Would you buy a car without doors?
US Patent D610,959 S
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Chuck Gros, president of PAVATI Marine, had an idea a few years ago while taking his grandpa on a float down river.
Gram pa was getting to the point where he couldn't get in the boat anymore. "Why don't they put doors in these boats?" he said.
When Chuck decided to build drift boats, this was one of the first things he designed. "I want everyone, young, old, or disabled to enjoy the fun and adventure of riding in a drift boat." says Chuck.
Ever get your foot caught trying to sling it over the side of a drift boat? Getting in or out can be embarrassing. Put a pair of chest waders on and it turns into a major feat. Add some moss on the river bottom and you have a potential disaster.
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Starting Down the Line
While other companies are going out of business or shutting down their facilities, PAVATI Marine is ramping up production. Why, because we have a better boat. Just take a look at our features below. If you have a question about anything, call us. We have answers.
We're America's Newest and Fastest Growing Aluminum Boat Manufacturer! |
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Here's the skinny
Buying a drift boat is like adding a new member to your family. It may help feed your family if you're guiding for a living. Or, it may take your family and friends on wild and scenic adventures few will ever see. What ever the reason, you will be joining a unique group of people that enjoys one of the favorite pastimes in the world. Add a fish tailing across the water in front of your drift boat and you have the most sought after experience there is. |
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Why buy A PAVATI Drift Boat?
Because there's no compromise. It's the most thought out, comfortable, and best rowing machine there is! |
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100% welded aluminum hull. Light weight and maintenance free. Aluminum is a great material. You just aren't going to beat it for rugged strength and low maintenance. If you slam into a sharp rock the most you will do is put a ding in it. A little embarrassing but you will float the rest of the way down river with no problems. If you're thinking about getting a fiberglass drift boat, same situation, be hoping there is someone close by to pick you up because you will be sinking!
Some say aluminum boats are colder than fiberglass boats. Think about it. When it's 20 degrees the only way you're going to keep warm is good clothing and a good heater. Warning: Careful with that heater in a fiberglass boat. Resin is highly flammable.
You'll be glad you decided on an aluminum drift boat when you get home from a great day of fishing. While you're dreaming that night about the 20 pounder you're gon'na catch the next day, the fiberglass guys are patching holes! You might as well buy a wood drift boat if you like working on it. We'll talk about the noise issue below. Want to talk about aluminum vs. fiberglass weight-wise? Click here: Have you seen any fiberglass airplanes lately? |
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"Patented" Doors. Getting in and out of drift boats, a hazard? If you've been in a drift boat before, you already know this answer. It's cold and wet, you're wearing chest waders and stove up a little from sitting for a while. Bang! You hook up to a big steelhead and need to get out to land it! Right Now! When you finally get your poor old leg over the side, you slip on a mossy rock and, well you know the rest.
With a PAVATI, you simply open the door and step out.
Fly fisherman get in and out of their drift boats pretty often to sneak up on that wily rainbow. A door allows you to turn and put your feet out first, testing the water depth and the solidity of your footing before you make that giant leap for mankind. If you fly fish, you've got to have this feature.
Do the doors leak? We install the doors above the water line so the only time water gets close is when you're traveling through white water. Plus we use a marine grade weather stripping around the doors. They don't leak. See Video. |
We use a "Bear Claw" style of door lock which is similar to the lock you have on your car doors. It grabs the pin as it shuts.
 This style of "Bear Claw" lock has two pawls that grab the locking pin as you close the door (seen above). Very similar to the lock system in your car. You can hear it click twice if you close it slowly. Just in case you didn't close it completely, it still won't open unless you pull the handle. We inclosed the lock system and handle so you can't accidently open it very easily.
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Dimples. PAVATI is the only Aluminum Drift boat with dimples. Sail boats, airplanes, surfboards, and even snow boards have dimples now. We are proud to be the first aluminum drift boat manufacturer to do this. We put over 500 dimples in each boat. You won't believe it until you try it. Anyone who says it's a gimmick, hasn't rowed our drift boat. Click here to read the article. |
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Patent Pending "Wave Cutter" bow. Your traditional old-school drift boats have a blunt bow. When you hit a good sized curler you smack into it, splashing water in the air. Your drift boat will even stall. That's when you and river are put to the test. Who is stronger, you or the river.
