[Frank Whiton]

Hi Roast,

Let me give you a little background. I have own a 11' Zodiac Mach 1. I owned a Zodiac 10' light weight and I owned an Avon 8'. I use the Zodiac's in Alaska in some heavy duty use. The Avon I had in Washington State.

The 11' Mach was a great boat on the Kenia River in Alaska. The Kenai River is big, big water and I drifted for Kings and other Salmon. With a 25hp motor I could drift a stretch of river and then motor back for another drift. My wife loved the Zodiac due to the stability of the design. From this experience I learned that as a power boat or utility boat they are super. As a drift boat they were not very good. The Kenia does not have real rapids so I usually drifted down stream sideways in the currant. I used one oar to keep me where I wanted to be from the bank. It worked OK but it was not a drift boat in any stretch of my imagination.

I think you will find that an 8'6" boat like you are looking at is too small if you plan on two people. I would not want anything shorter that 10' in this style of boat. Even then it will be cramped for two fly fishers. Spin casters could get away with it but unless one person fly cast at a time you will have problems. This is definitely not a boat for rapids. The forward hull design is great for motor power or rowing forward. You can't row backward do to the design of the transom. There is no rocker in the rear and the transom will dig into the water. If you want an inflatable raft to tackle class IV rapids you need a river raft with a rowing platform.

The boat you are looking at is a dingy intended as a tender to larger boats. It is not designed for floating rivers. A much better choice would be a pontoon boat, a river raft or a drift boat. The drift boat is not in your budget.

Frank