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Fishing Raft on tight budget.

18K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  Whoapiglet 
#1 ·
I went back a couple of years of threads. Still at a lost for a fishing raft. My needs are.
1. Need something light around 100 pounds. I fish a lot by myself an anything heavier is too much to handle.
2. Around 10ft. It needs to be able to transport in a back of a pickup. I tow a travel trailer.
3. Lake fishing as well as I-(light) III rivers.
4. Budget 2500.00
5. Firm bottom a plus. Can you use/add marine plywood?

I'm thinking given the prices of new, buying use.
I did see the Outcast OSG Stryker for $2400. Any thoughts on that?
 
#6 ·
You are not gonna get 2 people on a 10' cat. I would seriously consider a Watermaster Kodiak and just fish solo. Or have your buddy grt one also. Great little boats that let you maneuver with fins or row with oars. Outcast also has 2 offerings in the same category. You'll fish more in a little boat than trying to stretch a small 2 man into a pickup.

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#7 ·
I've built 6 mini fishing boat frames (for trib 9.5, mini me, minimax) 4 of them for me. I learned a lot in the process. I'd skip the outcast boat and build a simple nrs frame (48" seat bar and fishing seat bar only, 8" towers and 7.5-8' oars) and stick it on the trib 9.5. The material is twice as thick as the outcast boat, no janky "frame" and you could build it for the same price and about the same weight. Put a basspto shops plastic quick release swivel on the fishing seat and you can remove the bulkiest item of you kit for travel or storage.

Plus theres a good chance you can find a lot of he stuff used. I never paid more than $1000 for any of the rubber listed above all used from either the buzz or craigslist.

If you have to breakdown for travel (i keep My little frame assembled and transport on the roof rack) Just loosen the 4 corner lopros and its disassembled. I used a Cordless impact driver to assemble frames on the river it makes it a breeze.
 
#12 ·
Whoa
I took a look at the Aire "Trib" (had to do some searching to figure out what that was). That 9'8" Tributary looks like what I am looking for. 70 pounds- check, urethane- check, 4 chambers- nice. Looks like a nice raft. I'm a novice, so now learning about fishing frames to put on it is going to be steep learning curve as well.
 
#17 ·
Rocky mountain storm 10.5' lots of pics on this thread. Frame ideas for RMR storm - Mountain Buzz
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That was a useful thread.

On the rafts like the Aire Tributary and RMR Storm what are the floors like for standing and fishing? Do you have to add something on the floor to stand and fish?
 
#19 ·
This is a good site for rafting.

Thanks for the replies. I went down to a local store. And now pretty much sold on a Hyside Minimax. With a basic 1 1/4 frame. Would put it around 100 pounds. Now see if I can get a deal one might have to wait this until this Fall.
 
#20 ·
The RMR storm or hyside min max are the best for your uses. I'd love to have either. I fish out of my 14ft raft by myself plenty....it's easier than fishing out of my duckies.

Fishing out of cats suck, ESPECIALLY flyfishing...I don't know why people suggest it. None of the fishing guides I know even keep one in their commercial quiver ....there's a reason EVERY commercial fishing outfit I've EVER seen fish out of rafts and driftboats.
 
#25 ·
Nope mini max. 10.5. Might look different because it's the rio bravo (Chinese factory vs Korean) version. When they first came out (believe that one was a
'10) they were made in the Chinese factory. The earliest ones (~2008?) had some qc problems the later ones were pretty good. Korean is undoubtedly better.
 
#26 ·
Here's what I came up with after all those little boats- super fun to r2, and row whitewater, but for fishing, I'm too fat and so are my fishing buddies. The little boats are fun when set up for white water. But with my 260# and a 200# fishing buddy (any fly-fisherman worth his salt is somewhat to grossly overweight) not so fun. While I did fish some remote rivers, 95% of the time I would have been happier in a bigger raft. One time in the San Juan I couldn't keep up with my buddies 100# wife rowing a 13' otter. We was drafting mighty low.
 
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