Inflatable Pontoon Boat

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I've found quite a bit of information in our forums about inflatable kayaks, but I don't see much about inflatable pontoon boats beyond it looks like a small handful of people have them. Does anyone have familiarity with the Sea Eagle Frameless Pontoon boat? Basically, I need something that can be transported in the trunk of a sedan and easily stored in a condo. The thing that's drawing me to the pontoon is the increased stability to stand and fish, plus the ability to mount a trolling motor. Particularly for around here, what do you see as advantages or disadvantages to the pontoon versus an inflatable kayak? 

I did notice in a couple other threads it appears I'd need to register the inflatable if I do put a small electric on it.

[HeaveToo]

I have had a pontoon boat.  I sold it.

It was harder to paddle, slower in the water, and a wet ride.

The kayak is drier, paddles easily, and maneuvers well.  I can store it in a very small place (in my closet) and it sets up fast.

[Misha Gill]

Hi Jeff,

I have the Sea Eagle Foldcat the two person frameless pontoon offered by Sea Eagle. It's bigger than the single person frameless pontoon but I'll do a pros/cons list for you.

Pros:

-Fits in the back of my Mazda3 (trunk has a gap to the back seat that i push the boat through when I put the back seat down). For comparison, my boat's deflated dimensions are 56" x 21" x 10".

-Comfortable bass boat seats that swivel

-Great for float trips.

-Stable - we stand up to cast on it all the time. with the swivel seats it means we can cast in any direction at any time. 

-Electric motor attaches easily.

-Very high floating with a shallow draft. I've taken friends >250 lbs out fishing on it.

-Indestructible material 

Cons

-Not very maneuverable, for a couple reasons. First, it doesn't track well. Second, it doesn't move too briskly with the oars, although that might be different for the single person boat . It's great when you can use the trolling motor, but often times you are using the boat to float over shallow areas - note that this is the same problem that any boat would have. Personally, I don't have any problems with the rowing bc I used to row crew, but it takes my non-rower friends a while to get the hang of it.  In contrast to HeaveToo, however, I find it to be much dryer than my kayak because your never tipping the oars above your head (the resulting drip gets on your everything). 

-Takes up more space than my inflatable kayak.

So as you can tell I have both the inflatable pontoon and kayak. I live in a condo too, but my fiancee won't let me keep the FoldCat in our place. I was thinking of selling it, but I'm storing it at her parent's house now so the problem is solved. I don't know what your storage situation is but I used to keep it in a little storage locker when we lived separately and that was great. I have a lot of accessories for the boat, which I invested a lot of time and thought into getting the perfect setup so I was glad not to sell it. But all the accessories actually take up just as much room as the boat. (my accessories: a trolling motor, a marine battery, an anchor, and 2 lifejackets).

Hope that helps.

Misha

[ALarge]

bump** Misha- have you floated any tailwaters like NB Potomac in your FoldCat? I'm considering purchasing one for ease of storage but have never seen one on moving water. How would you rate it? 

[Misha Gill]

I've not floated the North Branch on it. Generally I use it for smallmouth bass floats. Just a couple weekends ago I floated the Upper James with a bunch of TPFRers and used my foldcat. We encountered a tricky little Class 2 rapid along the way. The boat is extremely stable in those situations and maneuvers well enough (as long as you aren't distracted by your hat being swept off your head by a tree like I was). The only thing you have to watch out for in those situations is loose items falling off the boat, since there are no gunnels. I've floated through the strong rapids around Harper's Ferry with no issue. I imagine it would be great on the North Branch. 

One thing I've discovered about it though, it is really easy to hold the boat in place with light rowing in the middle of a riffle. It's a huge advantage. The boat hydroplanes high up in the water column, and it doesn't take much effort to hold the boat in place so your buddy can get an extra cast or three in next to that log or current seam. And you're high up off the water (getting the seat extender for the second seat is the best accessory I've added to the boat). It feels really deluxe.

I'm going to add a significant con to my list though. And that is assembly. Assembly time is not that much greater than with any other boat rig (it always takes time to get ready for a day of floating, plus there's usually a shuttle to run so the 5 extra minutes of setup time usually doesn't matter). But remembering all the parts. Lots o parts. I've forgotten every single critical element along the way at one time or another. The valve that allows you to inflate the boat was particularly memorable. But also the oar mounts one time, inexplicably, didn't make it into my kit. So you have to be really paranoid that you have everything you need. Right now I'm paranoid that my foot pump is going to break, so I need to order another one for backup (might finally get an electric pump to speed assembly time even more - why not). 

Hope that helps. It's a great rig, but the logistics of using it can be a bit daunting.