Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

[astanton81]

So last week I was fishing in my normal lake a few miles from my house, and I saw a couple guys putting an inflatable in the water. I didn't think much of it until I saw it had a little motor on it. Then while I was fishing from the shore, I saw another guy in a boat real in a huge large mouth bass. The guys in the inflatable went over to him since he was asking for some help and wanted them to take pictures of it.

As the guys on the inflatable were coming in, I was leaving and asked them if I could see the pics of the fish. The fish was HUGE and they estimated it was about 7lbs. It was the biggest bass I've seen BY FAR in the lake.

So at that point, after seeing their inflatable boat, and that there are huge fish right there in the lake, I knew I wanted one.

I started doing a little more research and saw that these inflatables can be pumped right at the lake. And since I have a small sports car (Infiniti G37S) there is no way I would ever tow a boat on there, and the fact that I can inflate/deflate this and toss it in my trunk, really makes me want one bad!

So I started doing some research. The guys boat that they had was a dark green one and I'm thinking it was the Seahawk 2 or one of the Sevylor Fish Hunter boats. I just remember it was a darker green color. It fit the 2 guys in it pretty comfortable with all of their gear.

Doing a little more research I came across the Excursion 5 and thought it looked like a great boat. It has some space in it as well, and it would be cool to just go out on the lake with 1 or 2 people and fish. It is also big enough that my wife and I can go out in it and just hang out on the lake.

So I'm wondering if anyone has actually fished in this thing without any mods to it. I'm wondering how comfortable it actually would be to sit in the boat and fish from the seated position. I'm also wondering exactly how much you can move around in it. I know I've read not to stand in these inflatable boats with soft bottoms, but can you even like slide around if need be? I've never been in a boat like this so it's totally new to me. Would even fishing with 3 in the boat be realistic or no?

And I guess in general, those of you who have the Excursion 5, I'm just wondering basic feedback on it and how much you like it. This boat will generally be for me to go out to fish in with a friend or possibly alone. I'm wondering how long it takes to "get it set up" from out of my car to in the water, mounting a motor on it as well.

The price point of about $500 for the boat, motor, battery, and all accessories I would need seems to be very convincing for me. Additionally, I already have a pump that I use in the house for air mattresses, and I'm assuming I can just get an adapter that will turn my cigarette lighter in my car into an outlet, and could use that to pump up the boat at the lake.

Well thanks for reading my long first post and I'm looking forward to feedback.

 

[CopperFox]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Astanton: I'm afraid I can't help much with the Intex Excursion but I just bought an Intex Mariner 4 and have lots of great things to say about it. You may want to check the very active Mariner 4 thread here to see if this one's for you. My comments are well represented. Yes it is smaller than the Excursion, but it is still pretty big for 1 or 2 with full fishing gear. With 3 adults and full fishing gear it would definitely be quite tight. But I suspect that the Excursion's soft floor would detract from the extra size, at least for fishing.

I've had my Mariner 4 for 2-3 months now and remain very impressed for the price. I've also owned an Intex 15' x 3' above ground pool and can say with confidence that the company makes quality products in their price range.

Good luck.

 

[mrdrh99]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Hey bud..... I had the excursion 5, i modded it with hard floor and all. Yet the quality was crap, it's too big and flimsy and only single ply material. I quickly moved to the mariner 4 and is fantastic. Head over our thread and check our pics and i have several YouTube videos about both the excursion and mariner

 

[astanton81]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Thanks for the replies. It's interesting that both of you recommend the Mariner 4. I did see that one too and saw it had great reviews. I have mainly been looking to purchase on Amazon and noticed they had 2 models of that one so I wasn't sure why one was cheaper than the other. I'm thinking one is just the newer model?

As far as how they compre, the Mariner 4 feels much more sturdy huh?

