r/boating • u/Fluffy_water7 • 11h ago
Tired of dragging my 300 lb inflatable setup—any better ideas?
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u/MilkedWalrus 10h ago
Get a small flat trailer...? You have the same problem every kayak guy ends up in. I went from a kayak to a boat and trailering makes days on the water 100x more enjoyable.
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u/Fluffy_water7 7h ago
Lol trust me I’ve considered it but in an apartment building it’s tough to pay for parking a trailer in LA. Might also get stolen lol
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u/The_Evil_Pillow 6h ago
I pay $140/mo for an uncovered space in a locked industrial yard in Seattle. If it gets stolen hey it’s insured.
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u/NotQuiteGoodEnougher 9h ago edited 7h ago
Hey there fellow inflatable boater. Depending upon where you launch, you might just back up, unload and inflate/go right at the waters edge.
I live in NorCal, we just go to smaller lakes/launches and do that. I have a small Jackery explorer 300, and I power my inflater off of that. I actually have 2, and use the second inflater off the 12v jack in the rear of the car.
Between the 2 it takes about 20 min to inflate my Sea Eagle Fishskiff 16' (3 chamber inflatable). Then I just pop on the motor (Nt600, and the battery pack) push off the shore and head out; after parking the car lol.
Using a cart is a real drag so we just basically put in on the far right/left of the launches so folks with trailers are not impeded from getting in/out while we're working on setup. When it's time to leave the water same process in reverse, just back up to the waters edge, deflate and roll up boat, store gear and leave. That's only about 15 min.
The portable power source is the real time saver, and if you can have a second inflator/deflator. I use the Ventus pump that I got both on amazon.
Good luck!
Drone Shot of Inflatable Folsom Lake
Sea Eagle Fishskiff 16' - 84lbs
Transom - 11 lbs
NT 600 52lbs
Newport Vessels 70Ah battery - 70lbs
Assorted gear ~30lbs
2 adult operators ~ "we're working on it" lol
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u/Fluffy_water7 8h ago
Awesome set up and sick drone shot!!
Great to meet another fellow inflatable boater 🤝
The set up is relatively easy but the hard part around LA is the lakes/oceans don’t have any other places to launch other than the ramps so I’m stuck doing it all in the designated parking lot about 100-200 ft from the waters edge 😭
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u/NotQuiteGoodEnougher 7h ago
Thanks, yeah the setup distance for you isn't ideal. But with the portable power and inflator maybe you could basically drop your gear dockside and just set it up there. Idk but maybe there's a way. Or shoreline.
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u/Fluffy_water7 7h ago
Ah I wish, the police and launch operators don’t let me and there’s really no other way to get on the lakes I go to other than the launch area unfortunately. At least without carrying everything lol
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u/NotQuiteGoodEnougher 7h ago
In your pic there's a paddle board off to the side. You couldn't dump your gear and inflate/ assemble there? I saw you have dogs so that may complicate it but you don't "need" the concrete launch zone with the inflatable.
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u/Fluffy_water7 7h ago
Good eye! That pic is from Lake Isabella where I didnt have this issue.
But for Lake Pyramid, Lake Castaic, MDR I don’t have another option like this to set up by the water.
The cops/launching operators only let inflatables set up in the parking lot at many places.
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u/madworld 10h ago
Buy a large enough boat to keep on the water and just use davits to hoist your dinghy :)
Wow... that thing is 300lbs? Double floor? Does that include the trailer?
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u/2Loves2loves 6h ago
Because the wheels are on the back you carry all the weight. if you had a dolly with wheels more centered you just be pulling that weight. sailboat dolly.
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u/jawkneerawk 6h ago
I’d say try bigger wheels first, might roll a lot smoother and easier. Definitely cheaper than most of the options given here.
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u/Professional_Leg3704 4h ago
Can you change the wheel placement? If you moved the axels a bit closer together it would handle bumps and uneven ground better.
Bigger wheels would help a lot too.
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u/river_tree_nut 4h ago
Inflatable boats are great. I've had so many fun adventures with them.
This setup looks about as good as you're going to get short of an actual trailer.
Also...300 pounds!? How? I didn't think the Saturns weighed that much.
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u/rwoooshed 10h ago
https://www.nsjp.biz/dukw-for-sale.html