Porta-bote haters: what's not to like?

[Mike OReilly]

I've now got the infamous leak in my 15+ year old Genesis IV (the previous version). It started after the bote had a hard grounding, with the outboard on, after it came loose and got bashed around on the rocks for hours in a gale.

[BlackHeron]

It is a lightweight portable folding boat made out of flexible polyethylene plastic sheeting.

It is not a speedboat, nor does it plane very well without a lot of shuddering and wobbling and massive forces on the hinges and especially on the delicate membrane seal at the bottom of the transom.

I have never heard of a single case of someone who never put an outboard on and only used the boat for rowing ever having an issue with the "famous transom leak." Nor have I ever heard of an issue wirh a leak from those who stuck by the capacity plate recommendation of a 2hp max motor or not too much more like a 3 or 4.

We can pretend that this "issue" it isn't caused by overpowering and over-speeding this hull past the limitations of its design and materials, or we can face the obvious...

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

It is a lightweight portable folding boat made out of flexible polyethylene plastic sheeting.

It is not a speedboat, nor does it plane very well without a lot of shuddering and wobbling and massive forces on the hinges and especially on the delicate membrane seal at the bottom of the transom.

I have never heard of a single case of someone who never put an outboard on and only used the boat for rowing ever having an issue with the "famous transom leak." Nor have I ever heard of an issue wirh a leak from those who stuck by the capacity plate recommendation of a 2hp max motor or not too much more like a 3 or 4.

We can pretend that this "issue" it isn't caused by overpowering and over-speeding this hull past the limitations of its design and materials, or we can face the obvious...

This is from Porta bote specs... https://www.porta-bote.com/specifications-colors/


Clearly a 6hp. engine can be used. I had a 5hp. and mine and it planed easily. Have you actually tried one?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

...We can pretend that this "issue" it isn't caused by overpowering and over-speeding this hull past the limitations of its design and materials, or we can face the obvious...

I'm not sure if you're responding to my message BH, although it appears so. My leak was caused by a hard pounding on some rocks.

My PB does not have a hp-maximum. It has a weight max. I use a 3.5 hp, which is under the weight max.

[hpeer]

MIKE,

Right, max suggested gas engine weight is 56 pounds for 10, 12 and 14 foot models.

AND the company owner told me 6hp max.

But I still am not hearing the mechanisms by which a larger OB would cause this problem.

But also t maybe simple coincidence the leak started after the grounding. I assume you looked at the transom and saw a rip in the transom membrane?

Or is the leak elsewhere?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Right, max suggested gas engine weight is 56 pounds for 10, 12 and 14 foot models. AND the company owner told me 6hp max.

Yes, I was just affirming the point that it's not a hp max.

Originally Posted by hpeer

But also t maybe simple coincidence the leak started after the grounding. I assume you looked at the transom and saw a rip in the transom membrane?

Or is the leak elsewhere?

To be honest, I didn't spent much time looking. I've observed water seeping in from the stern, but it's really not that much. And of course, I haven't had any chance to look at it recently as I'm not allowed anywhere near my boat (or bote) . Maybe next Spring ... maybe.

[Celestialsailor]

The fold out transoms come in two designs...1) earlier models had a loose hard plastic transom that you would place in after the boat was folded out then wing-nuted in. 2) newer models transom was integral to the boats end joint in two halves, I think and then bolted together. The point being, that the hard plastic transom took the outboard's load and not so much the folding plastic. I believe it is the repetition of constant folding that causes the leak. That is unless your PB goes up on the rocks and bounces around.

[Annie in WA]

We are on our third bote and the transom and seats are always changing. The first 8' vote had plywood seats and plywood drop in transom. Heavy but durable. Then we changed to a 10' model with plastic drop in transom, our current 5 year old model has the folding aluminum transom and plastic seats. We cruise full time in the tropics and the sun has not been kind to our bote. After 3 years the seats separated at the edges and I put epoxy and fiberglass to reinforce. After 4 years the flotation foam had degraded enough that I replaced it with new closed cell foam. The latest thing is the black tube plastic is leaving nasty marks on our sailboat hull and we plan to order a new note to be shipped to Mexico next month Yes I am still a fan of my non-deflatable bote. It rows great,rides out of the way folded up on our stantion mounted brackets or strapped to the coach roof for rough weather. Oh and it's ugly too so not much theft concern.