PAVATI's high performance "Wave Cutter" bow is sharper, pierces waves and rollers like a hot knife through butter. This keeps the boat going the direction you want it to go. Stop getting pushed around! Plus, the PAVATI "Wave Cutter" bow forces water away from the drift boat, keeping your passengers dry. |
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This is always a hot subject with expert oarsmen. What exactly is Chine?
| Chine - (Wikipedia) A chine in boating refers to a sharp angle in the hull as compared to the rounded bottoms of most traditional boat hulls. The term hard chine indicates an angle with little rounding, where a soft chine would be more rounded, but still involve the meeting of distinct planes. |
We have a lot to say about chine because we get hammered by our competitors saying "PAVATI drift boats have no chine and don't track." If you read the Wikipedia definition above you know this is NOT true. What our competitors are referring to is the chine extrusion they are using to join the sides of the boat to the bottom. We wish they would get it straight if they are going to rib us about it.
Hard Chine Construction Using today's technologies we are able to make the first production aluminum drift boat with NO chine extrusions. Our boats are lofted ( Nautical term - to lay out a full-scale working drawing of the lines of a vessel's hull) on computers by engineers, run through special marine software, cut out with CNC machines, then built on forms made with the same machinery.
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What this means is, all of our parts fit together perfectly. We don't need jigs, patterns, or extruded "caps" to hide imperfections in our cut-out parts. Unlike the old wooden drift boats and most of the aluminum drift boats made today, our boats are cut with CNC equipment, not skill saws. |
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Benefits of PAVATI Hard chine Construction: PAVATI boats run true, track better, and row easier because of less drag. When you drop the anchor in fast water with PAVATI drift boats, they don't wobble like a flat fish. They stay straight in most conditions, without having the oars in the water.
Chine extrusions hurt you, not help you. Why? Chine extrusion has an overlapping lip on the bottom and side which acts as a keel. Keels work great on power boats but on drift boats they are designed to make it easier to put the boat together. Plus, keels are supposed to be straight instead of following the outside curvatures of the boat bottom. This curved keel forces the boat to react to the direction of the currents. When you have swirling currents coming from different directions, as you do in rivers, you get tossed around like a basketball. If you have previously owned a drift boat you know the feeling. PAVATI drift boats have no keels, currents flow under them unobstructed.
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Benefits of external extrusion chine: The external chine extrusion does add strength. So, to make up for the lost strength we developed an internal chine which we have made the same overall thickness as the external chine. External chine does act as a rub rail when loading your boat, protecting the paint in most cases. And, if you are hitting lots of rocks it does protect the outside of the boat. PAVATI has added a Kevlar coating that is tough as nails to the outside of the boat that will also protect from rubs and rocks. This coating may be reapplied after years of service. Bringing your boat bottom back to new condition. |
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Some of you live in your drift boats. Guides in particular. You are experts at handling your drift boat. You need a boat that turns fast and you can scull from side to side. The easier and faster, the better. It just makes sense that having a keel on each side of the boat is not going to allow you to turn as fast or slide the boat. PAVATI boats turn faster and scull better than any boat with chine extrusions. You will notice this immediately the first time you put oars to a PAVATI drift boat.
What about tracking? What is tracking. We call tracking, the ability to cut the boat across moving water. Rivers in particular. A good oarsman will turn his boat to one side or the other to maneuver around an obstacle. Usually a rock. With a hard chine, as a PAVATI has, you get plenty of tracking. Are you going to get better tracking with extrusion chines? It makes sense that you will because they act like a keel? But wait, keels are supposed to be straight. Not curved as the side of the boat is. Our experience says, PAVATI drift boats track very well and with the unpredictable currents rivers have, PAVATI drift boats are predictable.
