear and an ice chest. It's stable enough that I can stand on the carry rack and cast from it. Although I have not tried this in the boat alone, only with my wife sitting in the front casting as well.
We could easily carry enough camping gear on this boat to stay along the shore someplace over night if we wanted to. Obviously a puncture is the weak link in any inflatable. This would really require a serious sharp thing to puncture this boat. It's as tough as any white water raft or zodiac type boat.
If you have any questions, I'll gladly give you the real scoop without any embellishment or hype. We have decided that we like it a lot. My wife, as I said was not a canoe or a Kayak person, This boat has won her over 100% for stability and "feel". She even rows for a while each time out. Oh, we have also used individual canoe paddles which worked really great too. So much so that we just stick them in the bottom of the boat now to change up from the rowing oars now and then.
It would fit in the trunk of about any car when taken down. A great feature for those without a truck that are wanting a stable and functional boat.
This is not the face of a panic stricken lady fearing the boat capsizing! She is now totally comfortable fishing and rafting the river in this
I was talking with Big Sky about this boat in the past, Troy told me they are about 3k new. I'm surprised at this price tag. However when I think about what I would have instead that could accomplish all this boat does...... well there is nothing that can, at least not that I can find. So I guess it's priced to meet the needs of people that have this requirement. It's flexibility is unmatched when compared to any other type of boat that I can think of.
We love this thing now that we have used it quite a bit. Although it's expensive, I would probably try to figure out a way to buy one if I did not have this one after experiencing it first hand.