Porta Bote Dinghy

[wabislander]

Shopping for a dinghy but want to find one that will of course take an outboard but is also good for rowing as that is my target exercise while cruising. Have seen that porta bote is good in the rowing category. Does anyone have hands-on experience good or bad with these boats?

 

[JamesTXSD]

We had a Porta-bote years ago; there are pros and cons. It rows better than a flat bottom inflatable. It folds relatively flat, but there are seats and a transom that take up as much (or more) space as the boat, and you have to find room for those. I had a 12' model and was told it would plane with a 5hp motor; it didn't. It is virtually indestructible (won't get sliced up on rocks or oyster shells). It comes with a "pry bar" sorta thing to hold the boat open while you install the seats and transom (that's what gives the boat its shape)... if that slips while you are standing in the boat, it will close up on your legs. Yes, I experienced that. You need a space as long as the boat and wider than its beam to set it up. It doesn't pound over small waves like a solid dinghy or bounce like an inflatable... rather, it "slithers" over waves. A bit disconcerting at first, but it is a sound design.

The number one reason we sold it: the joint at the center of the boat is made out of a black rubbery material that leaves a skid mark on gelcoat that is darn hard to remove if you are dragging the PB onboard. We used ours with a sailing trimaran (Corsair) and there was plenty of room on the nets to set the PB up and stow it. You'd need a sizeable power-cruiser to have space to set it up onboard.

 

[kjoverbeck]

We took a 10" PB on our 2013 Loop of 6,600 miles. Towed it for about 1,500 then added davits. Very little drag compared to an inflatable but you need to remove motor.. I powered it with a 5hp Mercury. It would plane nicely with just me (190#) but not with 2 people. A feature I really liked was that it is very dry in a chop. No water spraying over the bow as most inflatables do! It also has a lot of storage/carrying room. James is correct when he says the seats and transom take about as much room as the boat. They are black and can be very hot. I made replacement seats out of 5/8" plywood. They are lighter, much less volume and a lot cooler. The boat does take some getting used to. When you first get in it feels like stepping on a waterbed ha, ha. You get used to that and you will quickly find it is very stable. Lastly, it is truly almost indestructible. Four friends also used them for dinghies on the loop. 1 8',2 10' and 1 12'. Within 2 months all had 10' . 8' too small and the 12 too big. Usually carrying 2 people. try it. You will like it.

 

[Osprey]

I recently sold an 8.5 foot Portabote after using it, exclusively for lake fishing, for about 20 years.

I would say that it would have been extremely difficult to set up the Portabote while on my R27. There is just not enough room. If assembled on-shore and then used as a towed dingy it would be fine. I see other boaters doing this from time to time.

In a post above it was suggested that one could replace the rather thick supplied seats with user-made plywood ones. That would work from a storage point of view but it deceases a safety aspect of these boats. The supplied seats are filled with flotation material and to serve to help keep the boat afloat even if the boat were filled with water. They act essentially like a lifejacket for the boat. Even so, a jacket on the user is still recommended.

 

[kjoverbeck]

The seats and transom on MY Porta Bote, purchased in 2012 were hollow and not foam filled. Flotation was provided by closed cell foam strips roughly 1 1/4"x 7" that ran for most the length of the boat beneath the gunnels and above the seats.

 

[Osprey]

Regarding the seats, I emailed a question to the Porta-bote manufacturer asking about seat flotation and the president's response was:
"The seats are filled and sealed with foam flotation."

This is addition the side mounted foam mentioned in the above post.