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Gunwale Measure This illustration shows how most manufacturers measure a 17 foot drift boat. As you can see it's really 15 foot 7 inches.
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Centerline Measure This illustration shows a 17 foot drift boat measured center-line. It's gunwale length is 19 foot 2 inches.
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At PAVATI, we measure center-line because we feel you should get the real size. Not a meaningless number that makes the boat sound bigger. As you can see above, our 17 foot PAVATI "Warrior" would be 19 foot 2 inches if you measured around the gunwale. Our competitor's 17 foot boats are only 15 foot 7 inches. (will vary from manufacture)
From 19 foot 2 inches subtract 15 foot 7 inches = 3 foot 7 inches difference! Holy Cow! Our competitors boats are, on average 20% smaller for the same length they advertise. And they dare to compare weight! How is your drift boat measured?
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Now that you're up to speed on size, here's some more reasons why PAVATI is the lightest drift boat on the market today.
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1) PAVATI drift boats use 6061 T6 aluminum on our drift boat hulls exclusively. It's the strongest and most expensive. Using the best material available allows us to use a thinner gauge aluminum to keep the weight at a minimum and strength at maximum.
If hull weights are what you want, they're listed below. Once you pick the hull you want, the options you pick will determine the total weight of your boat.
(hull only weights)
15 foot = 161#
16 foot = 180#
17 foot = 203#
20 foot = 226#
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2) Our patent pending honeycomb structured bottom-ribs are made like aircraft wings. Stronger, lighter, and more advanced than any other drift boat. |
3) PAVATI's Quick-Lock floor system eliminates the need for heavy bench seats as shown below. Bench seats are heavy because they span the width of the boat and must be reinforced at every corner because of their mounting system to the boat sides. With PAVATI, you have lightweight stands or dry boxes that snap into the floor, saving precious pounds. Plus you get a nice level floor and walk-thru area. This is standard on all PAVATI drift boats. No jumping over seats here!.
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In a PAVATI, you walk around in your drift boat. No jumping or crawling! |
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Shown left and right are bench style seats used by our competitors as standard issue. More weight and no walk thru. Their walk-thru seats weigh even more and are very expensive. |
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4) PAVATI's CNC formed side-stiffeners add lateral strength to the sides where you need it. This allowed us to use half the gunwale rail other aluminum drift boats use. (see pictures below) Plus, you get valuable storage for items like life jackets.. |
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5) (above)Take a look at PAVATI's gunwale (left). Then take a look at other brands (right). Because of our side stiffener panels, we only need half the gunwale extrusion. This cuts another 30+ pounds off the weight of each PAVATI drift boat.
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5) All aluminum - removable floors - standard. Old style drifters come standard with wood floors. They're heavy and over time soak up water, becoming even heavier. PAVATI drifters are equipped with lightweight aluminum floors that never soak up water, warp, or wear down with use. Plus you can take them out for easy cleaning! Don't like the shiny aluminum, we powder-coat them just for you. |
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6) Left and right pictures show examples of competitor exterior chine, bow, and stern extrusions which add weight. Notice the square or blocked design. |
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Pictured left and right show a PAVATI with no extrusion on outside of boat.
No bow or stern extrusions give a sleek design and enable use of rounding for better performance.
Better streamlining and lighter weight. |
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Left and right pictures show examples of internal chine extrusion used on PAVATI drift boats, placed only where it's needed.
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7) How about Fiberglass? They say it's lighter and stronger than aluminum. Seen any fiberglass airplanes lately? That's because the strength to weight ratio you get with fiberglass is too heavy for airplanes.
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They're saying a 16 foot fiberglass drift boat only weighs 285 pounds? Heck, I said to myself, I weigh 225 pounds! There's no way. Guess what? They're not lieing, but, their claims are based on the bare hull only. No seats, seat boxes, bow shelf, fly stands, anchor, or anything else.
Our 16 foot PAVATI (hull only)weighs 180 pounds. And that's measured center-line. To get even close to the strength you need for a drift boat, fiberglass is going to be 20 -30% heavier than aluminum. They had me fooled too! For some reason, fiberglass sounds like it should be lighter. I think because aluminum, being metal, sounds heavier. You've got to admit, they've done a great job of convincing us.
Don't believe me? Take your drifter down to the scales and weight it. Remember, a PAVATI 16 foot drift boat is exactly 16 foot long. Most others measure around the gunwale, so their 16 foot drift boat is about 14 foot 10 inches. Bring your tape measure and don't forget to measure the width too. It makes a difference. It seems to be more marketing hype than anything when it comes to weight, if you ask me.
I hope you have a little more knowledge about the drift boat business now. I never thought much about boat weight myself until I started PAVATI Marine. I was more concerned about how the boat handled and catching fish. After hearing over and over about our competitors saying how heavy my boats were, I did a little investigation. As you can see, "They got some splainin' to do!"
Chuck Gros
President of PAVATI Marine.
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