How many take boats with them?

travelnutz wrote:
Yes, canoes, rowboats. kayaks, and porta boats are technically boats but have a very limited wave action they can take and survive without being swamped or rolled over, or broken up. We see it here repeated over and over every summer. Take their kayaks, canoes, porta boats down to the beach, put them in the water, and here comes some of the 7 sheriff boats and 4 Coast Guard rescue boats when the usual happens as they are after the fact.

Those waves are like solid cement hitting your craft one after another and they don't stop and getting back to shore is guaranteed of being swamped or rolled as they have so much weight and power and will be breaking right over you and your craft.

Guess where all that masses of 8 pounds per gallon of water goes when its comes in as waves? Right back out near the bottom as an undertow or rip current fast water rivers and takes you right away from shore with it as your legs are hanging down or on the bottom and will be yanked right from under you. They are not like ocean rollers which are a long distance apart.

Here on the Great Lakes and the large inland lakes we have hear so many drown every year when out in these type boats. 1-2 ft waves which is just a normal calm day on Lake Michigan is very risky in a canoe or a kayak or a porta boat as they roll over easy due to the narrow beam and the people in them make them top heavy and don't even try to stand up in the water because the bottom is almost always a long way down.

Another huge danger in waves is the plastic ones flex like mad and when they fatigue, they fold up and you are in the water quick and away from shore because the waves are breaking nearer the shore. Good Luck! Just have your life insurance paid so if they find your body, the family can afford your funeral.

Those 2 footers quickly become 4-6 footers with any wind even 12 to 15 MPH and you don't stand a chance and it happen real quick as we have lived on the Lake Michigan shoreline for 75 years now and constantly see it happen and we have been big time boaters for over 55 years now. Even the wide deep 24 ft to 30 ft boats are headed in as quick as possible as the wave often build to 8'-10' and have rolling and breaking tops. If the wind is strong or a storm front is coming or hits, 12'-18' waves very often occurs and even the big 500' and 800' lake freighters stay out in the deep water offshore until it calms down.

This is why most people really don't think of the small and/or flimsy type crafts are really boats in a normal sense.

Even the big lakes get very rough and fast and the shallower they are the faster they get quick sharp high waves that pound a boat apart.

Not worth taking a chance as it's your live and your passenger's live you are playing with.

We teach hundreds each year at our 2 local Yacht Clubs and The Power Squadron and the Coast Guard and Sheriff's Marine patrol but so many refuse to listen.

I don't doubt some of what you say, but I disagree that these aren't "boats" for many people, including me.

As for all of your reports about what happens to small boats on the Great Lakes or in bad weather - yes that can happen, but you can't fix stupid. Those people have no business being out in those conditions. People certainly should know the capability of their craft and also watch the weather. Just because you think a boat should be on a certain sized lake, or in high wind/wave conditions doesn't mean that boat doesn't serve a purpose or have a niche when used properly.

That's kind of like saying don't buy a Toyota Prius because you can't race it in the Indy 500. Does that make a Prius a non-car because it doesn't belong on a racetrack? Of course not, it just needs to be used in conditions for which it was designed and intended.

We have had our portabote for several years now and have had it out on many lakes. We have never had a problem, but we are smart enough to pay attention to the weather and the size of the lakes. I live very near Lake Superior and there are people out in kayaks on that lake all the time. I went driving up the shore today and there were people out in kayaks on Lake Superior today (and March in Minnesota isn't summertime). Would I go out on that lake in a kayak? No way. But people do. And if they are smart enough to stay in close and only go on calm days, it works for them. Are there some clueless people who go out too far and get caught in bad weather - yes and every now and then someone drowns. But those situations don't mean that someone shouldn't buy a kayak or take one when they go camping.

So I really do not understand what point you are trying to make.
Are you saying that the several porta-bote owners here on this thread and the many thousands of port-bote owners are just stupid for having one of these boats? Sorry, but I don't buy into your reasoning. And I really don't care if my boat doesn't meet your definition of being a boat. I can fish, I can enjoy a boat ride when I'm camping. I am safe in my boat when I use the brains I was born with.