My OSG Stealth Pro Experience - Ten Years and Counting

Over ten years ago I sold my frame style pontoon boat and sold my fishing kayak, took the money and invested in a OSG Stealth Pro and never looked back. Today I could overwhelm anyone with the countless stories of the great, fun times I've had and shared with this frameless, inflatable boat. I have friends from west coast to east coast who have also shared in this venture and our topic of conversations always involve where have you floated recently and what are our future plans. So what has made this experience so great?

That Guy in the background with a frame boat now owns a Fish Cat Scout, a great economical option!

My first thought that comes to mind is freedom!

Find a piece of river or stream five to ten miles long and suddenly it becomes all yours for the day. Explore the water in ways that are next to impossible on foot, learn the currents and how fish use them, set the schedule that works for you and quit looking at the time. Soon you realize nature has its own time and it rarely syncs to your watch. I found no better way to leave behind daily frustrations. Just float away from them!

Freezing winters or hot summers, Stealth Pro doesn't mind the weather

Find your own Water

How many times have you arrived at your favorite run and find another angler already beat you to it. When you float streams this no longer becomes a concern. Yeah, you would have liked to fish that run but just float on. Soon you will find the run that no one wants to hike to. It'll pay off, trust me.

Body Anchoring

What is that you ask! Very little talk out there about the benefits of the open cockpit design. Let's say you come up on a shallow gravel bar with a great bucket in front of you. Just put your feet down and hold there. Maybe stand up if you see fit. You'll have the boat around your body and the foot bar will keep you within your boat. No anchor needed. Walk around and your Stealth Pro stays with you. Let's see you do that with a kayak!

It really is different

I see guys out there in the older style frame pontoons and they think it's mostly the same thing and their frame boats more secure and stable. I had one of those too. Stealth Pro is low to the water and the center of gravity is considerably better. 

A word about Safety

No matter what style pontoon boat you choose rivers can be dangerous, period. These are not toys! They are watercraft. Rowing boats and reading water takes experience! Know your water and KNOW your experience level. Always assess your dangers and when in doubt portage. If you have no experience I recommend a starting point to be stillwater. And always wear a PFD. 

Adventure

On a three day trip with a friend on the Devil's River, Texas we had to lower our Stealth Pro's by rope straight off a 25 foot cliff to avoid an impassible waterfall. We tied to the back d-ring and lowered our boats with gear still strapped in and I'm happy to say both boats entered the water below completely upright. I'm glad I had help in doing this but after said and done I learned I could have done it by myself if I was alone. A great feature of the Stealth Pro is how light they are and easy to portage. 

The Stealth Pro in this picture is my first and original orange Stealth Pro that has since been updated to green. Other than color no other changes were made to the current green model. This Orange Stealth Pro is now over ten years old and still in use today without any problems.

Portaging

Here is another good reason to go Stealth Pro. Some river obstacles should just be portaged no matter what boat you have. Making a portage with a Stealth Pro is just plain easy. They are so lightweight. On each side of the seating area are grab handles carefully placed to balance the boat. Just remove your gear and pick up and carry where you need to go. Re-stow your gear and continue on. If you're with a buddy you can leave the gear in the boat and do your portage one boat at a time.

Ten Year Old Stealth Pro Still Going Strong

Can you really do a multi-day float with a Stealth Pro?

I've done more than I can count. With that said you really do need to be minimalistic. There is a generous load limit of 450 lbs but I would tell you stay away from that limit as much as possible. Not just because of safety but also because the more you load it the slower it rows. But if you have done any multi-day hiking trips all the same rules apply. I use a lightweight backpack style tent, jet boil for my meal needs, etc. Just don't bring your cook stove and kitchen sink and you'll be just fine. 

Four day trip on the Buffalo River in the Arkansas Ozarks

Portability

I've always had a truck and never thought much about space for my Stealth Pro. Strap it down in the bed and go wherever. A couple of my float buddies have smaller crossover type vehicles and they always deflate and fold up there Stealth's for transport. Recently we performed our own shuttle with three Stealth Pros. We deflated and rolled up all three of them to fit into a crossover hatchback. Amazing, we still had plenty of room for all of our gear too. 

Buy Here

With the Outcast Frameless Boat Bag you could travel with your stealth on airlines with just the cost of an extra bag. I haven't done this, YET! But there has been talk about it. 

TIP:

K-Pump Mini

To inflate when launching I use an electric pump like the Outcast Hurricane 12 Volt Pump, but when doing multi-day trips you will want a hand pump option to top up on those cool mornings. The K-Pump Mini will just fit in the Stealth Pro Frameless Cargo Pocket.

Multi-Purpose

Personally I use my Stealth Pro for mostly river and stream floats. I have used it on stillwater a couple of times and it functions really well, much like a float tube. I have used kick fins and it gets around like that quite well too. 

The Experience

While I live to fish, doing your own river floating brings your fishing experience to a whole new level. No matter what the quality of the fishing is I always get great joy in drifting a river, taking in the scenery and just letting go of time and leaving the busy world behind me. 

Greg Darling

"The Gorge"

Gorge Fly Shop Team - 541.386.6977

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Just in - Fish Cat Scout IGS - IN STOCK

The frameless design offers ultimate portability and a simple, no-hassle set-up. It’s stable in moving water and features a low profile for still water.

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Outcast Commander vs. Outcast Pac800

Outcast OSG Commander

Frame-less vs. Frame! Do I need a frameless boat?

With the recent resurgence of frameless personal watercraft like the Outcast Commander, Stealth Pro and Fish Cat Scout, many anglers are wondering what the advantages are of a frameless boat compared to a more traditional framed pontoon boat like the Outcast PAC 800. I recently took a trip down the river with an old friend so we could test out the capabilities of each type of boat.

