Which Fishing Boat is the Right One?
There are many categories of inflatable fishing boats and pontoon boats. In this page we use these classifications: paddle cats, oar and paddle cats, oar powered cats, motorized cats, self bailing rafts, and pack rafts. In this page pontoon boats are generally called a catarafts. Cataraft is short for catamaran raft. We examine all of these boats in depth in our
photo gallery section of our web site www.jpwinc.com. If you find something interesting, please go to the listing on the photo gallery that is right below the topic under discussion. You will find out more information and pictures there. If you are on the wrong page you may wish to try these other links:CAT AND RAFT FRAMES IN THE PHOTO GALLERY
Over the years we have learned a few things about why people buy small boats for fishing on lakes and rivers. If you would like to benefit from our experience, You may want to continue reading. All of the boats on this page with the exception of the "Racing Ducks" are built by Jack's Plastic Welding Inc. Our adress is :
Jack's Plastic Welding INC has the best inflatable fly fishing and pontoon boat designs.
Jack's Plastic Welding Inc
115 South Main
Aztec, NM 87410
Voice: 505 334 8748 fax 505 334 1901 email:
info@jpwinc.com
Why so many fishing boats designs:
When fishing is an issue, they're about a billion ways to do it. We concentrate on river access. We feel that fishing from a pontoon boat is wonderful, but more often than not the fisherman is getting out on the shore too. So getting down the river is a key point, or even getting to the river. If you are a potential customer, we want to say that no matter what kind of boat you choose, we want your experience to be positive. To sell you a product that does not work for your life style is not good for you or for us. Therefore we may on rare occasions actually recommend another manufacturer. However it has become increasingly rare. We feel we have bases covered fairly well.
Click here to see what other kinds of fishing boats there are in our photo gallery
Cataraft Vs raft performance:
Catarafts by design do not have floors that sit on the water. If they do have floors they are decks, mesh or fabric that are suspended above the water. This allows the water or rocks to move underneath the boat unrestricted. For this reason, large cats can have lighter frame works than rafts because the river does not act upon the boat as much. Waves are less restricted when flowing through the boat. In other words, the boat is presenting less surface area to the river, and there is less reaction from a wave when the boat moves through it. This results in a milder ride and a shorter learning curve for the novice whitewater rafter. Even though the frames may be made of lighter materials, they seldom are. They are also more complex. Therefore the frame on a catarafts and pontoon boats are usually bulkier that the conventional rafts. Catarafts usually take longer to set up.
River access:
In the western US rivers are accessible through public lands. Most river access is planned by government agencies. There are many quality places with difficult launch sites where hiking is necessary. These places are usually uncrowded, the camping is pristine, and often the fishing is interesting, if not fantastic. For that reason, a lightweight boat would be very beneficial. In the eastern US, river outfitters usually own access points. They are often gracious enough to allow private boaters to access the river on foot through their private road, provided that you get out of the way when their truck comes, and that you stay out of the way at their put in spot. Anything that disrupts the flow of passengers is going to hurt their business. Also in the east people expect to see others on the river and tolerate it. However in the west there are ranchers that are convinced that if you are floating on a river that crosses their land, you are trespassing. In the states of Washington, Montana and Oregon All rivers belong to everyone up to the high water line. This is written in state constitution, and is the way it should be.
Issues of river access have helped determine the design of our boats.
Strictly paddle cats:
Because the same performance dynamics work on a paddle cats and inflatable kayak, as they do on a larger cats and rafts. (rocks and river flowing through the boat) We designed the
fat pack cat, and the pack cat with these ideas in mind. Both boats are expedition-oriented boats that can do extended trips with gear down small streams. The longer tubes allow more gear to be carried than on a conventional pontoon boat. They have been used on expeditions in Mexico, Tierra del Fuego, the Bahamas, All major western rivers, Indonesia, and Central America. The Fat Pack cat is 6 inches wider than a pack cat, so it can not slip down as small of a river, but it carries more gear, and a bigger person. Since most people are not going down those tiny streams, the Fat Pack cat is a more popular boat. The Fat Pack Cat is 42 lbs., and the pack cat is 30 lbs.Click here to read more about the pack cat in the photo gallery
Click here to read more about the fat pack cat in the photo gallery
Paddle and row:
The width of a boat will determine how small of a river or stream can actually be run with a boat. Of course for extremely narrow low water streams, the Pack Cat is the ideal boat. Many popular rivers get shallow and narrow in the summer, or because of dam controls. There are also many that are unknown and not run, simply because potential boaters and fishermen do not know that it can be done with a narrower boat. A river that can run big during rainy times can dry up to nothing in dry times. It is desirable to use oars on a large river with big waves and hydraulics for stability. At the same time it would be a good idea to use a kayak paddle or canoe paddles to slip down some narrow streams to get where the fish are in the late summer. This is hard to do on a standard pontoon boats. The
Cutthroat was designed with this idea in mind. It is narrow enough to float low volume rivers, rivers with limited access below a dam, or because they are just too narrow for other types of boats. The Cutthroat also has an optional motor transom that can be added for lake fishing. These boats have frames equipped with mesh seats and mesh floor panels. The mesh floor panels can be adjusted so that a fisherman can stand on the floor to fish, kneel on the floor to paddle, or stand in the river to hold his boat in the current.Click here to go to the photo gallery are read more about the cutthroat
Frameless Paddle Cats:
A new design for 2003 is a frameless paddle cat called the
Culebra. The boat depicted here is paddled by 2 sitting on each side (called R2). The unique cross tube system keeps the main tubes ridged and stationary. These types of boats have been used in the eastern US for many years. JPW has improved the concept by raising the cross tubes to get more functionality like a cataraft, using a stiffer base fabric material that does not flex, and making the whole boat lace together so it can be broken down for easy transport. At JPW we think that this is such a great idea that we are expanding it to a 5 person frameless paddle cat called the Culebra Grande. We hope to test it extensively this year.Click here to get more information about the culebra in the photo gallery
Strictly Oar Cats:
Big tube diameters, loads of flotation, sharing the experience with friends and plenty of room to haul gear are the main reasons why people would choose to use one of the larger cats.
