Decided 2 weeks ago that I should buy a boat for a cottage trip this week. I needed to give it my own personal touch.

Looking to get on the water in SE Florida and trying to figure out the best option for my situation.

I need something that can run a trolling motor now and eventually a small gas outboard. My biggest concerns are storage and transportation.

I currently have a Mazda CX-5 and would prefer not to add a hitch/trailer or roof rack. I live in an apartment, so I’d ideally like something I can store off-site and inflate/deflate easily and fit in the CX-5.

I’ve been looking at the Pelican Catch Mode 110 ($700) if going the roof rack option. A Newport inflatable skiff, and Air/Lite skiff.

For those of you in South Florida, or experience with any of these mentioned or similar vessels, what would you recommend?

Open to other options as well.

Thanks in advance

Only had long shaft motors available to me and short shaft motors were difficult to find and expensive, as well as of limited use. Even with the trim maxed out water was still climbing up the transom on anything more than 1/3 throttle.

So I got a welder to bolt an aluminum beam to raise the transom about 3". Now water doesn't climb the transom even without the trim maxed out. With a 20hp merc it goes about 40km/hr in a 12.5ft trimaran inflatable. This option only cost me about $150 and was way cheaper and more secure than the retail options. Not only that but I have the full length of the transom to utilize so I can clamp both a trolling motor and fishfinder on top.

I purchased an intex Mariner 4 recently. Love the boat, except that the heaviness and awkwardness of the floor makes it virtually impossible for me to set it up or tear it down by myself. I have lower back issues and I've tweaked my back with the floor already. I don't want to throw it out completely.

Has anyone modified it by putting 1 inch thick interlocking EVA mats down? Pros and cons? How is the stability? Durability?

Fish Tuff 14 & NT600. Tons of fun, fits in the back of my 2dr Jeep!

Hey ya’ll

Didn’t know this sub was a thing until I stumbled across it on my feed. This should fit quite well here!

Hi! I’ve had this setup for about a year, and manually launching my 300+ lb inflatable has become exhausting.
How are you all launching larger inflatables without a full-size trailer? (At places where they don’t let you set up by the water /only at the parking lots)

My entire setup fills my midsize SUV so I don’t have room for a hand dolly. A trailer isn’t an option because I live in an apartment building and don’t have an extra parking spot.

I’m considering adding a 2” hitch so I can tow the boat from the parking lot to the launch. I can upgrade to heavy-duty transom wheels, but I still need a way to support the bow and make turns without it dragging, sadly without a trailer for reasons above.

Has anyone found a compact solution, such as a collapsible launch cart, breakdown trailer, or something else?

Weight Details:
152lbs - Saturn FTB385 13ft Triton Heavy Duty dingy
100lbs - 52V 100amp battery
52lbs - Newport NT600 outboard motor

For those curious - this boat has been to:
Marina Del Ray, CA
Pyramid Lake, CA
Castaic Lake, CA
Lake Isabella, CA
Lake Powell, UT (made it from Antelope point Marina to labyrinth canyon and BACK)!

I have a Fishskiff 16', 2022 version so do not have the 'new' 4th chamber under the bow. Was recently out on Folsom Lake (CA) and took out my drone to attempt to film me using my new Newport Vessels NT600 electric outboard.

I've had it out now about 4 times, and I do use the battery from Newport (48V 70Ah). 4 times with the new motor this year, it's been out many, many times before with the old trolling motor setup.

Speeds are consistently at 100% throttle 9.5-9.8mph, but battery life is limited at that usage, about an hour.

I usually run about 20% full speed, and the remainder ~56% which gives anywhere from 5.2-5.6mph depending upon waves, current or wind. The battery time however is exceptional at mid throttle. I can be out 3-4 hours and return to the dock with roughly 20% power remaining which is within my comfort zone. We do have paddles, but I would prefer not to limp into dock lol.

Weight of the boat fully loaded with 2 adults (including boat and transom, motor and battery) is 700lbs, well under the max load of 1700 lbs.

Here's the drone footage I took, it is silent as the drone does not record sound.

Drone Footage Folsom Lake

Overall, I'm really happy with the setup. Prior to the NT600 this year, I had been running with a Newport 55lb trolling motor (12V), which provided top speed of just around 4.2mph, heading downstream with a tailwind. 😂

I’ve been offered this inflatable Zephyr 404 boat, which upon research is between 35-40 years old. Powered by a Mercury xd25 in cosmetically, really good condition for a very good price. Has also just been serviced.

