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I talked to a guy the other day about inflatable boats, and have done some more digging and made some more calls since then. To make a long story short, what I'm finding out that I did not see is this: The spec sheets don't really mean much. All tubes of the same diameter regardless of material type will float the same weight. The numbers are different for both legal reasons, and, I suspect that while one boat may be theoreticly capable of handling a certain weight motor, the manufacturer doesn't want you to put it on because they know it will damage the boat. Apparently they can just write in whatever they want. Is there no regulation/industry standard at all on all of these boat manufacturers? I got lucky and picked a good boat based partly on bad information that I had collected myself. The problem is, there doesn't seem to be anything concrete out there. I called some manufacturers and couldn't get a straight answer on who makes their fabric. One up and told me that they could not divulge that information. Why? I thought I had dug through all the BS in the manufacturers literature, only to find it's another few layers deep. So it all boils down to, I guess, what I was told by a local guy: Who made the fabric? Who made the boat? Who's backing up the warranty?

Until I learn a lot more I'm sticking with well known brand name stuff only, no matter how much it hurts.

Message Thread:

• Inflatable Boat Fabrics; Who Cares? Michael Strahan Feb 22 2005
  • Inflatable Boat Construction Michael Strahan Feb 26 2005
    • inflatables Daniel S Feb 26 2005
  • What about......? Kenaimike Feb 25 2005
  • who cares? maybe you should! jklingel Feb 23 2005
    • But of course- Michael Strahan Feb 24 2005
      • not YOU, Mike. jklingel Feb 24 2005
  • inflatables Daniel S Feb 23 2005
    • inflatables Daniel S Feb 26 2005
    • researching inflatables bushwaker Feb 24 2005
      • Kayak Daniel S Feb 24 2005
    • a funny thing happened... Daniel S Feb 23 2005