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bosco83
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| Joined: | Thu Jan 4th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: Fri Jan 5th, 2007 05:06 pm |
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Well nobody seems to know about the Pelican Preditor boats So I was wondering if anyone has the Porta-Bote? I like it and I was thinking I don't have a lot of room to store a boat so it would be perfect. The one thing that is holding me back Is I have never seen one in person and I have been fishing my whole life on small lakes. Oh yea and I think they are too expensive.
Thanks,
Brian
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tex_n_cal
Member
| Joined: | Thu Jun 14th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 14th, 2007 05:51 am |
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| I am thinking about one too, they can be found occasionally on Craigslist and Ebay
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seagullplayer
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| Joined: | Thu Jun 28th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 3 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 29th, 2007 12:31 pm |
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I don't own one, but I saw one in action a couple of years ago. I was canoeing a local river and came across these three adult men in one. They had no trouble with it at all, and all three had room to fish. I spoke with them later in the day and turns out it was two sons taking their dad out for his birthday, he was 74, and they where both in their 50s. I had to ask about the boat, I had never seen one before, but had heard about them. Their dad had bought the boat almost 30 years ago when they first came out, it looked band new to me. Still no leaks after all that time. I was pretty impressed by the litte boat. I have no idea how much they cost?
I know if your limited on storage room, you might be tempted by an inflatable. I spent one day in one, it was not for me. Everytime the wind came up the boat would blow around, and you where right down on the water, very hard to fish. The guy that was with me, it was his boat, kept talking about snakes!  He bought it to use when he was pulling his camper, as far as I know he never used it again. He didn't care for it either, maybe if you didn't fish or you didn't spend 8 hours in it, like we did, it would be ok...
Last edited on Mon Jul 2nd, 2007 03:00 pm by seagullplayer |
HosstheHermit
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| Joined: | Fri Jul 20th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 10 |
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Posted: Sun Jul 22nd, 2007 11:04 pm |
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| I was impressed first time I saw one, too. If you check porta-boat.com they will send brochures. Look real good, but wicked pricey. Maybe when I win the lottery I'll get one.
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barnaclephill
Member
| Joined: | Thu Aug 30th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 1 |
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Posted: Thu Aug 30th, 2007 02:40 pm |
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The PortaBotes have a flexible floor that is weird but you get used to it. I've rowed a friend's one, not having the money. The joint is well designed and made, lasting years.
The same concept, but far cheaper option is to build your own folding dinghy. Two types I've found are those which have a large 'fabric' skin on the outside, and those that only use the flexible 'fabric' for the joints and bow/transom, the majority of the hull being ply panels.
The 'fabric' is PVC coated on both sides of nylon, one name of which is RipStop, and you use anywhere from 400 to 650 grams/sq. metre density.
Now for some names: internet sites would be http://www.woodenwidget.com and http://flapdoodle.250free.com and a very smaller one-person design here: http://www.microcruising.com/ding1.htm. There were some free plans somewhere from 50 years ago called "Handy Andy" which was a 9 ror 10 foot thing built with the materials they had then. http://www.svensons.com/boat/?p=RowBoats/HandyAndy
I built a 6 foot 6 model of the Widget, and I row it at 1.5 to 1.9 knots consistently. It weighs 18kg and fits inside a very small car. There is an 8 foot version of it and they come with plans to make it sailable.
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MichaelStx
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 15th, 2008 04:15 pm |
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We bought one from a friend here on St. Croix. The bote came from Florida and was originally his dad's. It's about 10-12 years old and works great. We were a little troubled by the price (plus shipping) to get a new one, but this one cost us $500 including an almost new 5hp Tohatsu. Can't beat that.
Only issue we've had is the foam starts to deteriorate from the sun after many years, if not stored well. The older models, like ours, have the foam on top of the seats, now its under the plastic seats. We were getting black "crud" on us when we went out. Its now covered with sunbrella scraps, looks great and doesn't shed.
Attachment: porta-bote.jpg (Downloaded 14 times)
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