Sea Trials on the New Boat

[Billy V]

During the Fred Hall Show I picked up a new toy. A 12 ft. Porta-Bote for use as a MLPA Patrol Boat just incase I had to check on the well being of our local fishery. I've known about the boat for several years now and have seen the torture test videos where they drop a loaded boat from 20 ft. into the water with 600 lbs. of concrete blocks inside, and it sustained no damage. The boat carries a 10 year unconditional warranty.
--It also folds up to the size of a Surfboard 4 inches wide x 12 ft long, weighs 69 lbs, and carries a 54 lb. 6HP four stroke. It will easily do better than 20 mph.

These are some pics I shot at my house when I was familiarizing myself with the boat.








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Yesterday was Sea Trials.
I rolled it out of the garage and gave it a walk around.


I placed the motor and fuel tank inside the forward area of the bed, and lifted the boat up and slide it inside.
-1 tie down strap across the transom kept it in place.


I rolled the boat down the ramp and christened it "Little Nellie"
-The boat will float in 4" of water. The motor is running and warming up in this pic. as I removed the wheels.
The 1st. thing that struck me was It has a good attitude in the water.


I had already run the motor at home in a barrel for a total of 2 hours to start the break-in process. I wanted to familiarize myself with its sounds, and behavior.

For the first hour I took it easy and motored around the marina, and into the bay. The boat has a remarkably smooth ride, It doesn't pound as it crosses boat wakes, or runs through a chop. It's ride characteristics are more like a hovercraft, as it slithers across the water, and over wakes.

The boat planes easily, and reacts quickly to steering input. The ride is level, and it tracks straight enough that you could take your hand off the tiller.
There is very little bow rise when taking off. I played around with a couple of trim settings and it did not seem to make any difference other than causing the boat to react faster to steering.

The boat turns more like a power catamaran than a V Hull. in that it leans out and away from the direction that you are turning.
When running straight it feels like a Panga with a sharp entry bow, and a flat hull near its transom.
-It really is a great mix of ride characteristics. I'm sure there was a lot of engineering involved in the design.

I didn't have my GPS with me, but I will tell you that this boat moves out with the little 6 HP motor. I can tell you that it will do over 20 mph easily. I still need to complete the break-in before I run it wide open for any duration.

I headed the boat toward the Ocean Beach Inlet and out into open ocean. -It passed the washing machine test OK, as we did not take any waves or water over the bow.
I pointed the boat north and ran it cross swell without any complaints, it tracked well. I turned it into quartering swells and it still ran well. It does not pound, but rather it slithers over the water.
-I pointed it directly into the wind and swell daring it to take a wave over its bow but it didn't happen.
- My friend Don who was aboard said he gets more wet when He washes his truck, and He wasn't kidding. The hull design has the same NO Spray characteristic as the reverse chine on a Boston Whaler.

I headed back toward the inlet for the final test.
A following sea, and down swell condition.
-I expected trouble in this area, but I had to know how the boat would react. I expect it will do better with 1 person aboard.

I aligned the boat to allow the swell to come directly from behind and headed into the inlet. The swell was small but no less powerful than normal.
I brought up the speed and tried to climb over the back side of a swell, as it climbed over the top and dropped down the front the boat pitched a little to one side so I backed off. I tried it again and it reacted the same, but it did not dig-in. I suspect I could do better if I was alone and the weight distribution was better, but this is the area where most boats would encounter a problem.

All in All I am impressed at what this little boat can do. Its very quiet as the boat is made from the same material as my Hobie. I saw a combination of good characteristics from several different boats, all in a boat that weighs as much as my Kayak.
-The fuel economy is incredible. I burned less than a gallon running from 2:44 to 5:45pm.
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Some history on Her name.....

During You Only Live Twice, Bond asks Tiger Tanaka to contact M and arrange for Little Nellie to be delivered along with her father. Little Nellie arrives in 4 large suitcases accompanied by her father, Q.
'Little Nellie' is a Wallis military type WA-116/Mc (XR-943) flown by the designer Wing Commander Ken H. Wallis, who doubled for James Bond in the exciting aerial sequences. The 'Smoke & Flame ejectors' mounted on the tail, were jettisoned immediately after being used in the first part of the 'aerial combat'.

In 1966, Wg. Cdr. Wallis was approached by the makers of the film who were searching for a worthy successor to the already famous Aston Martin. While the flying sequences were being filmed on location in Japan, the East China Sea and Spain, 'Little Nellie' made some 85 flights. In addition to the complete working James Bond armoury, the autogyro sometime carried the large 'Panavision' camera.

The autogyro is amazingly manouevrable and very stable. It can fly in any wind conditions. The prototype flew through a storm on the coast of Brazil in 1966, which the Aviation Authorities said no aircraft could survive.
Wg. Cdr. Wallis holds every Absolute World Record for autogyro performance. 'Little Nellie' (G-ARZB) is still being flown by Wg. Cdr. Wallis.

[Bpcode3]

Nice new toy, need to check those out online

[cabojohn]

Right on! great report...I hope you enjoy your new boat.
Please keep us updated.
Thanks for sharing.

[Dennis]

I used to know a kayakfisherman that would launch his porta bote from La Jolla Shores, many years ago. He would fold it up and load it on top of his Element and drive back to Los Angeles. Cool looking boat. Is the floor rigid?

[Dan]

That's cool! Sounds like a success. I Sea Trial'd my 12 foot aluminum yesterday too. Bring on those way off bird piles!

[Geoffkoop]

I was wondering how that boat worked. Looks cool!

[j mo]

“Okay Pookie, you do the honors.”

[Billy V]

Originally Posted by Dennis

I used to know a kayakfisherman that would launch his porta bote from La Jolla Shores, many years ago. He would fold it up and load it on top of his Element and drive back to Los Angeles. Cool looking boat. Is the floor rigid?

No, the floor is flexible. You can stand to one side and the boat will remain stable.

Check out the reviews from tackle tour. They review the 10 ft. Model, I have the 12 ft.
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewportabote.html