Fishing On Inflatable Boat

Fishing inflatable setup matrix

Standing changes which boat you need

The first question is not length, it is whether you fish seated or standing. A seated angler can use a slatted or airmat floor and a narrow hull, and gains a boat that packs into a car boot. An angler who stands to cast needs beam and a rigid surface underfoot, and that means an aluminium floor — which is why the model codes carry it: AM is airmat, SL is slatted, AL is aluminium.

The catalogue offers all three at the same lengths from 270 cm upward, at the same power ratings and the same rated persons. Choosing on length alone gets you the right size boat with the wrong floor, and the floor is the part that decides whether you can fish the way you intended.

Rated persons assumes people, not tackle

A 270 cm hull rated 3 persons is describing three adults sitting still. Two anglers with rods, a tackle box, a battery, a cool box and a landing net load it much closer to its limit, and they move around while doing it. The practical rule is to specify one size above the headcount for any boat that will be fished from rather than travelled in.

The published tables are also inconsistent in a way worth knowing about: RSM-SL245 is rated 3 persons while RSM-AM245, the same 245 cm hull, is rated "2 adults + 1 child". Neither is wrong — they are quoted against different assumptions. Ask which assumption applies before treating a capacity figure as a comparison.

Where a platform beats a hull

If two anglers both want to stand, the catamaran programme is usually the better answer than a longer single hull. CAT380 and CAT400 sit on a 183 cm beam against the 154 cm of the comparable dinghies, and the deck between the tubes is what you actually fish from. CAT380 exists in two builds — an airmat at 15 hp and 5 persons, and a RIB catamaran hull at 25 hp and 6 persons — so the same name has to be resolved before it means anything.

The trade is transport. A catamaran platform is bulkier packed and heavier to carry than a dinghy of similar rated capacity. If the boat has to fit in a car and be carried to the water by one person, that decides it regardless of how much better the deck would be.

Price the boat you will actually fish from

Rod holders, seat upgrades, an anchor, a pump, a fish-finder mount and a transom bracket are quoted separately far more often than buyers expect. On a boat at this size they are a meaningful share of the total, and they are the usual reason two apparently similar quotes differ. Ask for complete carton contents rather than a boat specification.

If a motor is planned, confirm the transom rating for the exact model rather than the length — 245 cm caps at 6 hp and 270 cm at 10 hp — and ask for the boat weight without engine. That figure decides whether one person can launch it, which is the difference between a boat that gets used and one that stays in the garage.

FAQ