BIC Sport 245 Sportyak

We live near a lot of lakes and rivers and my son wanted to take up fishing, and fishing from shore isn't as productive as using a boat. Plus we often go to the lake to play in the water when its 100 degrees out. I really didn't want to get into a power boat, maintenance, registration, insurance and so forth. I've done that before and it's really not worth it to me.After looking at a number of fishing, row and dingies, I settled on the sportyak 245 when amazon had a 20% off sale.This boat is a double wall foam filled model with two built in pontoons. Its incredibly stable (I can stand on one corner at just under 200lbs and it'll life the opposite corner but wont flip), cant sink, and if you cut it into 6 pieces each would probably keep a person afloat.I'm afraid to say that I'm not smart enough to look at the pictographic instructions and figure everything out from that. I guess its cheaper to not translate instructions into 45 languages. I did eventually figure it out after throwing the directions away and just trying to sort it out myself. The anchoring of the row seat was really difficult to figure out from the pictures alone.You'll have to build the wheel assembly and attach it, and attach the oar locks. Curiously, the boat has two row positions (four lock spots) and some oar lock locations on the rear. But despite it having two row positions, the manufacturer includes only 3 oar locks. So you cant move from one position to the other without buying a 4th lock. Poor thinking or another way to reduce manufacturing costs on an $800 item by a few bucks? Silly. Of course I installed the locks and after 3 minutes in the water wanted them in the other position. After experiencing the small bladed oars and the limited amount of thrust they deliver, I ended up using an old double blade kayak paddle and sitting all the way in the back with that.It moves well through the water, is very stable, and is a great play/fishing boat. My son is still learning to swim but he feels completely safe in this boat with his lifejacket. For fishing purposes, the sides are low to the water and you'd have no problems hauling in a pretty big fish without worrying about the boat going over. I've also bought a large inflatable floating island that seats 8 people, and I tether that to the back of the boat when we go to the lake to play.I picked up a 3lb splay anchor from amazon for about thirty bucks, with 60 feet of line. In sandy bottoms it slides a little, but doesn't require resetting more often than once an hour or so. In a river or body of water with a lot of wind and/or current, you'd need something bigger.The wheel setup is awesome. I put the boat on a 6x4 maintenance trailer, push it off at the water, throw all of our stuff in it and roll it right in the water. We also go to an area of the lake where there is an adjacent body of water and I can row there, then roll the boat the ~50 yards or so to the other lake.The boat comes with the oars and oarlocks, which is a nice addition even though I'm not that fond of them.As far as registration and boat launch, the state of California doesn't require registration of a boat under 8', and if you don't put a motor on it then it doesn't require a boat launch fee either. These two rules seem to have some consistency with other states. I did however find that the people sitting in the entry gates at the lakes aren't all on the same page with this, with some saying I had to pay a launch fee if the boat COULD have a motor on it. Since I could probably find a way to attach a motor to an inner tube, that's obviously a wrong answer. I eventually got the head of the lakes recreation area management to write me an email saying no boat under 8' without an attached motor did not require a launch fee. Of course, nobody has tried to charge me for it since.So if you're looking for a little rowboat, fishing boat or dingy for a larger boat, if you need 2 adults, 2 adults and one child, or one adult and a fair bunch of stuff then this will fit the bill. If you want to haul three adults and/or stuff, you'll have to go bigger unless you tether/tow another boat or inflatable with it like I often do. The wheels make it easy for one able bodied person to load/unload and launch it. It weighs perhaps 80lbs total, which is light for a boat of this type.So inexpensive, well made, good little workout for me, and some fun for the family. What else could you ask for? I got a lot of chuckles a few weeks ago when I towed the boat and the tethered inflatable island from an inner tube while doing the backstroke from our fishing spot back to the marina. Hey, I'm eccentric.Also of interest is that due to the stability, you can put a couple of folding 'director' chairs in it and sit in them, with no real stability issues. I can put one in the front and one in the back, turned with the left sides facing each other, and two right handed fishermen can sit and cast without interfering with each other, just like a standard two man fishing boat. Nice.

The Sportyak is very easy to transport. Only had in the water one time so far. During this time, I realized that the boat took on over three gallons of water. Had to end my first voyage earlier than expected. After getting the boat back home, I realized that the transom screws were not tighten enough and leakage protected. Now that I have secured that issue with BIC Goop I am ready for my second voyage. Also, I noticed that the boat sits very low into the water at the transom with only a few inches to spare. This is due to the fact that my weight, plus the battery weight, plus the trolling motor weight and fishing gear may have exceeded the 400 pound capacity for this craft. I am 215 lbs. Not a good vessel for two adults.

It looked great and looked sturdy... Our beach is smooth stones/rocks and sand (Lake Huron) and we got two major holes from one person pulling it TO the water. It’s never even been used.... disappointed.We even saw this boat on a beach in Positano, Italy last month...which was similar to our beach. So we bought it while still in Italy! Big mistake.

I bought this boat to row around the local lakes. I am a 69 year old lady and although it is a bit heavy for me am able to lift the back of the boat onto the tailgate of my truck then slide the boat into the bed. I also can easily pull it off the bed and lower it to the ground without any help. It is easy to pull to the boat ramp. I wanted something I could handle alone and this fits the bill. I love it.

Small bench seat is very uncomfortable and unstable. Replaced with lawn chair. Went out on lake to try out. Had 30 lb thrust minkota with battery sitting in midway point of boat. I reached over to get something chair shifted,water started to pour over back corner and in the lake I went. Luckily there was a log there and I was able to drag boat on top of submerged log and bail out boat and get back going. I am going to put a 3/4 plywood floor bolted in and attach alot lower seat in and place the battery way in front. Hope this works.

Why: I like that these boats are apparently durable and very stable. They are also quite light in comparison to many of the other tender style boats out there...These are great tenders, however, both of the BIC boats we ordered were severely damaged when they arrived. Our advice is to be very vigilant on how the boat(s) will be shipped to you. We called BIC as they were drop shipped but they basically told me they were not interested and to call Amazon. I thought they would be interested in knowing that the boats were in addition to being packaged badly were damaged in shipping. Disappointing to hear they could not care less.Anyway, Amazon did refund some of the money on both boats, however, we would have preferred to have had both boats undamaged. As we live six hours from a shipping point we did not have the ability to simply return them and get a full refund.

The boat is fantastic! Very stable in the water and good room for 3 people. I give the boat 5 stars but the shipping package 1 star. I hardly think shipping a bulky 86 lb. boat in a plastic bag is sufficient. Had minor damage that I fixed so all is well now.

We purchased this little boat just to take to the nearby lake and row aroundIt held both of us who weigh around 200 pounds each and our dog.The boat is lightweight. The handle on one end and those wonderful wheels on the other end. make it so easy to pull down or up the boat ramp or the beach. It fit in the back of our truckOnly downside is the oars come out of the holders sometimes. There is a space to attach a little battery powered motor. The seat is not the most comfortable. You could throw a cushion on it .