Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 10:45:46 +0000, Ron Patterson wrote:
=20

1. Portabote owners seem to really, REALLY like their boat, to the exten=
t that
they can find nothing wrong with them (This concerns me: EVERY boat has =
it's
flaws...). They're like Mac owners.

No, they're not perfect.

1. Inflatables have a LOT more boyancy when swamped. It's never happened=
to me, but if I were ever to completely swamp it, it'd probably be more =
difficult to empty the Porta-Bote while bobbing around out there in the w=
aves. They are bouyant (the seats, sides and transom have foam built int=
o them), but nothing like an inflatable.

2. You can comfortable and safely sit on the tubes of an inflatable. Can=
't say the same about the Porta-Bote. On the other hand, you almost need=
to be able to sit on an inflatables tubes if you're gonna put more than =
an couple of people in them. At least ours was that way. We could trans=
port 5 people in it (the same as we can comfortably do so in the Bote), b=
ut most of em had to be sitting on the tubes and they all got at least a =
little wet. Someone was asking about the capacity. I don't recall the o=
fficial #, but for us it's plenty. I'm not a little guy (6'3"/280 lbs), =
but you can see how comfortably I fit in ours: http://rangerbest.home.com=
cast.net/PortaBoteWake.JPG Notice how dry I am and that there's no water=
in the bottom of the Bote. Also notice our speed (indicated by our wake=
). That was with both my wife and I in the Bote, and a Nissan 2.5 HP (re=
ported to 3+ HP) pushing us and while she's nowhere near my size, she ain=
't some tiny slip of a woman either: http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/D=
rakeskathryn.JPG. We were almost, but not quite planing. With just me i=
n the Bote, it will plane.

3. While I can set up ours alone, it's much easier/faster if my wife help=
s - especially getting that first seat in. The same isn't really true fo=
r the inflatable. The limiting factor is how fast the pump can fill it. =
=20

No, the Porta-Botes aren't perfect, but all things considered, I very muc=
h prefer the Porta-Bote to our inflatable for use as a tender. =20

--=20
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979 =20
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJe=
an.JPG