The Porta-Bote is a brilliant idea!.
The whole boat is locked together with bolts and wingnuts - you don't even need a spanner.
As you can see in the pictures the Porta-Bote is put together by first “opening” the hull. It is spring-loaded to some extent, and so requires you to hold it open with your leg until you get the centre seat in place.
According to the instructions, the Porta-Bote hull is stiffer in cooler weather and so requires more effort to open. With the middle seat in place it is a simple matter to bolt the transom inside the bladder, and then bolt in place the two remaining seats.
Space saving on storage is another obvious advantage of being able to fold the Porta-Bote down to such a convenient package. It would be ideal for anyone living in a high-rise apartment, or townhouse, because it could be stored against the inside wall of your garage, or tied to the rafters, unlike a tinnie. You neighbors wouldn't even know you had a boat!
The hull itself weighs about 68lbs. When you add on the plywood seats and transom, it was still light enough for two people to carry down to the water. You could also drag the fully assembled Porta-Bote on your own if you wanted to, though there is a separate two wheel dolly available so you can get to “out of the way places” that you couldn't drive to.
The hull is made from UV Buffered Copolymer Polypropylene 1/4” thick. The colour runs right the way through so any scratches don't show. This hull material is incredibly strong. It is unaffected by: sunlight, saltwater, acid, and won't even burn! Most importantly the hull is resistant to even the sharpest rocks that would puncture the hull
Once on the water it was soon obvious why Porta-Bote has been so successful over the past quarter century.
It handles extremely well. It is a pleasure to row, even for someone as rusty as I am on the oars. Incidentally, the Porta-Bote is fully supplied with two-piece alloy oars that click together, and a pair of rollicks that clamp the oars in place.
The oars are also filled to make them float if dropped overboard. During later “testing” on Lake Selfe, in the Canterbury high country, I soon came to appreciate just how easy this craft is to row. On this lake you're not permitted to troll with a motor so I had a go at rowing instead. The action of a lure when trolled behind a rowed boat is much more lifelike than when using an outboard. I hadn't rowed far when a giant rainbow erupted out of the water quite some distance behind us.
I let go of the oars and gabbed for my rod. This big fish rocketed up out of the water several more times in quick succession before my lure snapped off at the knot. “Never mind,” I thought, “there are plenty more in here!” And so it was, my son Stephen and I caught and kept a fish each as the evening progressed. At Lake Selfe we also discovered another important feature of the Porta-Bote: our muddy boots made an awful mess on the floor of the hull but this washed straight off later with the hose! The seats are covered with thick foam, as is the inside top of the hull. This material gives the Porta Bote considerably extra buoyancy. It will still float even when full of water. The foam covered seats are also very comfortable to sit on. Under power with our 6 hp Johnson outboard the 12'6” model flew along. The manufacturer claims speeds up to 20 mph with a 5 hp outboard. I don't doubt this for a second.
Overall the Porta-Bote provides just the right balance of portability, fishability, and excellent design.
Porta-Bote gives you 3 colour choices: Pacific Pearl Color (off white/foam), Olive Drab, and aluminum silver.
For the past 25 years, the JCI (Japanese Coast Guard) has tested Porta-Bote's space age engineered resin hull and hinges. 