Quick Boat Update

I just received an email from Deryck Graham of Quickboats and he informed me of the following:

“ Quick boats are at present looking to start production again, hopefully later this year, as they have sold out of present stock.

They too now have several patents in various countries, including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China, and Europe."

They are still receiving a constant stream of enquiries (close to 6,000), so interest has not waned.

There are many differences between the Quick Boat and the Porta bote and while a number of the patents on the Portabote have ended (You can now by a "Folding Boat" on the Chinese Alibaba site), the remaining patents do not affect the radical design of the Quick Boat.

So be patient and soon you will be able to buy the Australian Quick Boat.

UPDATE: (28/05/16)

I was just informed by Deryck  from Quickboats that they are in discussion with a very large manufacturing company at the moment.

Hopefully production will resume soon.

Alpha Series Folding Transom

Sandy from Portabote just sent me this animated gif file to demonstrated just how the transom folds.

Alpha Series Folding Transom

This folding transom overcomes storage and transport issues for the transom as it is now incorporated permanently in with the hull.

Additionally as Sandy points out, now there are 20 less components necessary to install the transom (Screw, washer, rubber washer, washer and then a wing nut X 4)

This I feel is a great innovation for the Portabote Alpha Series.

Transducer bracket for Fish Finder

Some may be wondering how to mount their transducer on their PortaBote so I decided to add some pictures to show what I have done.
I was given a suction cup by my brother's father in law and decided to give it a go.

Completed transducer bracket

I wondered at first whether or not the cup would hold but it has never fallen off in 7 years.
The transducer is also supported by the rivet at the bottom of the bladder via a hole drilled in the bracket.
This prevents horizontal movement of the bracket when under way.

The cup sticks to the bladder quite well. It is available from a number of suppliers. A quick Google search for "transducer suction cup" should show you where in your area.



You can see the hole better in the picture below. The bracket is made from aluminium.

Support hole in bracket.

Rippled Alpha seats and transom "L" bolt improvement.

The case of the rippling seats.

My friend Paul from the Floating Log recently posted a request to Sandy from PortaBote in regard to the rippled seats that he is experiencing.

So far no response but hopefully Paul will receive a reply, either privately or through the forum soon.
It appears that the seats have rippled perhaps due to heat from the sun which is something that should not happen.
It has been suggested previously by Sandy that Paul had placed something heavy on those seats which resulted in the ripples.
This is something that Paul has not done so the ripples remain a mystery.

UPDATE

Paul has been in touch with Portabote and Sandy has referred Paul to the local distributer in Singapore for him to decide the best plan of action.

(8th of April 2016)
It is great to hear that PortaBote have agreed to replace Paul's seats free of charge.

"L" bolt improvement.

Paul also came up with a brilliant idea in regard to the 'L" bolts used to keep the transom locked into position.
He was experiencing a problem with the "L" bolts in that the nuts work loose with the vibration of the outboard and then he noticed the thrust bolt on his outboard motor, the one used to set the position of the outboard in regards to the transom, the trim of the outboard.





He decided to drill a slightly larger hole beside the existing holes in his transom brackets to accommodate the pin from his outboard motor.

The result?
A perfect fit!
This seems to be a good solution to the loose nut problem and is a lot quicker to install.
Well done Paul.
Hopefully Portabote will take this on board.

Feedback from Bruce Balan, 16 years a Portabote owner.

This information was kindly emailed to me by Bruce Balan who has owned a Portabote for 16 years:

A Cruiser’s Review of the 10’ Porta-Bote

First, a history of our 2 Porta-Botes:

I purchased my first 10’ Porta-Bote in 1999 and Porta-Botes have been our primary dingy every since. I sailed from California to Mexico and back from 1999 to 2001 and then left the USA permanently in 2005. My wife and I have been slowly sailing around the world since.

Copyright Bruce Balan

Many features of the Porta-Bote make it a great dinghy for full-time cruisers. We love that we can easily pull it up on the beach with just two of us. We like how well it steers and tracks compared to many inflatables. The bote gives a fairly dry ride, and goes really fast with a small outboard! It also stows perfectly on our 1969 Cross 46 trimaran.


