Porta Bote

[lavbasser]

Does anyone have any experience fishing from one of these? I don't have a truck or trailer and am thinking about buying one for some smaller lakes. Thanks.

[andamtoft]

I bought one in march and it just got arrived at my door yesterday, I have not had a chance to fish from it, and wont until next weekend, but I will have a full report for you in about one week.

Some other information, I bought the 12' model. Also similarly to you i don't have a truck or a trailer. I will let you know how everything goes.

[lavbasser]

I am interested in the 12 footer as well. I look forward to your review. Thanks.

[Crestliner2008]

I'll tell ya true folks, if I had the money right now, I'd buy one in heart beat! If they are half as good as the hype, they gotta be just the ticket for pond hoppin'. 

[Fishbone]

I have a 10 footer for sale. It's great for pond hoping. With an electric motor or a 3 1/2 hp gas, it moves real well.

610 689 9937

[Crestliner2008]

What are you asking for it?

[Fishbone]

I paid $1,349 for the boat and $229 for the clip on wheels for transporting to water's edge ($1,578 total).

$950 and it's yours. Great deal.

[Korea_Bassin]

I know a guy over here who bought a Porta Bote and decked it out pretty nicely. Check out his project here:

http://donsplace.smugmug.com/Portabotes/Stevens-10-foot-Portabote/3387904_n5Ve7

[lavbasser]

KB, that is sweet.

[Grey Wolf]

I know a guy over here who bought a Porta Bote and decked it out pretty nicely. Check out his project here:

http://donsplace.smugmug.com/Portabotes/Stevens-10-foot-Portabote/3387904_n5Ve7

That kind of defeats the purpose of the portable boat doesn't it ?

[zerofivenismo]

That kind of defeats the purpose of the portable boat doesn't it ?

I was thinking along those lines as well.  Big ups to the mods.  But IMO boat monkey just went rabid.  One mod lead to another....and in the end you have a couple grand in a portabote.  To each its own. 

[basstracker721]

Me and my brother used to fish the Devil's River here in Texas at a place called Baker's Crossing. It was full of bass, largemouth and smallies. Well, his buddy, used to loan us his portaboat all the time. It folds up flat. It is like hauling a surfboard. Anyways we had a ball in that boat. Put a trolling motor on it, and took off. The bench seats is what holds it open. They are great if you dont have the means for a bigger boat. I'd still like to have one myself!

[andamtoft]

PortaBote review, I only had her out for a few hours this morning but i have gathered a lot of information.

It arrived in two packages, one plastic "sock" containing a bubble wrapped porta-bote and a box containing the seats, transom, oars, and bow cap.

once unwrapped its basically ready to be put together. my dad and I tried to put it together, it took awhile because the back seat and middle seat are the same in the 12' model except the support brackets of one are shorter than the other, so it took us some time to figure out which one went where. Once we got it right we labeled them. This helped a lot and made our second time setting it up go twice as fast.

The hull weighs 77lbs or something around that i believe, and is manageable with one person, but it is an awkward shape and is much better handled with two people, but is definitely doable solo. It can also be assembled somewhat easily by your self but is much much easier with two.

Next step was packing it up and taking it to the water. The boat and seats etc, fit easily into my 2006 malibu. I had read that people would ask about the boat at the launch, boy were they right. multiple people came and asked what I was doing, but I kind of enjoyed showing it off. But anyways on to performance. we carried it to the water and got in, it was very very easy to get into. We took of rowing and noticed a few things. first even with two people and gear headed into the wind, the boat rowed fairly easily. However the oars are not the best thing, but they are about what you can expect from two piece oars. since the oar lock receptors and attached to the hull there is some flex during each row stroke, but nothing to bad especially for something as thin as the boat.

One thing i suggest is to replace the bolt and nut of the oar hardware, because they are not stainless.

However the transom hardware is stainless.

We rowed around until we decided it was time to fish, due to the wind and lack or a trolling motor we were getting pushed around quite a bit, which brings be to my biggest concern with the boat; there is no place to tie an anchor! no cleats or anything. (this will be my first modification). We were on a small pond with a lot of downed trees so I ended up lassoing a branch sticking out of the water and gently wrapping the rope around the front seat.

