Next boat

silver · #1 01-11-2015, 02:38 PM

I would like to fish the North Sask river a bit more. A couple of years ago I bought a 16' lund with an outboard jet for a motor. Nice unit but I haven't found a decent place to launch it. Any place I can back down to the water, there is too much side current. Any place that is calm enough, I can't get to.

So I have two choices, put better side boards on the trailer and get a lot better at launching and loading, or buy something I can launch by hand.

I went out with a friend in his canoe, launched and handled and loaded fine but with my back and knees, I need to be able to get up and move around more than a canoe will let me. There is an inflatable boat on the buy and sell but it seems a bit big and more than I may want to handle by myself. There are a couple of the inflateable one man pontoon boats on there as well but they weight capacity isn't there. I weigh about 240 and add a trolling motor and a battery and other gear, gonna need at least 400 lb capacity. Being able to stand up is essential and move around a bit would be handy.

An inflateable that would fit in a pickup box would work. Weight capacity of 600 pounds would give me a cushion. Mount bracket for a trolling motor would be good.

Any ideas?

dale7637 · #2 01-11-2015, 02:44 PM

I personally would get side boards for the current boat and spend some time practicing launching and loading.
You likely won't be happy with an inflatable if you have run a 16' inflatable. But that's just my 5 cents.

Wild&Free · #3 01-11-2015, 03:04 PM

600lb capacity for an inflatable pontoon you're looking at a 2 man or larger really.

http://www.fishlanderpontoons.com/
BC company, moving away from a set production line to a more custom boat setup.

The 9' or 11' models from the old production line have a good capacity limit on them. With the custom boats they could be able to give you exactly what you're looking for.

TROLLER · #4 01-11-2015, 03:43 PM

Get the oversize side boards for your bunk trailer. then use an extra long rope from the bow which will allow you to keep control of the boat if you float it off the trailer and you are by yourself.

Just like loading in a big wind you have to keep the power on to get onto the bunks. The side rails will allow you to hit the bunks head on