Unfortunately, we’ve had quite a few problems with our botes over the years.

One of the oarlocks on the first bote pulled out within a year. I repaired it myself. This first bote came with the terrible wooden seats which were heavy. They soon began to delaminate. I upgraded to the first generation plastic seats but they failed in a couple of years. The bote also developed a leaking transom after 7 years. We ended up negotiating to buy a new boat from Porta-Bote for a discounted price. We were in Ecuador at the time so shipping was expensive. That was 2007/8.



The first bote’s black hull flotation had begun to deteriorate badly in the tropical sun so we made canvas covers for the new bote’s flotation.



At 9 years, one of the original oars broke. It cracked at the holes where the two pieces join. We bought a new set when we arrived in New Zealand. Now (2015), the new set shows it is heading toward the same end.



In 2010, the 2008 bote’s hull split at the bow. Using 3M 5200 and rivets provided by Porta-Bote we were able to repair it. Looks a bit dodgy but it is holding well. In 2012, the plastic seats again began to fail. Several of the plastic support brace holders cracked as well as the bottoms of the seat where the metal braces pushed up through the plastic into the foam. We asked Porta-Bote for a new set of plastic brace holders and they refused, saying repeatedly that we were the only ones who have ever had this problem and that we had abused our bote. We were told the braces would cost $144.


After much discussion and additional accusations of abuse, Porta-Bote finally sent some brace holders free of charge. We fiberglassed the seats to repair them.

Copyright Bruce Balan

In early 2013, our bote was put in indoor storage in Thailand for 2 years while we did a refit on our sailboat. When we took it out, the transom split. Now in 2015, we have a temporary (leaking) repair and will try a more permanent repair with some Eternabond tape per Porta-Bote’s recommendation.

We treat our boat with respect as it is our primary means of transportation off of the main boat. Until this month we have used a small 2-stroke 3.3 HP engine (we now also have a 2-stroke 5 HP). My wife and I together weigh about 280 lbs., so most of the time (but certainly not all the time) the boat is lightly loaded.

So, after owning Porta-Botes for 17 years, and using the bote daily for months on end, here’s my take: 

The Porta-Bote is a great boat for the occasional weekender. It’s light, fairly rugged, easy to put together, gives a good ride, and is reasonably priced (if you are in the USA). But the botes just can’t handle daily use as a primary dinghy, especially in the tropics. Moving provisions and jerry jugs back and forth, scuba diving, surf landings, long trips in very choppy conditions – these are all common in our life. In our 10 years of full-time cruising, we’ve run across several other cruisers who have had Porta-Botes. Most people like them and most everyone has had problems with them. Most notably: leaking hulls, broken seats, broken oars, deteriorating foam.


It’s a shame because, as I said, there are many good points to the bote. I have to admit that I have also been very frustrated by the uphill battle that we’ve had in the past with the Porta-Bote company. I get very tired of being told that we are the only people in all the world who have ever had that problem. Though some have had good customer service, our experience has been that the first response from Porta-Bote is you abused the boat and it is your fault.

Since we are very far from the USA, I’ll probably try the Australian Quickboat when I can no longer keep this bote going.

Bruce Balan

s/v Migration

http://www.brucebalan.com/migrations

July 2015


West Coast of Malaysia

First Quickboat in the Mediterranean Sea

This is a video of the first Quickboat in the Mediterranean Sea

It sure looks like they are having fun!

If it were not for those inflatables that are constantly cracking and tearing,.......

Well, it's come up again from Portabote bagging inflatable boats with claims that they are constantly cracking and tearing.
I pointed out to Sandy Kaye via a private email that if it were not for those inflatables that he keeps on bagging, Portabote would be in trouble due to the tearing of the bladder on a Portabote.
.
I have never heard on the forum about inflatables constantly tearing and in fact there have been quite a few mentions over the years of Portabotes requiring the said tape to repair the bladder, etc.

Sandy's reply to me was that almost 70% of Portabotes sold have been to ex-inflatable owners.

I personally find that difficult to fathom as one would think that you would get shouted down by the many ex-inflatable owners on the forum when you suggest that the statement from Sandy is a gross exaggeration.

