A Packboat Review

A Packboat review by Chris W.

Good Morning –

I have now had the boat on small pond, medium and big lakes, casting, trolling, rowing and the Packboat really does far exceed my expectations.

What is most interesting is its stability – it almost has a “big boat” feel to it, but is so light it slips effortlessly along the surface with barely a stroke of the oars.

The Spring Creek pontoons are just what the doctor ordered for stability purposes – light, easily transported; they are perfect for anyone who wants that extra stability. Granted, I haven’t tried any other stabilizers, but I have no need to.

Your metal plates are perfect as well—Great idea! The cross-bar fastens easily and firmly.

So, I’d say your boat was worth every penny—and more. I have one of those cushion/backrest seats, the kind people bring to athletic events, and it provides perfect stability and comfort while rowing as well. I don’t know if you are familiar with them, but there is a wire-rimmed backrest attached to a seat cushion. When you sit on the cushion, your weight supports the backrest.

The only issue I have found is not boat related—the wheels.

They work perfectly on relatively flat surfaces, but in the wild, on rutted roads and the like, where tilting is an issue, the boat tips over, most likely due to the wheel base not being wide enough to meet steep-angle traveling on rutted paths to ponds.

For this reason, I have reverted back to Spring Creek again. They have wheels that slide into the UR (what they call their universal receiver), just like the pontoons do. In fact, you can watch a great little video of how they work on the Spring Creek website.

So, I just received the SC wheels late yesterday and will put them to work to see how they do on a remote pond path near Bristol, Maine (Pemaquid area), a tough path with all sorts of steep-angle problems.

Just so you understand, I am not dissing the wheels you gave me—they work fine on normal path/ground environments, but for really tough pull-ins, they may not be up to it, at least when only one person is involved, which is my case. Too, you guys can’t think of everything—field testing by customers is often the only way you find out about things, too.

Maybe the Spring Creeks won’t work either, but we’ll see. The wheel base on the SC’s is very wide; since the receiver is the width of the boat—but my expectation is that there will be a compromise—they will make the pulling harder, due to the wider stance. I will be interested to see if they really do work as advertised. I bought the bigger ones (16)” to offset what I believe will be the harder pull due to the wider stance.

We’ll find out this afternoon and I will report back.

That said, you guys have produced the perfect pack boat, no doubt. Couldn’t ask for anything more. The wheel thing is a highly unusual issue related to a-typical pull-ins to remote ponds, with tough goat paths, so I wouldn’t worry about it. I only bring it up because I figure you’d like to know what actual work in the field is producing.

Chris W.