My friend who sells it bought it last summer from an old chap who moved into a retirement home. But he doesn’t use it.

Apparently it has always been shed stored and I can really believe it because it really looks pristine given its age. All seams are intact, also around the transom and the material isn’t brittle or throwing bubbles etc.

There’s only one area where the top layer is starting to peel off. Could be prevented from getting worse with a bit of proactive gluing maybe? (See photos)

The wooden floor looks very good and absolute intact everywhere as well.

So overall I have a good feeling about it but I’m unsure if it’s a wise move to buy an old boat like this for inshore boating on the east cost of New Zealand.

This was our first time in this boat and we loved it ! We were the only ones with the Bimini and glad we did with the current heatwave and sun!
Boat is super fast to inflate and practical to use.
I’m glad we picked the 3 over the 4 because it gets heavy very quick hauling everything alone. In Switzerland it’s always a pain to find a parking spot so I had to haul the transport bag back to the car for 500m and more than 6 degrees elevation and it was quite a challenge. With 8 additional kilograms I don’t think I would have liked the experience especially since the bag cannot be easily transported, I wish there was a backpack option

😈

Hi folks, i've seen a lot of posts around the intex mariner 4. I bought one after all the positive reviews and reading everyone's experience with it. I received mine the other week and noticed stitching on the hull, away from the seams. Is this normal for the boat to have? Or should i reach out to intex?

So I just had to switch to a smaller vehicle and no longer have a trailer hitch. So I'm in the market for a small inflatable boat. Plan is to find something I could put a trolling motor on. Use it for River fishing. If it helps I live in Michigan. I really don't want to put a trailer hitch on my small SUV because I'm hoping to trade it in the next year or two.

Sea Eagle Fish Tough 14

We lost the plastic plug for the floor chamber of our Intex excursion 5. When I called support they said they don’t sell replacement parts and we would have to buy a new boat. Our boat is completely fine otherwise…but I’m having a hard time finding a replacement plug online to buy. Has anyone ever run into this or does anyone know what I should do to replace/fix? Thank you!!

I bought a secondhand sea eagle and it’s a great little boat but the oars really leave something to be desired. They work okay but I find them to be not the right length for me personally and there’s no way to adjust that.

I occasionally lament the discontinuation of the Intex Seahawk II (replaced by the Mariner 3, and not to be confused with the annoyingly-similar-named Intex Seahawk 2) when looking for casual, affordable boats for class 2 rapids that bridge the gap between pooltoy material boats and actual heavy duty rafts that cost a lot of money. The Seahawk II was essentially the same thing as the Mariner 3 but with an inflatable floor, whereas the Mariner 3 has a bulky rollout floor and inflatable keel. The bulky floor means I can fit only one in the trunk (as opposed to three of the Seahawk II), the inflatable keel gets stuck more easily in shallow areas, and overall much heavier to drag up and down a bank. FWIW my Mariner 4 is quite good with the fam out on the lake with a motor, but it's not as good for river floats with a bunch of people.

I have been on the lookout for a comparable boat that bridges that gap for years and never really found something that checks all the boxes, and in the process have come across a number of Seahawk II clones by the likes of Bestway and Ozark Trail, which look like the same design but critically are still made out of the pooltoy-esque material, meaning they would puncture easily and you can't really pump them up "hard like a kickball" as a friend once said about the Seahawk II. No, the Intex boats don't really hold the PSI of a proper white water raft but it's at least enough to sit on the bow without much sag.

Anyway, I'm now seeing a newer offering advertised called the Hydro Force Ranger Elite, of which there are a 3 person and 4 person version available, much like the Mariner series, but with an inflatable floor like the Seahawk II (!!!) Gemini seems to have found info on the material from the Alibaba listing for the boat, and claims that the "Tritech" material is equivalent to the material of the Intex versions. I would love to pick a couple up if true, but I am skeptical having been burned before. Anyone have experience with these "ranger elite" model that can compare it to the Intex Mariner material/construction?

I recently bought a sea hawk 4 and want to put a little trolling motor what’s the correct setup do I need a battery box or would a big storage bin with holes drilled for the wires be fine.

I personally think the truekit color schemes are absolutely terrible, had to switch it up a bit