I have not been shouted down.

I know a few inflatable owners and they definitely do not agree with Sandy's comments about inflatable boats.

If you are wondering, the product that Sandy mentions is made by Eternabond and is also available in Australia. Sandy recommends the Roofseal Plus from Eternabond's product range.

I'd like to also point out that in his latest post on the forum, Sandy refrained from bagging the inflatable boat but instead mentioned that the tape is also used for RV and caravan repairs. :)

A speed test for my Gen IV Bote.

Some time ago I decided to do some testing with different size outboards on my 10' Portabote.
I posted the results in the forum.
I was having problems with my old 4hp outboard and was looking at buying a new one.
Here is a copy of my post:

"Well guys,I finally found out the cause of my thumping transom.
Went out on the river today with Jamie (The forum member with an engineering background, Thanks Jamie)
We tried a couple of his outboards and I was very pleased with the result.

Let me first state that with my 4hp 2 stroke engine I am able to attain 20kmh (12mph) but it has an intermittent thump.
I weigh around 100kg and I also had a small 12 volt car battery on board but that's about it other than 5 litres of fuel.

First of all we tried Jamie's 5hp 4 stroke (2 years old) and the maximum speed I was able to attain was between 17 and 18 kph (10.2 mph and 10.8 mph) a little slower than my 4hp 2 stroke.

Next we tried Jamie's 7.5 hp 2 stroke and I'm sorry to say I couldn't get it to plane.

I couldn't get it back down onto the water to plane - It was flying! (Just joking about not planing).

It planed very well and I didn't have to move from the rear seat to the middle seat to do so.
I was able to go 26kph with the 7.5hp 2 stroke even though it's a 1980 something Johnson. That's 15.6mph with a standard transom.

(Thanks again Jamie.)"

I have settled for a 5.8 hp Parsun Outboard which, technically is a little over powered for my 10' Gen IV bote.
The maximum power rating according to my compliance plate is 5hp.

According to Portabote the maximum recommended safe hull speed is still 15 mph even for the new Alpha series.
It also appears that the maximum hull speed is, as indicated by Portabote, 15mph (24 kph or 13 knots).

Cheers,
Matt

Quickboat and Portabote maximum speed and benefits of each.

Portabote.

Portabote has been on the scene for quite a few years now.
There have been competitors in the past but most seem to have disappeared over the years.
Here in Australia we had our own version named the "Flatout Boat".
It was very similar to the Portabote but for some reason it didn't seem to take off very well.

The main positives can be summed up in the words of Sandy Kaye, CEO of Portabote:

"The Portabote was never meant to be a speed boat but rather a safe vessel for both boating and fishing."

In regards to safety, the patented "Flexy Hull" has proven to be very effective in handling chop in rough water, something that I have experienced myself.
The Portabote has a level floatation rating which means that should the vessel be swamped and fill with water it will remain level and still float.
This floatation is achieved by the use of floatation foam fixed to the hull just above the seats.
The seats too contain floatation which adds to its safety factor.
The plastic hull itself has a certain level of boyancy.

Due to the flexible hull the maximum recommended safe speed for the Portabote has been limited to 15 mph (24 kph or 13 knots).

Should you decide on using a 9.8hp outboard for your 14' bote, it is also recommended  by Portabote that the throttle be kept to a little over half full throttle as any more will have little effect due to maximum hull speed and it will result in excess fuel being used for no reason.
It is also recommended that you avoid sharp turns at speed in a Portabote.

Quickboats

After passing hands a couple of times, the Flatout boat was eventually bought by Quickboats who totally redesigned their folding boat.
Deryck Graham, one of the partners of Quickboats and brother of James, is an aeronautical engineer with quite a lot of experience with composit materials, which is what the Quickboat is made of.
The hull and transom of the Quickboat are both rigid, and result in a vessel that is safe, fast and responsive.
It too has level floatation capabilities but the flotation is acheived through the composit hull material from which it is made.

In regard to maximum speed of the Quickboat Deryck Graham had this to say:

"Two people on board at say 70kg each with 9.8hp sees the Quickboat capable of 22 knots.  At this speed it hits the limit of the prop pitch."

