12.5' Inflatable Boats SD380

I bought this boat in March of 2017, and I wanted to see how the boat stands up to my expectations before I made a review. Prior to buying this boat, I did a lot of research on the internet to see who had a quality inflatable that wasn't thousands of dollars. After a lot of research, I went with the 380. I've put several hundred hours on the boat mostly cruising around the shallows of Lake Michigan looking for salmon and trout. The boat handles well in waves as big as three feet but I tend to avoid days where the waters churned up due to the dangers of the waterway. When its calm the boat drives straight with little need to steer. I have enough room for all my trolling gear and another person. The boat could fit more people but I like my space. I love the aluminum floor. I called the company to ask what the difference was between hard and inflatable floor, and they said it was convenience. Yet, I have not found installing the floor difficult at all, just make sure you didn;t inflate the tubes all the way before installing. Plus it's a hard surface that cleans easily when covered in fish blood. You save a good chunk of money going with this boat, because of the aluminum floor. I don't use a trailer to transport the boat, instead, I pack into the back of my CRV (with the seats folded down). It fits easily, and to make space I turn it on its side so I have room for all my gear. As far as the quality of the material is concerned I recommend following the guidelines posted on this site that include how to fold boat up after use, and how to store. I have at times found the material separating but its usually just a few millimeters of separation, and the glue that they provide fixes it right up. In all I've done 4 or 5 very small glue repairs. I could probably ignore them but its easy enough to just glue it down. When it's been really hot and humid out, I'll inflate the boat, clean it, and check all the seams to make sure everything looks good. I feel with proper maintenance this boat will last a long time. I have found a few scratches from wear and tear and anything I find could cause problems later I just throw a patch over to reinforce the area. Additionally, when I set the boat up on the ground I put a tarp down just to provide a little extra protection. I use an air mattress electric pump that I plug into an inverter in my car to inflate the boat. The attachment on the pump doesn't exactly fit the hose used to inflate the boat, but I just use some duct tape to create a seal. The electric pump won't inflate it all the way, probably 75%, so I use the hand pump the rest of the way. In this way, I saved a lot of money not buying an expensive pump. I wouldn't really recommend pumping it by hand. Its a lot of work and took my 45 minutes by hand. I installed launch wheels to the transom. I would recommend to never drag the boat on the ground. The boats heavy so if there's gravel or pavement it will damage the material. Overall this boat has been great. It's paid for itself in all the good times, and especially in the mobility of transporting it to almost any location. I also appreciate the customer service of boats togo. When the boat came in the mail I had a question that I submitted via email at 23:00. I received a detailed response around 23:30. I hope to keep using this boat for many years, and I am glad to have given boats to go my business.

I love this boat. I even made a youtube video of it and boatstogo.com uses it on their Overview of this page "thanks guys". It is spacious, stable even when tackling 3-4 foot swells although it is not fun to do so. I have a 6hp outboard and it can go 17mph with me alone in it, 10mph with 2 people in it. You can use even bigger outboard like 9.8hp or even a 15hp they are just heavy to carry for me so the 6hp is a perfect fit. When I go camping to Anclote Key Island, I can fit all my camping gear and it has tons of space left. Soon Boatstogo.com will have one with the Air Deck floor and I can't wait to get my hands on that addition. You guys are welcome to ask me any questions about it through my video link 8-)

Just wanted to pass on my thanks about the SD380. My wife got it for me for an early Christmas present, and I’ve already used it a bunch. When she told me she was gonna get me a boat for Christmas, I said we couldn’t afford it. But she showed me the price, and I couldn’t believe it! I bought this old outboard off Craigslist, slapped it on the back, and now I have a great little fishing boat!

Anyway, I had my brother in town for the holidays, and we went out fishing on it. He likes to stand up when he fishes, and he loved how solid the floor was. He also couldn’t believe how easy it was to inflate this thing. I told him how cheap it is, and I think he’s gonna buy one too!

My wife Janet asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I joked that I wanted a boat. We live in a condo near the beach in Jupiter, FL, so obviously there’s no room for a boat on our property. The only way I thought I could have one was if I docked it, which is something I didn’t want to spend the money on. Over the next month or so, when Christmas would come up in conversation, she would tell me that she heard I wanted a boat, so that’s what she would get me. I would say “Ha, ha. Very funny.” Come Christmas morning, my gift was under the tree. A commented to her that “That doesn’t look like a boat to me.” She just smiled. I opened it up, and it was a Saturn SD380! She wasn’t joking after all. Thanks, guys! This boat is the perfect addition to my life. And most importantly, thanks Janet! That might be the best Christmas present I ever got.