Porta Boats - does anyone bring them along? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Porta Boats - does anyone bring them along?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Some friends who liked to fish carried one for years and years and used it a couple times a year. They felt it was a waste.

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

I read somewhere on an RV forum of folks mounting them to the frame under the rig, that might be an option for you. We went with one of the Sea Eagle inflatables like H&L (and many others) have and store it in the back of our toad.

Phil

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've for a long time craved having a boat of some sort to get out on the water and explore... as I'm a long time kayaker, and used to have a hard sided one when I lived stationary. We bought an inflatable Sea Eagle earlier this year, and have very much enjoyed it... especially when we have campsites with nearby launch points. We'll see if we continue to use it or not long term once the novelty factor wears off.

We have found that in many places we'd want to get out on the water that reasonable rental options were also available. We've frequently just rented a kayak at the launch point, even since getting our Sea Eagle. The convenience of someone else doing the maintenance and not dragging the boat to the water just can't be beat.

I think how much you use it will also depend on how long you're staying places where you could use it. We find if we're just in a location for a couple nights, or even just a week - we don't go to as much effort to set up camp as we do when we know we're staying for several weeks or more.

- Cherie

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the responses, we do have a Sea Eagle kayak, Dale loves sailing and was looking for something portable but maybe just renting once in a while will work.

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have a 28 lb. 14 ft. Kevlar Canoe mounted on a T-Bar on Front bumper of the Dually and the back of the canoe rests on a truck mounted canoe rack. We also have a heavy 2 person inflatable Kayak in the basement that takes time to set up as Cherie said. Lets just say we had had a few 'discussions' about how much we were bringing.

Cherie, appreciate your rental suggestion and wonder why the heck we didn't think of just renting!!??

We'll see how much we use either when we get to Prospect. Both may be for sale.

Sherry

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sherry - do you have a picture of your canoe mounted on the truck with the 5th wheel in tow?

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'll take a couple tomorrow. PM me with your email and I'll send.

Sherry

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

We pull a utility trailer behind our 5ver that hauls our Golf Cart, Kayaks and the Porta Bote folded up and on the side.

Works for us, we use them all however on our trip this winter to Louisiana we only used the Kayaks and never got
our our boat. We tend to use the boat more here in Michigan (our home state) where we fish a lot more.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm still looking for storage for my arm floatie's!!!!!!! :)

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

MaryBee - you mention a utility trailer, so you are double towing? We looked at this but given that it's not legal in WA/OR/CA which is where our travels are beginning it didn't seem feasible. What do you do when a state doesn't allow double towing?

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes, we are double towing and so far have not had any problems. I suppose if we are heading in a direction
thru states that don't approve of this, then we make the decision to leave our trailer behind and store it
for the winter at my brother's house or we don't go thru those states.... We always know what direction we
are heading in and can investigate the laws in the states we plan on travelling in.

Double towing is done so much these days that double towing is not un-common and we have just
not had any issues in any of the states we have travelled, and we have been thru quite a few states.
Cops haven't so much as even blinked an eye at our setup, but again we have not
travelled in the states you will be in nor do we plan on doing it anytime soon.

Because we are from Michigan, our state requires a special "recreational" endorsement on your driver's
license (just a small easy test and $10 bucks) and also our state requires the safety chains on our utility
trailer to be at the outer most corners of our 5'ver.

IF you do decide to double tow one thing I recommend is a good back up camera...that has been worth
it's weight in GOLD for us and also make sure you have a GOOD HEAVY HITCH set up! These
Interstates are freekin' "Hell" and a very bumpy ride in some areas KWIM?

Roads Less Traveled · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have a 10' porta-bote as the dinghy for our sailboat (which we live on in winters in Mexico).

I have wished many times that we had it with our fifth wheel, but I don't know how we'd carry it because our roof is covered with solar panels. Also, the seats and transom take up a lot of space. Not to mention figuring out how to carry the outboard, if you want one.

Instead of that, we have a Hobie i14t tandem inflatable kayak that has worked very well with our trailer. It fits in our trailer basement - though it doesn't leave room for much else. It isn't motorized, but it's a really fun little boat.

Here's what we wrote on our website about both boats:

Porta-bote

Hobie tandem Kayak