In response to another review that stated:

"........ the faster it (the Quickboat ) goes, the more rigid the hull becomes."

Deryck continued:

"The Quickboat is high tech but i have to admit it does not morph into a more rigid boat than it already is at speed. :-)"

Kind Regards

Deryck Graham
Managing Director
Quickboats

For those that are curious, 22 knots equates to around 25 mph or 40 kph.

Quickoat maximum speed and reviews.

Here is an interesting review on the Quickboat that I came across.

Quite good information but there are a couple of things that I don't agree with in this review.
The first is probably subjective as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
In that review they state that the Quickboat is "Perhaps not the prettiest 'dory' around town."

I actually like the design of the Quickboat and in my opinion it is a modern, smart looking craft.

The second thing that I don't agree with can be seen under the "Engineering" section of the review.

Under that section they state that, due to its design, the faster you go, the more rigid the hull becomes.

That may have been a personal observation on their part, but to be sure I did as I do and went to the manufacturer of the Quickboat for confirmation.

I sent an email to Deryck Graham and this was his reply:

Hello Matt

Two people on board at say 70kg each with 9.8hp sees the Quickboat capable of 22 knots.  At this speed it hits the limit of the prop pitch.

The Quickboat is high tech but I have to admit it does not morph into a more rigid boat than it already is at speed. :-)

Kind Regards

Deryck Graham
Managing Director
Quickboats

www.quickboats.com

That is what I like about Quickboats.
They are upfront and their dealings have always been honest with me.
There is no feeling of being competitive with the opposition and never an unkind word against them.
Their mantra has always been that there is room enough for all in the world of folding boats.

Quite impressive speed I think for a foldng boat.

22knots equates to 40kph or 25mph.
Absolutely brilliant!

Tight lines and screamimg reels,

Matt

Stainless steel rods?

Well, I did it again.
Once again I asked the CEO of Portabote about the flexing transom.

I sent an email off to Sandy Kaye, asking him if he could tell me why they allow a flexing transom.
I also sent a number of possibilities as to why this could be the case.
These possibilities are:

1. Safety. Because you have to angle the outboard, optimum performance cannot be achieved as stated by a few forum members and this will limit maximum speed. (I have experienced this myself in that my 10’ bote goes a lot better if the outboard is vertical, it just hits the back of the bote.)

2. It has become necessary to have a thinner transom to accommodate the folding transom.

3. It’s just a side effect of having a plastic transom and now a thin metal one.

4. Cost. You are trying to keep the cost down as much as possible for your customers.

5. Weight of the bote to be kept to a minimum.

I was pleased to receive a reply almost immediately and this is what he said:


“Thank you Matt,
You stated a lot of the correct answers yourself.
I wish you had a chance to actually use the Bote with the folding transom. It flexes when you start. But then the vertical stainless steel rods help to rigidify it pretty well.
We have quite a few out there now and people seem to be satisfied with the performance.
The picture that I sent you does show how well it performs.
Thank you again for asking these good questions.

Sandy”



Having read his reply, I have a couple of concerns.
I don't how effective the stainless steel rods (which are used to keep the transom folded. There are two of them) would be as they are about the size of small tent pegs.
In any case, they couldn't be very strong, strong enough to prevent flex anyway or to have much effect..
Sandy's reply also suggests that there are other reasons that are not mentioned.

The question was also raised again in the forum in regard to maximum safe  speed for the new Alpha series bote.

In response Sandy re-iterated that the maximum safe speed for the Alpha series would be about 15mph (about 13 knots or 24 kph), after which the hull begins to spread at the sides and becomes a little unstable.

This spreading hull has become known as "flexisplay", a term coined by Paul from "The floating log" blog.

Sandy has also recommended that when using a 9.8hp on the 14' Alpha series you should limit speed to a little over half throttle and went on to say that any more than that would be of no value due to maximum hull speed and it is a waste of fuel.

Folding transom update

Unfortunately, Paul's transom motor mount repair was unsuccessful.
He is going to try again and see if he can repair it himself.