One of my main concerns about an inflatable boat in general is that I have a small sports car and I want to be sure that it can fit in my trunk. And I know with the Excursion 5 that it doesn't have a hard bottom, which makes less things to put in the car. Is the stock "hard floor" that comes with the Mariner 4 any good or would I have to get a custom one to actually be worthwhile? Can you stand and move around with the stock one, and does it fold up pretty small? I did read some people saying that the stock floor is not really good (I think in an Amazon review I read it) and that you really need to make a custom one to make use of it.

Also, just from the looks of it, the Mariner 4 also seems that it is more comfortable to fish on because it has some raised up seats and you can face more than 1 direction and fish.

Also the Mariner 4 is like double the price, and the cheap price of the Excursion really turned me onto it lol. But if it isn't worth that price and won't be a good time actually out there fishing, then I don't know if it would really be beneficial to get that one. Is that quality on the Mariner 4 much better than the Excursion too?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get as much info as I can.

 

[CopperFox]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Keep the questions coming! Others are probably also interested in the answers.

I find the Mariner 4 feels quite sturdy for boats in this price range and I assemble & disassemble my boat every time I go out, which is most weekends.

The stock floor is quite heavy, probably a little more than the boat itself, so about 45 lbs. It is a 'slat' floor made of 1. material like the boat plus 2. several extremely solid (thus heavy) plastic board-like pieces. For the 1st part, think of corrugated cardboard (a top sheet, a bottom sheet and a wavy sheet in between. Now remove the bottom sheet. The boards slide into the wavy tubes and the whole thing can easily be rolled up into a ball maybe 2.5' in diameter and the width of the slats/boat. This is unrolled into the bottom of the boat, with the sides wedged between the bottom of the side tubes and the bottom of the boat. When the keel is inflated on dry land, the floor /boat can rock side to side on the keel. When the boat tubes are inflated, since they are above the floor, each of the hard plastic slats is pushed down on the sides and up in the middle, by the keel, keeping the whole thing solidly in place. The boat will rock side to side on land, when fully inflated. When in the water, with weight in the boat, water pressure pushes the soft bottom right up to the floor, making it flat, except for the bow to stern ridge of the keel. Standing while on water is quite doable, but walking involves shifting heel to toe pressure on only 2-3 of the slats for each of your feet so it is very different than walking on a one piece floor.

The bigger stock seats are very comfortable on your bottom, and are maybe 10" thick, but in reality, sitting that low requires your legs to be crossed or stretched out. With no backrest, this quickly gets uncomfortable on the legs and back. I wanted higher seats with a back to lean against, and felt that a more stable floor was required. Photos of my floor, plus original crate based seats and newer pedestal seats appear in the Mariner 4 thread.

Knowing little of the Excursion, if your main intended use is taking larger groups (you plus 2-4 others) on shorter boat trips (~1 hr), the Excursion would likely be best. If you are thinking of a boat mainly for fishing, either alone or with 1 other, for up to several hours at a time, I'd strongly recommend the Mariner 4. A basic plywood floor with improved seating will also be well worth the effort if that sort of fishing is the intent. MrDrH99 has both of those boats and so would be the go-to-guy for specific differences.

 

[mrdrh99]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Like I said, the Excursion looks great on paper, but once in the water, even with a custom built hard floor I was sorely disappointed. I now have the mariner and I am still back and forth on going with the slat floor PLUS my custom hard floor, which provides superior stability and then leaving the oem floor out and going with just the custom hard floor. I'll need a couple more trial runs with this one to decide how I'm going to go in the future. Leaving the original floor out is a hell of a lot easier to transport so it depends on what you're willing to make the trade off on. I'll be glad to answer any future questions for you! Just remember, the excursion is VERY large and then flimsy on the water, which is why I traded up!

 

[astanton81]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Like I said, the Excursion looks great on paper, but once in the water, even with a custom built hard floor I was sorely disappointed. I now have the mariner and I am still back and forth on going with the slat floor PLUS my custom hard floor, which provides superior stability and then leaving the oem floor out and going with just the custom hard floor. I'll need a couple more trial runs with this one to decide how I'm going to go in the future. Leaving the original floor out is a hell of a lot easier to transport so it depends on what you're willing to make the trade off on. I'll be glad to answer any future questions for you! Just remember, the excursion is VERY large and then flimsy on the water, which is why I traded up!

