I'll apologize up front for being another newbie with questions. Hopefully I can be specific enough to get some feedback from the collective wisdom (or maybe just experience) here.
We live in N Texas and currently have a 16' canoe (flat bottom with small keel) that we started off in a small lake with about 10 years ago. Initially we just paddled, but after battling wind like a leaf atop the water, as well as Texas heat, we've graduated from a small trolling motor to a larger trolling motor to our current 2.5hp Sukuzi 4-stroke outboard. A few years ago we moved and are once again near a lake, this time a much larger one. The canoe does okay for the wife and me if it's pretty calm (under 10 mph winds). Boat wakes can be a challenge, and much chop at all requires slow going. The boat is stable (we've never turned it over) but not confidence inspiring by any means. Since I'm at the back and she's probably 12' in front of me, there's almost no ability to talk while under way. We also are basically limited to 2 passengers only (3 in a pinch with the temporary center seat).
In thinking of upgrading from the canoe to something more substantial, we have a couple restrictions. Our HOA doesn't allow us to keep a boat in our driveway, so anything requiring a trailer is out. I also don't want to pay for storage or a slip. That has brought me to looking at inflatables or a Porta Bote.
So now that you know where we're coming from...
I think out priorities would be...
1. Must be able to be stored in garage or small back yard with standard width gate and carried by 2 people
2. Ability to hold 4 or more people.
3. Ease of handling - loading, transporting, and unloading both the boat and the motor as well as setup
4. Want to be able to plane instead of limited to putting around in displacement mode
5. I'm assuming any inflatable will be an improvement stability-wise vs the canoe, but would like to be able to better handle mild chop and boat wakes.
I had been leaning towards the Achilles LSI series (air floor) for simplicity of setup, maybe the LSI-335 or LSI-365. This puts us in the 11-12' range and 100lbs, give or take. The 335 recommends a 10hp engine (~84 pounds Nissan/Tohatsu/Mariner) while the 365 recommends a 15 hp which is up near 115 lbs. Without actually handling one, I'm thinking 10hp may be the max weight I want to have load in and out of the car and lug around.
We stopped by West Marine today and checked out the few inflatables they had in stock, mostly RIB's or small dinghys. The RIB 350 Hypalon looked like it might be manageable. It appeared it would be smaller than the canoe when deflated, but at 160# that might be too much for me to handle alone when needed. Even our canoe at 80# with its size creates huge lever arms that make the weight tough to manage. But at least I got to see what a 350 size is.
So we'd love to get as big a boat as possible, but if I self-impose a 10hp motor limit for weight reasons, I'm guessing the best choice would be to stick with a boat size for which 10hp is the recommended motor size instead of a bigger, underpowered boat.
Also, I'm guessing a boat in this 350 range, with my wife and I at a combined 260# wouldn't have a chance of planing with our current 2.5hp regardless of weight distribution, trim, etc is that right?
Please let me know your thoughts. We'd almost always be inflating/deflating every time out I think (would get electric pump), and it would mostly be just the two of us. Extra capacity for 2 or 3 more in a pinch would be nice. In those cases I think we could deal with not planing I think.
Thanks in advance for you help.
We live in N Texas and currently have a 16' canoe (flat bottom with small keel) that we started off in a small lake with about 10 years ago. Initially we just paddled, but after battling wind like a leaf atop the water, as well as Texas heat, we've graduated from a small trolling motor to a larger trolling motor to our current 2.5hp Sukuzi 4-stroke outboard. A few years ago we moved and are once again near a lake, this time a much larger one. The canoe does okay for the wife and me if it's pretty calm (under 10 mph winds). Boat wakes can be a challenge, and much chop at all requires slow going. The boat is stable (we've never turned it over) but not confidence inspiring by any means. Since I'm at the back and she's probably 12' in front of me, there's almost no ability to talk while under way. We also are basically limited to 2 passengers only (3 in a pinch with the temporary center seat).
In thinking of upgrading from the canoe to something more substantial, we have a couple restrictions. Our HOA doesn't allow us to keep a boat in our driveway, so anything requiring a trailer is out. I also don't want to pay for storage or a slip. That has brought me to looking at inflatables or a Porta Bote.
So now that you know where we're coming from...
I think out priorities would be...
1. Must be able to be stored in garage or small back yard with standard width gate and carried by 2 people
2. Ability to hold 4 or more people.
3. Ease of handling - loading, transporting, and unloading both the boat and the motor as well as setup
4. Want to be able to plane instead of limited to putting around in displacement mode
5. I'm assuming any inflatable will be an improvement stability-wise vs the canoe, but would like to be able to better handle mild chop and boat wakes.
I had been leaning towards the Achilles LSI series (air floor) for simplicity of setup, maybe the LSI-335 or LSI-365. This puts us in the 11-12' range and 100lbs, give or take. The 335 recommends a 10hp engine (~84 pounds Nissan/Tohatsu/Mariner) while the 365 recommends a 15 hp which is up near 115 lbs. Without actually handling one, I'm thinking 10hp may be the max weight I want to have load in and out of the car and lug around.
We stopped by West Marine today and checked out the few inflatables they had in stock, mostly RIB's or small dinghys. The RIB 350 Hypalon looked like it might be manageable. It appeared it would be smaller than the canoe when deflated, but at 160# that might be too much for me to handle alone when needed. Even our canoe at 80# with its size creates huge lever arms that make the weight tough to manage. But at least I got to see what a 350 size is.
So we'd love to get as big a boat as possible, but if I self-impose a 10hp motor limit for weight reasons, I'm guessing the best choice would be to stick with a boat size for which 10hp is the recommended motor size instead of a bigger, underpowered boat.
Also, I'm guessing a boat in this 350 range, with my wife and I at a combined 260# wouldn't have a chance of planing with our current 2.5hp regardless of weight distribution, trim, etc is that right?
Please let me know your thoughts. We'd almost always be inflating/deflating every time out I think (would get electric pump), and it would mostly be just the two of us. Extra capacity for 2 or 3 more in a pinch would be nice. In those cases I think we could deal with not planing I think.
Thanks in advance for you help.