Inflatable boats are one of the most popular types of water vehicle, and it’s easy to see why. They’re affordable, versatile, and without a doubt the most entertaining class of vessel for both young and old.
We’ve rounded up a group of inflatable boats that represent the best choices in each of their unique capabilities. The hunt for your perfect air-filled companion ends here.
Best Budget Choice for General-Purpose Use
Intex Seahawk
Intex is one of the best inflatable “anything” makers out there, and the Seahawk design shows an immense amount of forethought. This boat isn’t the best at any one thing, but if you can only buy one, then it can do almost anything well enough at a fantastic price.
Intex did a lot of good work with the Seahawk. It’s an inflatable boat rated to carry up to four adults (depending on the model you choose) and comes with a hand pump, oars, and seats. The Seahawk 4 seems to be the most popular option, but all three options have three air chambers and an inner backup chamber, so it’s pretty safe in the event of a puncture.
Intex has added a lot of features and upgradeability. You can attach a motor, and it’s got fishing rod holders and a gear pouch.
It’s a good deal, but a cheap boat is a cheap boat. This has the same issues as any inflatable-floor, flat-bottomed boat.
Ironically, you should not take the Seahawk into the sea—this design is not suitable for rough waters.
If you need a boat for occasional use that can serve as an all-round calm-water boat, then you’re going to have a hard time finding a better deal than the Seahawk.
Fishing and leisure are probably the best specific uses, but the Seahawk should be good for most things where you want to stay afloat on water.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 2, 3, or 4 Adults (three models)
- Material: PVC
- Design: soft-floor with no keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrade
Best Inflatable Boat for 4- to 5-Persons
Intex Excursion
Most inflatable boats in this price class are exceptional if they can comfortably fit two grown adults, but the Intex Excursion 5 securely seats five adults and still has room left for some fishing gear and refreshments. That’s a good deal no matter how you look at it.
This boat is incredibly spacious for its price and class. The two inflatable seats at the bow and stern have backrests; if you’re four people or fewer, this will feel like a mini luxury cruise in comparison to the typical inflatable.
There are FOUR fishing rod holders, which gives you an idea of just how spacious this boat is. So if you have lots of friends or simply like your space, the Excursion 5 looks like a great deal.
While a five-person inflatable boat seems great, this is really only going to be comfortable for four people. This is “not so good” in the sense that people could be fooled into buying this, thinking it will be large enough for five.
While it’s nice to have a boat this size, we’re getting to the point where a small motor basically becomes essential. While the excursion does have a motor mount point, it would be nice to have a version that comes with the motor as a pre-installed option.
This boat is a great size for the price and is blessed with plenty of handy features. However, its advertised 5-person capacity is a little optimistic and, thanks to its size, a motor really isn’t an optional extra, so it should be factored into the price.
Even then, this is a fantastic deal if you need to take more than two people on the water or simply love lots of legroom. It’s one of the best sellers on Amazon, and it’s easy to see why.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 5 Adults
- Weight Capacity: 1320lbs
- Material: Vinyl
- Design: soft-floor with no keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrad
Best for Rough and Tumble Adventurers
The Mariner 4 is made of a material that’s especially resistant to impacts, abrasion, and sunlight damage.
The keel is inflatable for sharper handling, and each of the four main chambers has its own valve, meaning the boat can be inflated and deflated quickly. Perfect for adventure!
A decent safety focus, with grab handles and an all-round rock guardl, makes the Mariner a great adrenaline-junkie boat at a very reasonable price.
The Intex Mariner 4 person inflatable boat is actually more of an Intex Mariner “3”, given that it’s designed for three adults (or two adults and two kids). So keep that in mind.
The only motor you can use with this boat is the trolling motor sold by Intex, so alternative propulsion options are limited as this inflatable boat lacks a universal transom.
While Intex markets the Mariner 4 for laid-back fishing trips, the spec sheet, materials, and safety features promise a budget adventure boat for those who want to give it a go but don’t want to blow their budget while doing it.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 3 Adults
- Weight Capacity: 880lbs
- Material: Heavy Duty PVC
- Design: extruded plastic floor with inflatable keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrade
Best Inflatable Fishing Boat for Beginners
Huge capacity, low price, and more than good enough to do its intended job of a comfortable inflatable fishing boat. If you just want to take your friends or family out on the pond to laze about or catch a few aquatic critters, it’s the budget boat of choice.