There is now a third report concerning the Alpha series folding transom from a new owner.
This is what he had to say:
"I was setting up my 12 foot Alpha in the garage this morning. I bought the boat in December 2014 and have set it up three times. Well I had the same thing happen to me, the motor mount just fell off! I haven't even had the thing in the water yet and this happens? The rivets just pulled out. I also notice that some of the other rivets holding the folding transom together appear to be very loose. Extremely disappointed."

Sandy's response to the problem was quite good however.

He stated the following:

"We will now have a team of quality control people examine the transoms still in the factory (both the ones that have been installed and the ones on the assembly line). An inconvenience no owner should need to experience.
Thanks again for letting us know. You are appreciated."

Sandy Kaye
President
Porta-Bote International


Problems may happen at any time in manufacturing. That is to be expected.

What also is important is how these problems are addressed.

Sandy has done quite well in looking into how this issue can be fixed.
Portbote offered to pay freight both ways to these  Portabote owners.

Cheers,
Matt

Alpha Bote owner - DIY/Repairs/Mods

Paul is a new owner of an Alpha Series Portabote and has started a new blog covering DIY, Repairs and Upgrades. He has called it "The floating Log" (An interesting story as to why he called his blog "The floating Log". Check that out too.)
He was able to overcome a problem with a motor mount falling off .
You can see the solution to his problem here.
He used Automotive "Goop" to effect a repair.
It will be interesting to see how it holds up.

Portabote offered for Paul to send his transom back and they would pay freight both ways.

Another Alpha series owner reports a similar problem but opted to use bolts and washers beside the existing rivets.
He says that his repair has held up for 2 years now.

Cheers,
Matt

Suzuki 2.5hp = 3.5hp?

It's been a hectic week on the Portabote forum with a debate as to whether the Suzuki 2.5 hp 4 stroke outboard actually has an output of 3.5 hp.
What raised this topic was a couple of statements on the Portabote Suzuki Marine page where it was stated that a Suzuki 2.5 hp was as powerful as most 3.5 hp outboards and a 4 hp was as powerful as most 5 hp outboards. This topic was raised due to a query in the forum as to whether a 2.5 hp or a 3.5 hp should be bought by a particular new bote owner.
Once those statements were challenged things heated up a bit on the forum.
I decided to contact Suzuki Marine here in Oz and also in the US and ask for clarification.
Once I posted my findings on the forum, discussion continued with me copping a bit of flack from Portabote and a couple of forum members.
Finally Sandy decided to contact Suzuki himself and this was his next post:

"From Sandy

Because of the claims and counter claims made, I finally got through to one of the top people at Suzuki this morning.
I explained to him that years ago, when we first joined with Suzuki and were developing our site, we worked with a promotion company that Suzuki was using at that time.
When we asked them how come Suzuki doesn't have a 3.5hp or a 5hp in this country, they told us that the 2.5hp-was as powerful as a 3.5hp and the 4hp-was as powerful as a 5hp.


As a result, we had the statements on our site for many years.


Jon told me Suzuki hadn't used this company for years and to remove those two statements - which we just did.
I, again, asked him "point blank" is there any truth at all to this? He just reiterated, "Sandy, please remove those two statements".

So, thanks to Mat for "sticking to his guns on this topic. What we took as a given

was wrong. Thanks again, Mat. Now, we and two other Suzuki nationwide dealers no longer have this claim on our sites.

Ironically, we have found the main reason most folks purchase the 2.5hp model is the 29 pound weight and the good reputation that Suzuki has developed over the past half century (they make fine motorcycles, also)."

The 29 pound that Sandy is referring to equates to around 13kg.

I think it would have been a difficult thing to make that statement in a public forum so kudos to Sandy for his actions here. I only wish that he'd gotten my name right :)

Cheers,
Matt

I bought myself a PortaBote

Since I started my blog, the relationship between myself and Portabote seems to have gone downhill.
I have tried and tried to get Portabote on board.
Mostly what I've received from Portabote has been misrepresentation and misinformation concerning the new Alpha series, To the point now that I prefer to get information from the users in the forum instead of Portabote itself.  I wanted to do a comparison between the Quickboat and the Portabote and while Quickboat has been keen, Portabote seems very reluctant and I think I know why.