Finally, drift boats are made to run in shallow water. So the fact is, you will be hitting rocks. Protruding extrusions on the boat bottom will grab rocks and can even hang the boat up. This can be very dangerous, causing the boat to flip, even in slow moving water. PAVATI drift boats don't have the extrusion so they slide off rocks. |
Radius Transom - PAVATI drift boats have a cut above radius transom unlike the standard flat backed "tombstone" transoms found on most drift boats. Benefits: (1) Auto balancing. You don't have to worry about moving the seats to keep the back end from pushing water. (2) Our radius stern creates lift, not drag, making it safer and easier to row. (3) More room in the back for fly fishing or running a kicker motor. |
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Patent Pending Adjustable Floor System
Chuck went overboard on this invention. Ever have problems moving your seats around? Move or install your seats, foot rest, heaters, propane bottles, or fishing rod holders just about anywhere in your boat, in seconds!
Watch the video and see for yourself. This is another first in drift boats or any kind of boat for that matter.
See Video |
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Seats w/Boxes
This style of, seat on a box, not only allows you to move the seats around to your liking but gives each person a storage area for their lunch or a jacket. We like this system because it gives you plenty of room to turn the whole seat around for trolling and walk-through access to the rest of the boat. Take a look at more seats
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Ten Drink Holders! This may seem a little excessive but as soon as we started using our PAVATI drift boat we had half the drink holders filled up with scissors, pliers, lures, hooks, sinkers, fly's, and even a few drinks. They make a great place to put items just to get them out of the way and stops them from rolling or blowing away. When you're in a confined place all day it's nice to be organized.
Too many drink holders? Not! |
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Adjustable Oar Lock Blocks (rollover image) When you get your new PAVATI drifter you want everything to be perfect. Having the oar locks in the right place is essential. Eight different positions ensures you will get the most leverage you can for those times when you need all the horsepower you can muster. If you want to fish 1-1-1 (three in a row), for the popular side drifting technique, you may want to move your row seat forward to balance the boat. This means you will need to move the oar locks too. No matter how you want to set your boat up, fly fishing, bait fishing, or pulling plugs, our simple clip locks allow you to move the oarlocks to the optimum position in seconds.
On top of that we offer you "Kenny Helfrich's" stainless steel - super strong - oar locks. Kenny, a third generation Eugene Oregon area guide, developed these oar locks to not only be super strong but to stop your oar from climbing up the side of the oar lock with each stroke as most do. If you've rowed a boat much you've probably noticed the thump, thump, after each stroke. That noise is the oar dropping back to the bottom of the oarlock. Also, in a real tough situation, these oar locks are designed to flex enough to allow your oars to pop out of these oar locks. Kenny says, "These are the last pair of oar locks you will ever own." That's good enough for us. |
| Wide bottom We rewrote the book on drift boat bottoms. Not only do we give you a high-tech dimpled bottom, we've re-lofted the bottom to give PAVATI drift boats less draft. Less draft equals a higher riding drift boat. You'll notice the first time you row a PAVATI that you'll hit fewer rocks. And since you're riding higher in the water, cross currents don't push you around. The fiberglass drift boat builders talk about how their boats slide over rocks. PAVATI drift boats float over rocks. You'll be amazed at how shallow and stable a drift boat can be. |
ADVANCED KEVLAR Bottom Bare aluminum bottoms grab rocks, don't slide very well, and are notorious for being noisy. We have solved all of the above. After doing some research on new materials available we stumbled upon a Kevlar® coated polymer. It's original intention was for the inside of dump truck beds in rock quarries. It's so hard you can almost take a grinder to it. Police departments are even using it on the inside of their squad car doors for bullet protection.
PAVATI is the first to use it on the bottoms of drift boats but we expect it to be an industry standard very soon. It slides over rocks and takes a beating, then asks for more. An added bonus is it deadens sound by up to 80%. PAVATI has put an end to the days of noisy aluminum drift boats. Now you can have your cake and eat it too. Another first for PAVATI.