[hpeer]

Ann,

We are similar.

Replaced our transom and replaced 2 of 3 seats. Epoxy coated ply. Regular ply, even exterior grade and painted, will not hold up a season.

The hull keeps going and going.

At this poi t i have a new “spare” OB with the silly folding transom. I intend to make a new transom for it this winter. It will be like the old PB transom, of epoxy coated ply.

[ejlindahl]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

I firmly believe that the vast majority of transom issues and leaks are from using too large of an outboard and/or not having them trimmed up properly to keep the lower unit off of the bottom of the transom where the membrane meets the hinge when at full thrust.

Any damage or deformation of the otherwise straight flat plastic of the hull there will cause the membrane and the sealant in the seam at or near the fold to self-destruct when the bote is folded.

Black Heron. I have tried all kinds of ways to trim my 3.5 hp 2 stroke so that its drive leg does not wear out the bottom of my 8' bote's transom. Its the newer integral folding transom, not the old separate, plastic, drop in transom. I finally made a wear plate and attached it to the transom right at the keel, (picture attached). It still wears off the anodizing and paint on my outboard's drive leg. I don't think the newer folding transoms are as sturdy as the old drop in ones.

I fashioned the wear plate bracket from a 1" x 1" angle of aluminum and cut and filed it to the size that looked right. I threaded 2 holes in the bracket and screwed the piece of white plastic to cut down on the wear on my outboard's drive leg. I attached the bracket to the bote by gently hammering out the nails of the 2 pop rivets that you see in the picture. I then cut threads in the holes of the pop rivets and attached the aluminum bracket with machine screws.

Any one have any tips to keep my drive leg from rubbing the transom in this area?

I do not have a leak there (or anywhere) but its relatively new. I've had older Genesis 10' and 12' botes. No leaks and I don't know if there was the same drive leg rubbing problem. I hadn't heard of that problem nor noticed it. The Genesis transoms are more sturdy. I ended up wanting the smaller 8' footer with folding transom, (and problem). I sold the others.

Additionally I'd like to see any pictures posted of the transom leaks or wear points that people are talking about. Thanks in advance.

[seaductive]

I read every single reply in this thread. I recently put a portabote 10’ in the aluminum color on layaway at the new year sale price through portabote for $2,200. I just retired a hypalon Achilles dinghy last spring that I bought new in 2012, the wooden floor was starting to rot and overall started showing severe age because of daily live aboard use for a few years. I am absolutely convinced I would love to have a portabote but I need some advice on the sizing. I currently have a com-pac 27 and hope to upgrade in a few years to a cape dory 31 or a PS 27 Orion. No boat smaller or larger than that.

I realize the 10’ will plane better and haul more gear, also row better plus the bow boarding ladder is only for the 10’ model. The extra weight isn’t much but there is the extra seat to find a place to store on the 10’ in such a small boat. So, question is 8’ or 10’ better for my purposes? I plan on hauling many 5 gallon water jugs and would like to scuba dive from the boat as well.

Mostly single handing and setting it up myself on deck. I would hope to store the folded boat on the inside of the lifelines lashed to the rigging, the boat has external chainplates. I’m sure the 10 portabote will fit there considering my 14’ kayak also fits there. Planning on using my 2017 Yamaha 2.5 to power it.

Can anyone give me some reasons to go with one over the other? Use for the near future will be creeks on the Chesapeake, keys, maybe Bahamas. Seems to be two schools of thoughts in this thread, some people go with the ten but several others bought the 10’ and downgraded to the 8’.