The
Black Bear style 10 ft has a small cat style frame, and a decked floor. It has a 19 inch diameter tube and a flat waterline. This floor allows the fisherman to stand easily and fish, or move to the front to land a lunker, without tiping the boat up excessively. These boats float high in the water. They float over obstacles that other pontoon boats hit because of their rockered shape. These boat designs have been expanded to 14 ft for 2 or 3 persons and 16 ft for 3 or more. The long straight tube gives good flotation for times of low water.Daddy cats, and Grand Daddy cats are the boats of choice for expeditionary fishing. Here a crew of three can carry all of their gear, and have a great fishing vessel too. Keep in mind that cats can go down rivers in low water long after a drift boat has been placed in dry dock. This is because the rocks fit between the tubes when floating. Once again, the long straight sections of our cats make the boats float higher in the water so they can carry more gear, or access the river for a longer time period. Check out our
Custom cataraft design page if you are interested in different diameters chambers, handles, D ring placement, or other options that do not come standard.Click here for the photo gallery. There you will find different sizes of cats to choose from.
Motorized Cats (Inflatable Pontoon Boats)
Catarafts are easy to adapt for motorized applications. We sell a clamp on transom attachment for the
Cutthroat. This is the only motor attachment that we sell in our standard product line. Other custom motor setups include: A large cat equipped with an inflatable floor and 25 hp motor, a 28 inch diameter set with a 70 hp outboard, and the new Bax Cat made exclusively for Andy and Bax in Portland Or. The Coast Guard puts no limitation on horsepower when it comes to pontoon boats. Therefore a little common sense must be used. These boats can be extremely lightweight for the horsepower that they could be using. One extreme is the Racing Ducks ( not a jpw product). These light weight 14 ft boats have 18-inch diameter tubes. They have been known to go faster than 70 mph. At that speed a person leaving the boat could be killed from the impact of hitting the water. The other extreme is the large cargo cats with low horsepower motors that are used as support for sea kayaking expeditions. We encourage our customers to have a look at some of these variations in cataraft design. Please keep in mind that a large gear load and a motor over 10 hp can produce a bow wake off of each tube. These wakes converge in the center of the boat, and form a hump of water. This hump should be flattened out by a floor that is placed under the frame, or it will drown the motor.Customized Tubes in the Photo Gallery
Rafts
Conventional rafts have been used for fishing for a very long time. What is seldom discussed is the problem of getting them down the river in low water, and still having the maneuverability necessary for the Oarsman/ guide to accurately place the fishermen in the stream. Our self-bailing raft the
Dragonfly does this remarkably well. A fishing raft does not have to be self bailing, but the self bailing drop stitch floor of the Dragonfly is key to it's success. The floor is recessed up 2 1/2 inches inside of the main tubes. This gives the boat excellent tracking. The floor extends out into the front and rear sections, and it can be inflated hard. The hard inflatable floor allows fishermen to stand on it like a platform. This eliminates the need for a heavy decked floor. It also allows the boat to ride over rocks with less damage. Because of these features, this boat can float very low stream flows with heavy gear loads.Go to the photo gallery to read more about the Dragonfly
Pack Rafts:
JPW builds
pack rafts for The Alpacka Raft Company in Anchorage Alaska. Pack Rafting is an emerging phenomenon. These little boats are the ultimate access craft. They weigh just 4 lbs., and easily fit in a back pack. They are not intended to run serious rapids, even though there are those with the skill to do so. More importantly, it is not that hard to portage a 4 LB raft. In Alaska there are few roads. Plane flights into remote areas are expensive. There are a growing number of customers who have determined that they can hike 30 miles into the forest and access a river that will take them back to a road. That river section may be 50 or 60 miles long. Sherri Tingy, founder of Alpaca Rafts, has a son who has transversed the length of the Brooks Range in Alaska using a pack raft. For many people up north, it is the ultimate way to get around. If you are looking to find a way to get a boat to your favorite high mountain lake, A Pack Raft could be for you too. They are made with the best space age strength for weight urethane coated nylon fabrics.Click here for the photo gallery on pack rafts
Click here for a more in depth discussion on pack rafts
CAT AND RAFT FRAMES IN THE PHOTO GALLERY