Although it has only two oar holders, there are plenty of drink holders, so if you’re more concerned with a good time than actually catching fish, this may still be a good boat for you.
This is certainly not the most attractive, agile, or feature-filled inflatable fishing boat out there. It also, if we’re being honest, doesn’t hold six grown adults. But two parents and four kids should be OK.
This boat is very inexpensive for its size and has the basic amenities you need for a casual fishing trip on a small body of water. There’s nothing better at the price, unless you like being squeezed into a tiny boat like sardines in a can. While it officially says it has a capacity of six, we think three adults would be most comfortable and still have room for gear and provisions.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 6 persons
- Weight Capacity: 1200lbs
- Material: vinyl
- Design: soft-floor with no keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrade
Best All-purpose Boat
Newport Vessels Dana Infatable Dinghy
The Newport Dana is long on name, but not short on value. This is a boat that really means it when it says it handles three people with its 10-foot length. To top it off, its relatively modest price comes with a lot of high-quality fundamentals that make it a boat worth considering no matter what you want to do out on the waves.
Incredibly stable thanks to its 18-inch tubes, the Dana is a pretty serious boat. Combined with its inflatable keel and support for up to a 10hp motor—under the right conditions it will go 20mph!
A quality design with great attention to detail, this inflatable dinghy instills a lot of confidence, especially at this price. It comes with a wooden floor that’s set in an aluminum frame. While the keel is inflatable, there is a solid component keeping it all together.
The three-person capacity is perhaps a little disappointing at this price, but it’s clear what other advantages sheer size has been traded for.
While there’s meant to be seating for two, the boat only comes with one bench. You’ll have to order and pay for a second one if you need it.
We haven’t seen a better all-round dinghy at this price point and it’s usable with a versatile range of motor ratings. You can equip it with a cheap, low-power motor for some calm water toodling around or slap a 10hp motor on it and fly over the water to your destination.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 3 Adults
- Weight Capacity: 1067lbs
- Material: PVC
- Design: aluminum-framed marine plywood with inflatable keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrade
Best for Entry Level Lone Boaters
The Explorer 200 is dirt cheap. No really, you can hardly buy a decent lunch for two people for this much money these days. We can’t imagine how they can sell it for so little.
It’s a high-visibility color, which means that other people on the water with you will have no trouble seeing you.
Well-made, with grab ropes and welded oar locks—while it may be basic, this is no toy.
With a weight capacity of only 210lbs you’ll need two pretty skinny adults to fit this vessel. In fact, one particularly large person would leave only storage space for the oars and a lunchbox. Best to think of this as a one-person boat.
It’s completely bare-bones, and you won’t be hooking up a motor any time soon. This is the rock-bottom of acceptable.
Usually you get what you pay for but, in this case, you’re getting more than what you’ve paid for. That being said, the Explorer 200 is as basic as anyone should dare go when it comes to inflatable boats.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 3 persons
- Weight Capacity: 440lbs
- Design: soft-floor with no keel
- Propulsion: oars
Best for Lake and Mild River Exploration
Intex Explorer K2 Kayak
The Intex Explorer K2 is an ultra-affordable inflatable Kayak with high visibility, comfortable seating, and the perfect balance of price and features. It’s best for those who want to venture out into calm rivers or flat lake water.
The K2 is a highly portable, incredibly affordable inflatable kayak that is a great starter boat for those who want to brave mild river waters and relatively calm lakes.
It’s stable, yet it can change direction with surprising agility thanks to the skeg on the bottom, which you can remove.
The cockpit is snug, yet with an adjustable backrest it promises to be quite comfortable.
Unsurprisingly, the K2 is not going to be a viable choice for rapid river water or choppy open water conditions. A larger, more rigid kayak would be better.
Could you have more fun with a boat for less money? It’s hard to imagine it. Intex has made the perfect one-person (realistically) exploration boat for friendly waters.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 2 Adults
- Weight Capacity: 400lbs
- Material: vinyl
- Design: kayak
- Propulsion: paddles
The Best Serious Inflatable Raft
Bris 14.1ft Rescue and Dive Inflatable Raft
While the Bris isn’t cheap in an absolute sense, if you want to do more than just float around on a lake, this is the price point where serious inflatable boating begins. However, the basic price here is not where the buck stops. There are some non-optional extras to consider.