We also install UHMW on our bottoms if that's what you like. We use a special vacume seal process that keeps air bubbles out and sucks it down flat. |
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Removable floor boards - Tired of those wonderful fish smells? That's right! Our floor boards easily lift out. Giving you access to clean your drift boat floor. Makes it easy to add options like a propane heater, an anchor release system, or an electric bilge pump. No more pop rivets to deal with. Another first for PAVATI. Click here to see our removable floors
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Level Floor Boards - If you have never been in a drift boat with level floor boards, you're in for a treat. Often sold as an expensive option just for fly fishermen, PAVATI drift boats come standard with this feature. Not only is it great for fly fishing, you'll love standing on a level surface to cast or fight that 15 pound steelhead.
Roll your cursor over the picture (right) to see just how level PAVATI floors really are. |
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Locking Anchor nest comes with a place to keep spare drain plugs. Tired of tieing your anchor down with a bunji cord? Just one more reason to buy a PAVATI. If you've been around boats much, you've probably lost a drain plug or two. We put the drain plug holder right next to the anchor cup so you will avoid losing it. Plus, seeing it in plain view reminds you to put it in. An exciting mistake. |
This picture shows the anchor arm in the center position. We can also position the arm on the side to accommodate a kicker motor. |
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Adjustable Foot Rests Most of your rowing power comes from your legs. So having your foot rest in the right place is critical.
PAVATI drift boats give you adjustable foot rests with seven different settings. This allows you to leverage the most power from your legs as possible for those times when raw manpower is needed. This feature comes in handy especially when you're taking turns rowing. One latch on each side lets you change the setting in seconds.
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Rollover Image
"Power Rib" Stiffeners It's pretty obvious, when it comes to strength PAVATI did some research.. We studied aircraft wing design and came up with a similar style of honey-comb structure we could cut on our CNC machinery to get the exact shape every time. This not only adds lightweight strength but gives us repeatability.
Instead of using expensive and outdated jigs to form our bottoms, our CNC cut ribs dictate the shape of the bottom. Not having to use jigs enables us to change bottom design on computer before we build it instead of using the same jig for multiple sized drift boats as is the standard. Six full length power ribs welded in place provide maximum strength.
That's not all. We then designed a side tray, which is also a compartment to handle more of the lateral load. Allowing a smaller gunwale extrusion.
These stiffening features combined with our dimpled bottom give you an advanced structural design far superior to other brands. River ready? You bet. |
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Many Sizes to Choose From
We're coming out with new sizes all the time. These three shown are just to show that we do have more than one size. |
The Truth Scales - How many times have you wanted to know how long your fish was to see if it was legal to keep? Or just to brag about? In the past you had to drag out a tape measure, if you could find it, or just guess.
Not only was this inconvenient but a lot of fish died because we didn't get them back in the water in time.
PAVATI continues to set the pace with scales on both sides of your drift boat as standard equipment. Measure your fish in seconds and let it go. Up to 60 inches.
PAVAIT drift boats not only catch fish, they save them too!
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...Not a sticker, it's engraved right in the aluminum. Great for measuring leaders too. Another PAVATI first. |
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PAVATI's New Rod Holder
Rod holders are always a pain in drift boats. PAVATI went after this problem with a raised butt holder to keep your reels off the floor, minimizing damage.
Plus, with PAVATI's adjustable floor system, you can adjust where the rod holder goes and take it out in seconds when you go crabbing or just don't need it.
To top it off we found a neat place to put a leader roller.
Do we need to say it again? Another PAVATI first.
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Want a custom paint job? This one is going to .look sexy. |
After the custom air brush we shoot a clear coat to help protect it. See this drift boat finished in our Gallery section. |
Click here to see our trailers |
Drift boat trailers Aluminum drift boat trailers look good, never need paint and are definitely a back saver when it comes to moving them around. If you've ever owned an aluminum trailer you know it would be hard to go back to steel. |
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If you're a seasoned drifter, it's obvious. We made an extensive effort to upgrade every part of the drift boat. But, there's more to come! |
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Got Questions? Ready to buy?
Many sizes to choose from.
Call 1 800 866 5269 Ask our friendly sales staff.
After hours till 10pm PST Call 541 778 0585.
Our 50,000 sq ft facility is close to the Rogue River and we would be happy to take you for a test drive so you can see for yourself.
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