Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[oddjob]

 How trust worthy are the inflatable boats ? Walmart has a 10 foot witha weight capasity of 825 lbs . Althou I would never really load the thing up to capasity but it is only plastic , the question is are they trust worthy? I am a fairly hefty guy ,would you trust rowing the boat around buntsen lake or rolly lake ?

[troutbreath]

All the air won't escape without a massive tear or the seam splitting right up the sides. That can happen if your extremely overweight. But then getting in and out of the boat would be a problem too. Some inflatible kayaks the seam would rip on the inside.

[oddjob]

 I am not extremely overweight but for my height I am overweight by 60lbs. I am always leary about inflatables even float tubes ,that is why I don't have one.

[fishyfish]

I would never go into an inflatable boat again. My brother and I were up Harrison way on a larger lake I cant remember the name. We had about a 9.9 on the back and we were fishing and it started to get real rough we were the only ones on the lake. We decided to head in. We made it to shore and decided to go to the smaller I think it was trout lake. My brother had been bragging for a very long time about how unsinkable this boat was. It was heavy plastic or vinyl or whatever it was. It was a heavy duty boat wooden back for the motor etc. I remember just before we carried the boat down to launch it my brother said do you think we should let some air out its getting pretty hot. I said no thinking this boat was virtually unsinkable. About half an hour on the water we heard a minor pop. It seemed a little strange. About 20 second later a hell of a bang and we were on top of a piece of vinyl full of water.I now realize the pop was that split chamber everyone talks about.  Luckily we didn't put the motor on because it was a small lake. I managed to hang on to my rod which was out but in my hand. Somehow we ended up in the very cold water and we swam with the boat to shore. I cannot think about what could have happened if this had happened a half an hour sooner on that big lake in rough water. Can you say drowned. I have to admit it did say something about not inflating at a gas station which we did. It was a very big boat and I dont know how else you would have filled it. I am unable to use a belly boat anymore. I was on I think it was rolley lake one day with my dad. He was in our 9' walker bay and I was in my belly boat. I am on medication that can dehydrate me. I started to get a cramp in calf then thigh then my other leg toes, calf, thigh. In unbelievable agony with the whole lower half of my body was tighter than Jessica Biel's Butt I screamed for Dad to tow me to shore.  For what is worth that is my 2 cents worth. Anybody want to buy a belly boat?

[troutbreath]

Fishyfish
Thats the learning curve you hear about. Don't over inflate the inflatible. Also make sure theres a life jacket for everyone. I use one as a seat, helps keep the hemiroids at bay as well. Not like belly boats, were your dragging your butt through the water till your bleeding. Thats why I don't buy belly boats.

then theres those frog boats

[oddjob]

fishyfish


    We are basicly in the same boat ,I don't trust inflatables of any sort. I went fishing with this guy that said his boat was unsinkable however some who the bottom started to get very soft.We paddled to shore to see what had happened . Sometime during the paddling while we were fishing the bottom got sliced open .Since that time I have yet to set foot in an inflatable .

[coryandtrevor]

I would never go into an inflatable boat again. My brother and I were up Harrison way on a larger lake I cant remember the name. We had about a 9.9 on the back and we were fishing and it started to get real rough we were the only ones on the lake. We decided to head in. We made it to shore and decided to go to the smaller I think it was trout lake. My brother had been bragging for a very long time about how unsinkable this boat was. It was heavy plastic or vinyl or whatever it was. It was a heavy duty boat wooden back for the motor etc. I remember just before we carried the boat down to launch it my brother said do you think we should let some air out its getting pretty hot. I said no thinking this boat was virtually unsinkable. About half an hour on the water we heard a minor pop. It seemed a little strange. About 20 second later a hell of a bang and we were on top of a piece of vinyl full of water.I now realize the pop was that split chamber everyone talks about.  Luckily we didn't put the motor on because it was a small lake. I managed to hang on to my rod which was out but in my hand. Somehow we ended up in the very cold water and we swam with the boat to shore. I cannot think about what could have happened if this had happened a half an hour sooner on that big lake in rough water. Can you say drowned. I have to admit it did say something about not inflating at a gas station which we did. It was a very big boat and I dont know how else you would have filled it. I am unable to use a belly boat anymore. I was on I think it was rolley lake one day with my dad. He was in our 9' walker bay and I was in my belly boat. I am on medication that can dehydrate me. I started to get a cramp in calf then thigh then my other leg toes, calf, thigh. In unbelievable agony with the whole lower half of my body was tighter than Jessica Biel's Butt I screamed for Dad to tow me to shore.  For what is worth that is my 2 cents worth. Anybody want to buy a belly boat?