Now that we are fishing its time to stand up and test it's stability. I was amazed, it worked exactly as advertised, extremely sturdy, both of us could stand and move about with out and feeling in danger of falling. It can be quite weird at first though because the hull flexes under your feet, but that is how it is designed, but the bottom line the boat is very very sturdy.

The boat sits pretty far out of the water and only needs a few inches of water to float in, this came in handy when moving over sunken trees.

If you are looking to fish on bays or ponds and small bodies of water, and don't have a trailer, I really can't think of anything more suitable for the job. the versatility of the boat is just incredible. If you're a fisher and thinking about taking out more than one person, the 12 footer is a must, 10 would be too cramped. It is expensive, but if it holds up like they claim it is well worth it. I will post more here as i have more experiences with the boat. if you have any questions feel free to PM me, or ask on here. Hope my rambling helped at least a little, good luck with your search for a boat.

[lavbasser]

Thanks for the review. I spoke with the owner earlier in the week. I think he said you could secure an anchor w/o modifying it. Maybe give him a call. Thanks again.

[Madd Lunacy]

I know a guy over here who bought a Porta Bote and decked it out pretty nicely. Check out his project here:

http://donsplace.smugmug.com/Portabotes/Stevens-10-foot-Portabote/3387904_n5Ve7

That's pretty sweet! I found myself trying to guess what he was gonna add next. MP3 speakers??!! Crazy

[soccplayer07]

Wow that is sweet! he did a great job.

having said that, why not just buy a jon boat?

[J Francho]

Gotta say, I have no idea why you would do that to a portaboat.  Now its a permaboat.  :

[OnTheHunt]

I kind of disagree about KB's friend doing too much to that boat. Being in Korea, I think it's an awesome thing. Space is def limited, and the waters are much different here. That an Shipping your boat to Korea... Not so much a cheap thing, also buying a boat here, a decent one... It's expensive. He can take the stuff off, and ship it back to the states with the rest of his furniture at no additional cost. Considering the circ. Awesome job and two thumbs up.

[Grey Wolf]

I kind of disagree about KB's friend doing too much to that boat. Being in Korea, I think it's an awesome thing. Space is def limited, and the waters are much different here. That an Shipping your boat to Korea... Not so much a cheap thing, also buying a boat here, a decent one... It's expensive. He can take the stuff off, and ship it back to the states with the rest of his furniture at no additional cost. Considering the circ. Awesome job and two thumbs up.

It really defeats the purpose of a portable boat .

[OnTheHunt]

In Korea, Hard bottom boats are very expensive, compared to the US. If you want one worth anything. Adapting and overcoming.

[BassShephard]

How much is the 12 footer?  I'm renovating 2 Jon boats and plan to buy a larger Aluminum V hull boat (If I ever I get the money) but this boat looks like a must have for small bodies of water.  I thought my 10 foot Jon boat was portable, however dragging it across the ground and rocks to get it were I want doesn't help its durability.

[Zim1]

Seen this is an old thread but after having mine for two years thought I’d leave a review. I bought a used 10’ from Boat Trader for $500.  No wheel kit.  Two hour drive LaPorte to Grand Rapids to pickup.  Then bought a used 6 HP Mercury motor at my local boat shop for $900.  I think this was a kicker motor that was never used. Runs like a champ. I Strained my shoulder badly setting up the boat the first time. My primary use has been deer hunting across small bodies of water to inaccessible sloughs. I love it. It has gotten me several stud bucks already.  And lost a 160” in 2020 due to Covid.  

The biggest issue is set up time. It’s not convenient to fold out for a single day of use.  If you find a place to use it for 2-3 days and leave set up overnight that’s fine.  But I’m 63 so energy is an issue for me.  
 

I have some pot hole lakes near by me in NW Indiana that I’ll be trying for walleye fishing next spring.  In the meantime excited the deer rut is approaching as I know I’ll have another great season escaping the casual bow hunters.  It’s a game changer.