The Bris is a staunch boat, with extra heavy-duty, heat-welded PVC hull. The non-inflatable bits are made from strong yet lightweight aluminum, apart from the marine plywood transom for the motor you’ll undoubtedly want to attach.
The Bris has a deep V keel and added protection against impacts with sharp rocks from below. It’s also a generous 14.1ft in length, which means there’s plenty of space to put passengers, cargo, and stuff like the included foot pump and repair kit.
The boat is also exceptionally buoyant thanks to five independent air chambers, which means it’s a good choice for riskier terrain. The one-way drain valve is welcome as well, especially when using it for rafting.
While the Bris comes with aluminum oars, this should really only be considered a backup form of propulsion. This is a large inflatable boat with multiple metal components, not something you want to row by hand. That means that you’ll have to factor in the cost of a motor on top of the basic asking price.
With a boat weight of 198 lbs this is also a rather tricky boat to set up, you are better off setting it up and then just maintaining pressure. It’s of little use to have a boat that takes an hour to set up if you might need it at short notice, after all.
For the money, this is a great boat that isn’t designed to be, essentially, disposable. As a fishing boat, a small rescue craft, and just a general-purpose, high-capacity vehicle, it’s a good deal.
However, you need to count the cost of adding a motor if you really want to put that V-hull and bulk to good use, while keeping in mind that it might take a while to get from bag to boat when you want to head out on the water.
Main Features
- Passenger Capacity: 8 Adults
- Weight Capacity: 1984lbs
- Material: PVC
- Design: Aluminum floor with deep V keel
- Propulsion: oars, with optional motor upgrade
Best for Serious Solo Fishermen
Classic Accessories Colorado XT Inflatable Pontoon Boat
If you’re serious about fishing – real fishing – then a one-person pontoon boat such as this one from Classic Accessories is the ultimate tool for going to those places where you’ll find that catch of a lifetime.
As a one-seat fishing pontoon, this rides high and is pretty agile. It’s pretty handsome too, in our opinion.
It has a ton of places to store your gear and your catch, yet small enough to get in just about anywhere. It also comes with a transport wheel, so one person can move it around on land easily.
This boat doesn’t have a seat that swivels, which would make it easier to reach all the gear pockets and doohickeys. You’re also limited to a relatively weak electric motor upgrade, rather than gas propulsion.
Inflatable fishing boats like the Colorado XT are very popular among serious fishermen and loved for their agility, versatile rod positions, and high ride with excellent visibility. Classic Accessories has made a great fishing pontoon here, at a competitive price, with nearly all the features you’d want.
Main Features
- Capacity: 1 Person
- Weight Capacity:400lbs
- Material: PVC , nylon, steel
- Design: Ponto
- Propulsion: oars, with optional ELECTRICAL motor upgrade
Best for Just Chilling Out
This inflatable island is absolutely huge at 3×4 meters. It’s like having a floating living room with a built-in sunshade and cooler bag.
It sports six cup holders, big pillow backrests, and a shaded seating area where you can dip your feet in the water.
You’ll have to buy some sort of electric pump that can run off a battery or a vehicle, and even then, this monster will take a fair amount of time to inflate.
Moving it around on the water can be a hassle. People can swim and drag it along by the grab line, or it can be towed by a dinghy. Of course, oars are an option, but there’s nowhere to stow them.
It’s a floating island where you can hang out with your friends and get a tan. What more do you need to know? Oh, of course, there’s plenty of space for drinks, snacks, and as many attractive people as will fit.
Main Features
- Capacity: 6 Adults
- Material: PVC
- Design: floating island
- Propulsion: none
Inflatable Boat Buying Guide
The term “inflatable boat” doesn’t actually refer to a specific design of boat. There are lots of different boats that fall under the category of “inflatable.” The only thing tying them all together is the fact that they rely on some part of the structure being filled with air.
The range of inflatables might seem straightforward on the surface, but it’s important that you know a few things before you finally choose one to buy. In this guide, we will go over the basics, and by the end you should have a good grasp of all kinds of things you should look out for when choosing the best inflatable boat for your needs.
General Inflatable Boat Buying Tips
As a general rule, inflatable boats are very versatile craft, which means that you can often use a boat designed for one purpose for several other purposes. However, there are some important factors to take into consideration, so we will now look at each in turn.