What kind of belly boat is it ? I am ineterested  -  nyifan@gmail.com

[Zpg]

I would never opt for a "plastic" inflatable boat. I did however buy a fairly heavy vinyl boat with 3 chambers a few years ago. I bought this specifically for lakes that I couldn't get my aluminum boat into. I bought it at Canadian Tire and paid about $200.00. It is a 10' that has a 500lb capacity. I put on an electric trolling motor and it has been awesome. I like it because it easily accommodates 2-3 people, which means my wife can join me and still has room for gear and a cooler.

As for reliability it has been great. This option allows me to 4 wheel into a remote lake and be totally comfortable all day. I wouldn't reccommend any small inflatable for larger lakes as they are not suited for it because they tend to get blown around a lot. Perfect for smaller lakes though.

[DragonSpeed]

12ft (or is it 10ft) Fish hunter (Sevylor)  great little inflatable. 

As with any "dinghy", you'll be rowing mighty hard when the wind comes up against you.
Multilple bladders - definitely!

[oddjob]

 The model I was looking at was the seahawk 400 ,at walmart it is on sale for 99.99. It is supposed to have a weight capacity of 800 lbs. Fishfreak just purchased the same model for his kids .

[DragonSpeed]

The model I was looking at was the seahawk 400 ,at walmart it is on sale for 99.99. It is supposed to have a weight capacity of 800 lbs. Fishfreak just purchased the same model for his kids .

I had some crappy one before - thinner and more "play like"  I snapped the oarlock and one of the bladder seperation seams blew.   Been happy with the fish hunter - got it onsale at Army Navy for $200 about 1.5 years ago.  No oars come with it though (used the oars from the shitty one that I tossed)

[bbronswyk2000]

then theres those frog boats

Ya those frog boats are terrible





So unstable

[itosh]

then theres those frog boats

Ya those frog boats are terrible

Well to be fair, you gotta show the good with bad... any pics or stories from Dragon Lake??   

Shane

[bbronswyk2000]

then theres those frog boats

Ya those frog boats are terrible

Well to be fair, you gotta show the good with bad... any pics or stories from Dragon Lake??   

Shane

I made it back to shore in one piece  . A little wet but it comes with a good lesson learned. Dont take the frog boat on big lakes or when their is a 2 foot chop

Other than that I love the boat. Perfect one man boat for small-medium sized lakes. Totally stable and perfect for casting in.

[gheart008]

The model I was looking at was the seahawk 400 ,at walmart it is on sale for 99.99. It is supposed to have a weight capacity of 800 lbs. Fishfreak just purchased the same model for his kids .

I just bought the Seahawk 400, but the 2006 model.  The one from Walmart is the 2007 model which doesn't support a motor mount, so if you plan on getting a trolling motor in the future, forget the one from Walmart.  The 2006 model supports the mount.

I bought it from this guy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=7246493820&rd=1&rd=1

After conversion (since our dollar is so strong right now) and tax at the border, it's about the same price as the one from Walmart after tax.  Only thing is you have to ship it to the states.  I just shipped it to Point Roberts, only a 35 minute drive from Vancouver (less time than I drive every week to the lakes).    Bought the motor mount from the same guy.  Gonna pick it up this weekend.

bbronswyk2000 somehow convinced me to buy a motor that's more expensive than what I originally intended...    Look what you've done!!