Thanks for the replies

[Svan]

Reading some of the comments on pricing, wow, I really got mugged. Factory order not on sale from Canada. Definitely wait for the sales.

It sounds like an 8' would be fine for you. Especially if you're keeping the kayak around. You will appreciate the kayak because you can toss it in the water and go, instead of building and launching it for 15 minutes.

If you're not on the ocean, or on the great lakes in a bad day, you can tow it.

Mine's 5 years old, no leaks. The transom plastic is multi-stage sealed; there's a sandwich of layers at the bottom, with massive staples through it, and a trim piece, and this trim piece is loose but had no effect on the water-tightness. Eventually the staples will widen their hole in the plastic and water will find a way through the sealant.

The scuba ladder is like an additional seat when it comes to stowing. It is an extra step while assembling the boat, but not a difficult one.

My secondary anchor locker is extra-huge so they go in there along with spare lifejackets.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by seaductive

Can anyone give me some reasons to go with one over the other? Use for the near future will be creeks on the Chesapeake, keys, maybe Bahamas. Seems to be two schools of thoughts in this thread, some people go with the ten but several others bought the 10’ and downgraded to the 8’.

The 10-footer will handle everything better except for storage. So if you can find a way to store the larger bote, and cost isn't an issue, I would definitely go for the 10' over the 8'.

I've had a 10' bote for probably 15+ years now. I bought it when I owned a 34-ketch. It was a centre cockpit with very small side decks, so the 10' bote was as large as I could manage. Now, on my 37-foot mothership I could easily accommodate a bigger bote. If/when I buy another one it will be a 12-footer.

[hpeer]

I have no experience with an 8 but have both 10 and 12.

I would go with the bigger boat.

There are various modifications you can do to the boat to make it work better.

There is an entire FB page dedicated to PB mods. From reading that page it seems most PB users are using their boats in small lakes and waterways. Just occasional use. Many make modifications that make the boats unfold-able and many use trailers. It was a bit of an eye opener, for our personal usage is vastly different.

PB seems to continually “tweak” the design, so your boat may be slightly different from someone else's boat, keep that in mind when reading about PB.

I am convinced that the “famous leak” is caused by repeated folding. I can stop the leak but once Infold the boat it comes back. So I have taken to towing the PB. A LOT, easily over 1,000 miles. Once you figure it our its not a huge deal, always motor off.

I point this out because in your usage you may not have a lot of reason to disassemble and store the boat. Then there is almost zero advantage to the 8’ model.

You sound like you want to be mostly at anchor or on a mooring. Towing a PB into a slip is interesting. But on anchor or mooring it is very little trouble.

One night running down the Exumas we got caught in a long lasting and extreme downpour while towing the dink, it had a LOT of water in it and became a problem. That forced some stupid heroics to get it bailed out. I now have a electric bilge pump I can lower into it and pump it out. That was an extreme event.

I would not tow from Fl to Bahamas, but within the Bahamas yes.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by hpeer

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One night running down the Exumas we got caught in a long lasting and extreme downpour while towing the dink, it had a LOT of water in it and became a problem. That forced some stupid heroics to get it bailed out. I now have a electric bilge pump I can lower into it and pump it out. That was an extreme event.

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I've been there ( Bahamas, flooded PB)...

I found the most effective bailing to be:

Using a cut-off-bottom square OJ or similar bottle, stand as far forward as you can without water coming over the bow.

Using a pumping motion (which will set up a sloshing motion enhancing your effort) scoop water out the bow.

You'll move more water than in the bottle for some time that way, on each thrust. As the water level (quickly!) drops move further forward and soon you'll have the tiniest bit left which even bilge pumps wouldn't get (use a sponge if you feel the need; i never did).

I could dispense with 6" of water in mere minutes doing that.

Of course, that requires an open bow, which is my experience on almost all PBs I've seen (yes some do cover or otherwise obstruct my method's exit).

If it weren't for the marking black tubes, I'd still have mine. Damn I miss that Bote.