Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Inflatable Pontoon Boats

Has there already been a thread on these?

If Not, who's got one and what should a guy be looking for in one that is intended for fishing?

I am seeing them around thick in the NW, even used one last Fall and it seems more than stable and rather zippy to get around in..

I go lookin' to buy one and find there is a flood of different makes and models to choose from. Not sure what I should be looking for in one..

Any Help?

I am the only person to ever successfully capsize a NuCanoe.

Those look like just the ticket Jeff.

I'd like to try one, too. I've heard that even a light wind will push one to planing speeds. For light use, Costco has them for $300. I don't think I'd run the Salmon River in one of Costco's, though.

That looks like fun!!!

I know none of the finer points in them other than when I was working in Utah last summer a coworker had a couple and borrowed a couple more and took us up to a mountain reservoir. Had a great time catching trout in them. My legs were wore out but they said I was working them more than I should have been.

There are other inflatable toys that cost less, and they can be used indoors. If you buy the "muslim" ones, they even blow themselves up!
Jerry

Netted a fish-


Another coworker out for the first time-

Check out sea eagle brand. I bought their inflatable SUP and am pretty impressed with it.

One of those would be slicker than snot for fishing a lot of the smaller lakes.Looks like you can even put a trolling motor on the back.

They're great for guys who fish small lakes and ponds. It will easily slide into the back of a pickup. An electric motor will push one nicely. The one I looked at can handle a 34lb thrust motor.
Sea Eagle makes some good stuff but the only one of this type they make is a larger 2-man thing that sells for about $1300.

Buck's Bags makes a very well-built pontoon. I had the Bronco Extreme. It was given to me as a gift one year. It ended up with my broters who used in in Puget Sound and now have it in Montana.

Buck's Bags

Around these parts you might need to think about repelling boarders, like cottonmouths and pizzed off water snakes. Hanging your feet in reach of the odd gator is something I'd think about too. Didn't used to have to worry so much about gators, but they have become rather common in ponds and rivers. Snakes have always been something you needed to watch out for and you need a little room to be able to deal with them. I'm not so sure how those pontoons would hold up to a load of rat shot at close range.

I'd still like to try one out. It looks like just the thing to sneak up to casting range on a big old bass.

If you want to keep your feet out of the water, we have one of these Sea Eagle inflatable kayaks. The seat is too low for comfort for fishing, though. They sell these seats that sit on top the tubes that are much more comfortable but they're way too expensive, about $240. It's nothing more than a $60 swivel boat seat on aluminum rails with 2 rod holders. A guy can make one for under $100.
Sea Eagle also has the same kayak set up for fishing with the same seat and a motor mount. This could be a good alternative for the pontoon as it breaks down much smaller since it doesn't have the metal frame. It's narrower, though, about 30" vs 48 or 50" for the pontoon, so it would be more tippy.

I use one on the San Juan River below Navajo dam. They don't allow electric or any type of motor. It's more stable than a canoe but I have to wear waders, the water is too cold. A kayak would be better in wind and current but my back will not allow me to sit in a kayak. It isn't easy to maneuver or hold in place but it is the only way I can fish that river without being tied to wadding the shallows.

sea eagle 285 frame less......just bought a couple going to use on the yellowstone and small lakes......bob

Have had one of these since 2007, love it. Knees won't let me peddle much anymore but now use an electric motor.

Thanks for all the replies!
It's always good to hear from those that have some experience and the Fire never fails for that.

I had called the guy that loaned me one last Fall in Montana and asked if he'd buy the same boats again, he had three alike he'd recently purchased for his family at the time he'd loaned me one.

He said he was a little disappointed in having to patch a leak in one already and the frames were too heavy..
His is a fishing family that uses the crap outta everything related often, I'm not so sure the leak he had would be all that out of line for the amount of use they had seen unless a seam had come apart.
Hell I have knocked holes in heavy aluminum pontoons on boats and airplanes, it's gonna happen. That's why most these boats come with patch kits, but the heavy frame thing I logged as a possible issue.

Anything to help start eliminating brands from the list of boats that appear to be nice in the ads.



Well that boat would take care of the possible heavy frame issue and sure looks to be a valid candidate.
I'm not so sure I like the options with the five packages they are offering, wish they just let me select the options I wanted but it'll be on the short list, thanks for the info Bob...

The price varies all over the board with these boats, I'm guessing it's all about the material the toon's are made of?
With that thought, I've eliminated anything too bargain priced, so between $600 to $1500 looks like the range.

That's a huge range considering.

Might be one of those items that would be worth scouring Craigslist for a top of the line one used?
A Bronco Xtreme like 280shooter mentioned would be cool to find used, that's a $1350.00 rig right there.
If it holds air and isn't UV'ed out I don't know why not......

Lake use is one thing but I decided I had to have one after I sat and watched some fly fishing guys doing drifts on a really nice river one day with this type of boat.
Put in at one spot, take out at another, just need enough control for a little steering along the way....sweet....

Sea Eagle is definitely jumping out at me as being a quality manufacture that has been in the inflatable business a long time.
Doubt they would put their name on a POS.

They are the makers of the "285 frameless" that BobMT just purchased also....
If they would have just consulted me on design and options I'd have had them make a oar lock option that goes where the motor mount is so I could use one of the oars as a rudder for navigating down stream on river drifts....Guess I'll just have to fab that up myself...

I think wearing a PFD, and a Garmin In-Reach would be a good idea.

Punching holes? Read up on the materials they're made of. Many of the lower priced ones are straight PVC. Better ones are coated fabric, coated with PVC or other materiel. Sea Eagle has cheap boats but their better ones are coated denier. They're tough. You can poke a hole in about anything if you put your mind to it, but PVC pool toy isn't what I'd want to be in out on the water.

Also consider how much speed you want to get out of it. The Sea Eagle 285 frameless is a good boat but it's slow, about 3 mph max. I don't know how much speed you can get out of a pontoon. If you want something that can get down the lake before dark, you'll be spending a lot more money. The 285 and pontoons are wider so they're more stable compared to a fishing kayak or SUP but a good inflatable kayak is very hard to turn over.

I don't know about other states, but here in Idaho you need to register any boat with a motor. That includes kayaks, pontoons, and canoes if you put an electric motor on it. I've thought about rigging a motor mount on my inflatable kayak but that's what's held me back. I don't want all those numbers and stickers down the side of it.