Portabote still has a flexing transom, what I consider to be its Achilles Heel. Even with the new Alpha series and its folding transom. It still flexes.
The problem with that is the fact that you cannot set the outboard angle for maximum performance as the outboard will hit the back of the boat according to recent posts.
This in turn makes steering difficult if not dangerous and can cause damage to the bote itself.
For the life of me I do not know why the transom has been made so flimsy on the Alpha series.

Over the years there have been plenty of posts in the Portabote Forum praising the patented "Flexi Hull" but I have yet to see one post praising the flexing transom.
There have been quite a few posts in regard to the flexing transom, but not one positive that I have seen.
In fact, owners have gone to great lengths to try and strengthen the transom to prevent it from flexing.
They are still trying to strengthen the new Alpha series transom too.

Whenever the subject turns to the flex in the transom, a magician's sleight of hand trick (almost a Jedi mind trick)  seems to divert the conversation from the flexing transom to the "Patented Flexi Hull", thus ends the conversation with no further input from Portabote.
I agree that the flexi-hull is great in choppy water. It does absorb the wave action and gives you a smoother ride than in an aluminium boat.
It does what it says on the box but in my opinion, not as well as Portabote would have us believe.

Along with the flexi-hull comes limitations that Portabote seem to me to be reluctant to discuss.

One such limitation is the loss of performance in that the speed of the Portabote is reduced to around 15 mph (Roughly 24 kph).
According to Portabote, the bote becomes "squirrelly" after that speed.

A couple of people in the forum have even strengthened the hull on their portabote to improve performance.

When I first bought my Portabote, there was no alternative. It was a Portabote or nothing if you wanted a folding boat.

Now there are other options.

It is good for the folding boat market to have healthy competition, a choice.

Early on in my blog I was asked which I preferred, a Portabote or a Quickboat.

I still say now what I said then, It's horses for courses. If you are happy with the Portabote and it suits your needs then go for it. If you want something a little more rigid, then go for that too.

I have had a bit more experience with the Quickboat now and after owning a Portabote and having been in a Quickboat a few times this is how I feel now on the subject.

My Portabote

I bought myself a Portabote
about 6 years ago

If I knew then what I know now

That it would go so slow
Its hull does flex
And that's for sure
But its transom?
What's the go?
It appears to be an Achilles Heel
For my Portabote so slow
I've had my bote at quite high speeds
80k's or more
But that soon stopped
To my dismay
When my trailer reached the shore,
If only I could trailer it
Down the river too
I'd keep up with that Quickboat there
Disappearing from my view.

I would have to also say that there are many people happy with their Portabote.
This is obvious from a recent post on the Portabote Forum:

" I travel about 6 months a year in my rv and where I go there is water from Alsaka (fishing 10 miles out in very good weather), on most rivers in the northwest of the U.S. and a lot of lakes (lake mead, flaming gorge, lake Powell. Columbia River buoy 10 in not so good weather, but all in all I'm fishing on the water or sightseeing. That means a lot to have a boat that's safe and goes with you were ever."

Not everyone needs to travel at speed to get to where they are going. In fact sometimes it is good to be able to sit back and relax, take in the scenery. I do enjoy early morning treks on the river. The only issue I have is when I want to get to a favourite fishing spot in a hurry. Perhaps if I'd bought a 12' boat instead of the 10' boat, I'd be able to add a larger outboard but the 12' boat is too heavy for me to handle by myself. Even Col from Portabote here in Australia said that he would not sell me a 12' bote due to it being more difficult to handle with my medical condition.

Quickboats sold out until October 2015

I just received a newsletter from Quickboats, Australia informing us that the Quickboat has sold out world-wide until Oct 2015.
They are still getting plenty of inquiries including hordes of inquiries from USA and Canada as to when the Quickboat will be available there.
At one time a second hand PortaBote was as scarce as hens teeth here in Oz but there seems to be quite a few available now if that is your preference..

Trim your boat/bote

There is an interesting article on trimming your outboard on the Club Marine website.
It helps to explain the benefits of trimming and the effects of not trimming correctly.

You can check it out here.

Folding transom.

