03-30-2009, 06:03 PM
[quote flygoddess]The advantage I see with the Porta-Boat and a GAS motor is the ability to cover more water or point A to point B. Is there cheaper and more efficient boats that can also go from A to B? Those chines and flexibility absorbed a tremendous amount of energy so I could never get on plane with the maximum recommended motor size.
Pontoons are great, but on Large bodies of water you can spend all day rowing or motoring as far as the battery can take you, or you can pull the boat out and transport it by car to another area. Of course a gas motor on a pontoon would work also in that you can go farther.
But it is nice also to get you whole body out of icy water.
How about renting for the ocassional case of icy water? Maintainence used to eat me up financially, even on the smaller boat gas motors. Even a nicked prop can cost hundreds of dollars, more than a pontoon...
On several lakes, I see a bunch of empty motor boats surrounded by a bunch of tubers, so that is also an option.
The packability of the Porta is awesome.
Sort of, you still need a very long packing area even though the width and thickness are good. The older ones were very hard to unfold and place seats in place especially when the plastic was stiff in cold weather. I had to replace the seat sockets with my aluminum design and use brass screws to replace the stainless staples on the bottom chine which didn't last more than a dozen trips.
Positives are that it took shock of hitting something very well, and rolled over rocks that would destroy a normal fiberglass boat.
Pon
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