porta bote

[MUSKYMAN]

Has any body riden in one of these things before,i know there is a few on shabbona but didnt get a chance to talk to the people that ownes them.
I have seen the web site and the pictures and even seen the price(ouch) but you my fellow fisherman and fisherwomen , have the update on this and i ask you ,is it a waste of money or is it good enough to stand in and cast and or troll for muskies all day or not.
Please let me know what you think on this
My wife likes the idea because we can bring it when we bring the big camper(she wanted the camper not me) and the camper is to tall for a small boat to put on top and the back and top of the truck is packed with (stuff) i'll just leave it at that.
help please
thanks
paul <"{{{{{{{{{{{{<<

[Hobo]

Hey Muskyman:

I have a porta boat. We love it, but like anything, it's not perfect.
First of all, it's easy to store the hull, put it on top of your car or camper. But the seats and transom need to be stored. The seats are 5 feet long, plywood and have 2 inches of foam glued to them. O.K. for us, we put them in the back of my mini van. Probably not O.K. if you have a Ford Escort. We have the 12 foot model, it's 5 feet wide, so it is like being in a regular 12 foot rowboat. We power ours with a 4hp motor or an electric trolling motor. It's also easy to row. I've had three grown men fish from it, but it was alittle tight. When it's just me and the wife, or me with one or two kids, it is comfortable. You can stand in it. I stand and fish all the time. keep in mind that it has a flexible hull. When you stand, it is alittle mushy since it's not a rigid hull. The hull will bounce off submerged stumps and rocks. It has allowed us to fish some secluded lakes that you couldn't get a trailer into to launch a regular boat. Just carry the stuff to the lake and in 10 minutes the boat is set up and ready to fish. It is a stable boat, it would be hard to tip over and it won't fold up on you out on the water
(many folks have this silly thought).

We bought ours at the fishing show in Rosemont. At that time, it was alittle cheaper than the price on the website. If we didn't have the porta boat, we'd be fishing from shore. It's great for what it is, a quick set up boat for weekend or day fishing trips. Someday we want to get a bigger boat for fishing in Northern Wisconsin. But for now it's the porta boat.

Hope this helps!

[MUSKYMAN]

thanks hobo,
i was wondering , have you done any upgrades of your own
i just don't want my wife to step into the boat and slip and break here neck,..
all comments are welcome
thanks
paul <"{{{{{{{{{{<<

[Hobo]

I don't think that you would slip. the inside of the boat has a texture to it. But when you step in it, the floor flexes a bit and
goes down about an inch, because the hull is not rigid.

You might want to go to the Fishing Show in Rosemont and
take a look at them.

I haven't done any upgrades to my boat. This is the 4th year that
we've had it. There used to be a picture on their website of a boat that was modified, they mounted some swivel seats in it.
That looked interesting, since sometimes my lower back gets alittle sore from sitting day.

In June, we went to a big lake in Northern Wisconsin and fished all day from the porta bote. It worked fine.