Talk continues on the Portabote forum in regard to the new Alpha series and its folding transom.

The concept is brilliant and saves having to carry the transom separately. It does add extra weight to the hull but I believe that the seats have been made lighter to compensate partially for the extra weight.

Again a new Alpha series owner is trying to overcome problems with what may be its Achilles heel as the transom still flexes, allowing the outboard to hit the back of the bote unless set on the third hole.
This, according to both my own experience and recent posts on the forum also decreases performance, which is why some are trying to modify their new bote already.
While the owner still loves his bote, I feel that you should not have to overcome what some consider an inherent weakness on a new product.

Alpha series feedback.

There has been some very good feedback on the new Alpha Series Portabote on the forum from a new owner.

This is what he had to say:

The good:

The PB is quick considering the 6hp motor. It planes in flat water with my wife, our 100lb dog and myself at 390lb. total plus 3gal. of gas. Or it will plane with my dog and myself with 1’ chop.

We have plenty of space for cooler, fishing gear etc.

The hull seems to be tough.

It behaves well on the davits with cross ties.

The fast folding feature of the new PB is for me an important advantage as I will not leave it on my boat while at the dock.

The not so good:

My first mate (and I) finds the PB unstable compared to our Apex. She does not like it so far.

When our dog shifts from one side to the other, both, my first mate and I have to do some shifting as well immediately to keep the boat stable.

Our dog just does not like it. He cannot find a comfortable position on longer rides and going in and out is not practical for him, especially at the beach. He loves the rides on inflatables or any other floating toy like paddle boards, Hobies etc..

Assembling would take 4 to 5 minutes if the locking pins on the seats would align well, they don’t.

The foldable transom looks not up to the task to me (at least not with a 58lb. OB); time will tell how long it will last.

After the first 20 minutes of using the PB I found some small nylock nuts on the floor. The bolts they belong to at the transomare too short and the threads never reached the nylon for locking. 
Put them on, once back at the boat, just to find them loose again after another half hour ride.

The 4 wing nuts locking the transom have to be constantly tightened. (missing pressure washer?)

The black seats get so hot in the sun that you cannot sit on them without putting a towel or similar on top.

Picked two friends up at the local dock and returning to the boat,about two miles into an 18knt wind with 1’ chop was very wet for the person sitting in front.

Going fast with one person on board, the ride feels wiggly as the boat does not track too well at high speed.

Once I get back home I will install proper ball locking pins well aligned, right sized screws and replacing the bolts with the wing nuts on the transom with ball locking pins and flange bearings. The seats I will flame treat as they are plastic and spray paint with grey epoxy paint including the black close cell foam around the inside of the gunwales. Once all this is taken care of I think the PB will serve me well having the choice to use the Apex when conditions require.

The dog and myself are getting used to the PB, not so the first mate, so far.

I don’t think I will ever use it to surf in 5 foot waves, as mentioned in some other forum.

Feedback Update.

There has been an update on the Portabote forum in regard to the information above.

Copperfire103 has had his Alpha series for 12 months now.

Due to issues he was having he decided to make a few modifications, including modifying the folding transom. After modifying the Alpha series transom he says that now it is rock solid and is a lot happier now.

His "First mate" and his dog seem to be a lot happier now too.

You can see what he had to say here.

Sandy's response to this feed back was:

Hi there,
Thanks for the detailed good and not so good issues with your new Porta-Bote.
I think once you get used to the important flexing you will be able to enjoy the Bote much more.
To see more important details, please click on:
http://www.porta-bote.com/faq/stability

I will notify the factory about the loose lock nuts.
Thanks again for taking the time to report to us.

Fair Winds,

Portatech

It is interesting that I recall an earlier complaint in regard to the wing nuts coming loose on the Alpha series.
At that time it was suggested by Sandy that the wrong length screws were supplied and he offered to replace them free of charge.

It still appears to be an issue.

I believe that the "important flexing" is what is responsible for the high speed instability.
Again. it's a matter of "horses for courses".
What may be suitable for one person or situation may be unsuitable for another person or situation.

Quickboats on Sky News Australia

Quickboats makes Sky News here in Australia!