Okay I'll ask a couple more questions about this subject then

With the stock OEM floor on the Mariner, can you actually get up and move around at all? Like can you fish standing up and turn around and stuff to cast in different directions?

The weight of 45lbs is nothing really, but only as long as I can actually fit all of this stuff in my car lol.

Also with the Mariner 4, since it seems to be sturdier, would you be comfortable dragging it across a hard floor that is made of asphalt, and not worry about it possibly ripping/popping (once it has been inflated)?

How is the width of it compared to the Excursion?

Also, the price is about double the Excursion 5 for the Mariner 4 - what would you say the extra price actually gives you? Just the stability of the boat and a more solid feeling?

 

[RVman]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

The construction of the Mariner 4 is Triple Ply and much more like that of the expensive $1000 plus white water river rafts with 4 separate air chambers plus the keel chamber. There is no comparison between the construction of the excursion and the Mariner. Hands down the Mariner is far superior in its construction. Also I would not recommend dragging any inflatable boat across asphalt. I paid $315 for my Mariner 4 delivered to my doorstep and its worth more IMHO.

 

[mrdrh99]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

I agree with rvman. I try not to drag it across the loading dock at all....just to be careful. Inside width is 27" give or take. It's def smaller than the excursion but like I said, other than the floor that is the excursions downfall. I'm sure its fine if everyone is going to sit and just cruise around. The slat floor in the mariner....yes, you can easily stand, however moving around is quite tricky, hence the added floor. If you're just going to stand up occasionally then you should be fine. I like to fly fish which means I stand most of the time so I added a floor on top of the slats and I can jump up and down on it then. Go back a few pages and find some of my videos on youtube.

 

[astanton81]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Okay well thanks for the posts guys. I think you all have convinced me. I nearly ordered it last week on Amazon but the price went up $10 and I held off since I'm not in a hurry right now since I left for vacation yesterday and get back on Monday. So I'm glad I held off and pretty sure I will purchase the Mariner 4. The primary point for this is to go out fishing myself, or another buddy, POSSIBLY 2 but most likely just 1 other person. Going out in the boat to hang out with my wife is a more secondary thing if we ever wanna just go hang out on a lake, and it would just be us. I'd probably fish while we went out to be honest lol.

I did order the 30lb Minn Kota though since it dropped to $90 on Amazon, as well as the battery station and motor mount, again because they had dropped in price like $10 on Amazon, and I knew I wanted to get something.

I think when I get back I will get the Mariner 4 and start with that, and see if I even feel like I need a custom floor or not. I do like seeing mods where people have chairs they made but I just don't know if I have room for all of that to be honest. It would be awesome to have 2 swivel chairs though, that would be ideal.

 

[CopperFox]

Re: Newb here - interested in an Intex Excursion 5 - anyone here fished with one?

Ditto for what the others have said, and double that for dragging on asphalt. I don't go so far as to lay out a tarp to assemble it on, but it is put together right at the water's edge, and as soon as I have the motor mount, motor, battery and back seat in, that part is pushed into the water while I add the rest. If I can I will try to add some of the 1st stuff while part of the boat is in the water to lessen the weight of what is dragged on land.

As far as space for swivel chairs, you may want to do what I originally did. The swivel chairs have folding backs so take up little room in a vehicle. After bolting the swivel to the chair base I bolted the other side of the swivel to a ~14" x ~12" piece of plywood, again, barely increasing the size. So you have 2 of those, and then I got 2 plastic milk crates, one as a base for each of your chairs. The plywood is cut to fit the top of each crate. Stacked one inside the other, the crates with gear in the top one when in the car, and you've really added very little space to your packing. And the added comfort of such seating ... VERY much worth the effort, vs the original seats. Let me know if you want any more details.