PORTABOTE Fold-Flat Boats

The main benefit of a Portabote’s ability to fold is that you can store or transport a boat of a useful size where you thought it was impossible: strapped to the deck of a yacht, or on the roof of your car or motorhome, for example. At home you can store it down the side of your garage or shed, rather than taking up the whole of it. It may also mean you can choose one a size or two larger than you otherwise would; that means greater carrying capacity, comfort and speed.

But Portabotes are also famous for their near-indestructability. Made from incredibly tough Polypropylene plastic, with irrigation tube protection for the stainless-steel-stapled “living hinges”, you can treat a Portabote in ways that would destroy other boats. Drag it up a beach, hit rocks, drop it off a quay… your Portabote will just shrug it off.

This durability means Portabote offer a 10 year warranty, although in fairness we would point out that it’s a “declining warranty” ie you don’t get a brand new boat free of charge if something breaks at 9 years and 11 months!

YACHTING MONTHLY Magazine said of a Portabote 10:

“Its bulletproof construction would be great for dragging over rough, shingly beaches… very durable… spacious and a good load/crew carrier… stable at rest and under way”

If you are used to almost any other type of boat – inflatable or rigid-hulled – it’s almost certainly nothing like a Portabote! The hull is “semi-rigid” ie allows some flex once assembled, but not worryingly so when you stand in it. This flexibility allows the hull to absorb some wave energy rather than bashing up and down on top of them… and actually changes shape when planing (going fast), to form something of a tunnel hull – which improves the handling and tracking. It also seems to make it more stable than you’d expect; again the flexibility absorbs some of the energy that would otherwise go into tipping it.

Because of these characteristics Portabotes don’t need particularly large motors. A 1kW electric (such as the Torqeedo 1103 or ePropulsion Spirit PLUS found elsewhere on this site) will push them along just fine at displacement speeds of 4.5 to 5 knots. And a 6hp petrol should get a Portabote 10 or 12 planing into double figure speeds (again talking in knots), even with two on board. Smaller motors add further to the portability and convenience of the whole package. And having a semi-rigid hull with a much more defined, and finer entry, underwater shape than most inflatables also makes them better to row.

Please Note: Oars and Rowlocks are not supplied as standard with Portabotes, but available as an option (listed at top of page).

Nestaway Boats & Portabote

We’ve actually been involved with UK Portabote sales since 2012, but there was about a three year gap due to a “retaliatory tariff” on US-made boats imported to the UK and EU. Something to do with steel. We won’t comment on the politics but if we’d continued importing them it would have made Portabotes 25% more expensive, which we didn’t think was sustainable. The tariff is now gone, and we’re very pleased to have them back in our range!