Material Choices
In general, there are two materials that you find inflatable boats constructed from. The first is PVC, which is the less expensive option. It doesn’t weigh much and it’s pretty easy to fold.
The PVC material of today is also no longer the same as we had so many decades to go. Thanks to advancements in materials science, modern PVC is much more rigid and versatile than it has ever been before
The other option is Hypalon, which is much tougher than PVC, weighs more, and is resistant to wear. However, it is much more expensive.
While it’s quite common to see an inflatable PVC boat, you won’t see Hypalon on inflatable boats other than high-end rigid boats.
Keel or No Keel
In ship design, the keel is the central structural element that the rest of the hull is built from. Inflatable boats don’t always have one of these, and the presence or absence of the keel can make a significant difference to the boat’s attributes.
Inflatable boats that have a keel perform much better in the water than those without. The only types of inflatable boats that are allowed on the ocean are those that have a keel. That doesn’t mean that this is always the better choice for you. Just that you should know the limits of keel-less boats.
Inflatable- vs Hard Decks
In general, there are two different types of deck design when it comes to inflatable boats. The first and possibly most popular is the inflatable deck (soft floor).
Inflatable boats with a soft floor tend to be less expensive but don’t perform as well because they usually lack a keel. They also aren’t as durable in the long term, which means you’ll need to repair and replace them more often.
One major advantage of the softer design is that the deflated boat takes up much less space. It’s also much more comfortable to sit or kneel on. The downside of these soft decks is that the boat flex is quite a bit more, making soft deck inflatable boats unsuitable for a high-speed operation.
Inflatable boats with a hard deck design have advantages of their own. As you’ve probably guessed, they don’t flex as much and they hold up better under higher speeds. These boats also tend to be more power-efficient because power isn’t absorbed in the flexing of the boat structure.
One obvious downside of this design is that you need much more space to store and transport these boats. Yet they are much more responsive in the water and steer better, thanks to the v-shaped hulls that are common with a rigid deck.
Inflatable Boat Types
In this guide, we’re going to be looking at the different types of inflatable boat. The best way to approach a guide like this (and help you decide which one is right for you), is to separate them into their general categories.
Let’s begin with the most popular type of inflatable boat.
Inflatable Rafts
Inflatable rafts are often used as lifeboats on larger vessels, but plenty of people use them to traverse smaller bodies of water.
These rafts are not safe or stable enough for general use on choppy bodies of water, though. Small lakes and ponds are probably the best places to use them. That being said, there is a wide range of designs for this type of boat. Some are bigger, have more features, and include better safety designs.
Inflatable Pontoon Boats
Pontoon boats are very popular for fishing applications. As you can see from the Classic Accessories we’ve pictured and reviewed above, these boats have a design that features two large air tubes on either side of a hull. It’s essentially the inflatable version of a catamaran design.
Inflatable pontoons can carry quite a lot of weight, and because the two pontoons lift the boat out of the water and cut through the waves easily, a pontoon is surprisingly maneuverable.
As with most other inflatable fishing boat types, pontoon boats can have more or fewer separate air chambers. More expensive boats may have a metal frame and seats made of a rigid material. Some solo fishing pontoons have just a single seat on a frame holding the two pontoons together.
Inflatable Dinghies
Dinghies are the jack-of-all-trades when it comes to inflatable boats. This doesn’t really refer to a particular design, but rather to the type of boat that’s often used as a lifeboat or a tender by bigger boats.
An inflatable dinghy can also be used as a personal fishing boat, but it may lack features like rod holders or space to stow bait or catches.
Inflatable Kayaks
An inflatable kayak often features a tandem boat design, with a tight cockpit and good handling in the water. It can be quite fast and easily rowed by a single person.
These boats are good for mild river conditions and lakes with calm water. Your legs are held quite tightly and it’s pretty easy to capsize, so all kayakers need to learn how to recover from a capsize or how to egress from the boat safely.
A normal sit-inside kayak and even a sit-on-top kayak is better, but the inflatable designs with hard floors come pretty close.
RIBs – Rigid Inflatable Boats
The RIB, or rigid inflatable boat, is gaining popularity. It’s the ultimate fusion of a traditional boat with a solid hull and inflatable boat design.
The inflatable component of the boat makes it exceptionally seaworthy; this is one of the few inflatable boat designs that are suitable for use on the ocean. It’s for this reason that the rigid inflatable boat is often used by police and military organizations.
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