Outcast OSG Commander:

I spent the day rowing and fishing in the Commander. I took it down a small, technical river and then later kicked around a local lake. Why Frameless? I chose the Commander with a specific purpose in mind. There are a couple of rivers that a motivated angler could get a boat into some great water without having to commit to using a traditional boat ramp… I can think of three of four places where dragging a boat in would give me a nice option for a short float that people with drift boats wouldn’t consider going. At 35 pounds, the Commander is easy to manage and handles technical whitewater well.

Got to be motivated to get here!

What I like about the Commander:

It’s quick and easy to set up. It takes about ten minutes to get it from packed in an Outcast Kayak Bag to completely ready to go. I like that I can keep a small collapsible cooler, small dry bag with extra clothing and my fishing gear all behind the seat. There are convenient webbing loops along the seam where the floor meets the tube to tie your gear down. Remember to always “rig to flip” and tie all your gear in.

The boat handles really well. It is very easy to get moving and can handle very technical water with ease. It has a low, narrow profile which makes it easy to get through little chutes and between rocks. I don’t want to mess with class IV whitewater in general, but feel confident that my boat will get through the class II water that we have around here with ease, especially in the summer when the water is low.

One reason I like these frameless boats is that an angler can pull onto a gravel bar and just stand up and fish. The boat does not get away from you as you are standing within it. It is light enough that it does not pull on you much when you are working your way through a spot with the boat holding in the current against your legs. This makes it easy to quickly fish small buckets ad move on to the next spot.

The ability to mount accessories is wonderful. The Stealth Pro and Commander both have two pads that can hold a cargo pocket or a rod holder. It is an easy way to keep your rod and fishing supplies available for quick and easy access.

The ugly:

Effective but different than standard oar lock systems

There are a few things that I don’t like about the frameless boats, all very minor. The first is that the oars and oarlocks. You cannot ship them (pull them in) or feather them (twist the blades as you stroke). As someone who has rowed thousands of miles, my rowing habits (good and bad) are already formed and I don’t like having to change my stroke just for this boat. All of the frameless boats on the market have the same features, and I don’t see them changing it at all. It is really just a minor inconvenience, but it is something I wish were different. I do understand that it would significantly raise the price of the boats to develop a new system.

Another feature that I dislike is the pocket; more specifically, the placement of the “frameless cargo pocket”. There are two pads that are glued onto the boat that accessories (like the pocket or rod holders) can be mounted to. The Stealth Pro comes with one pocket, while it is an accessory for the Scout and the Commander. The pocket is long enough that it gets in the way of the oar on the Commander, but only when you are trying to stow the oar.

The Stealth Pro has the ability to move the pad into three positions. After talking with Greg about his Stealth Pro, he told me that the pocket only gets in the way when the pad is moved into the “forward” position. I have not spent any time in the Scout, but I would imagine that it is a concern also because it is in a fixed position similar to the Commander.

PAC 800

This is a more of a traditional single man pontoon boat. The pontoons are beefy 16” diameter and they have a good rocker. The rocker is the curve on the bottom boat. A bigger rocker reduces the amount of surface area on the water and makes it move faster along with easier navigation. The urethane bladders are a superior material that provides peace of mind (more on that shortly).

Get to places previously unreachable

What I like:

This is a solid boat that is easy to navigate along with sturdy construction that is unlikely to fail. The storage capacity is great. I would feel comfortable with enough gear for a light overnight float. The platform on the back is great for latching and securing gear. It is easy to navigate and sits high in the water. A bigger profile means that it draws less water than smaller boats. More surface area is harder makes it easier to float.

Another benefit is that you sit higher in the water, so your butt is less likely to constantly be wet. This few inches can give you a better vantage point for scouting rapids and spotting fish too.

There is far more versatility with rigging options on a pontoon boat. An anchor is no big deal on a framed boat, while it is possible, but not as convenient on a frameless boat. There are more surfaces and bars to attach straps and gear to, so taking more gear down the river is easier to rig and easier to secure. I would feel comfortable taking enough gear for an over-night excursion on a PAC 800.

The Ugly:

Framed boats are heavier than frameless boats (Stealth Pro and Commander - 35#, PAC 800 - 52#). That is why frameless boats were developed in the first place. There is also more weight to get moving, so you are using more energy for rowing in the first place.

Outcast Wheel System

Another point is that you have slightly less accessibility with a pontoon boat. An angler is more limited where he can take it. Even with the Outcast Wheel System there are places that the PAC 800 would be difficult to get to that would be easy for a frameless boat. The Commander can squeeze through tighter slots and rapids than the PAC800. Chris and I are both extremely accomplished oarsmen and he got the PAC 800 stuck in the middle of a rapid where my Commander fit through just fine.

A boat that sits higher in the water is also more susceptible to being blown around in the wind. The PAC 800 is no exception; windy conditions make it more difficult to row. I once took a pontoon boat out on a lake without the oars (just fins) and ended up having to leave it on the other side of the lake and walk way too far when the wind started blowing so hard I could not kick against it any longer. I had to come back and get it early the next morning.

So do I need a frameless boat?

Storage solution - Outcast Boat Hoist

Well that is up to you. A PAC 800 or PAC 900 are both solid choices, as well as either the Stealth Pro and Commander. I choose these four boats because they have urethane bladders. There are tons of choices out there, but a urethane bladder is the key to a high quality boat. Urethane is much more puncture and tear resistant than Vinyl (as seen in many alternative boats). Urethane also lasts longer and can take a higher psi. Someone asked me if the single bladder on the outer part of the Commander is an issue. Absolutely not! There is only one bladder because the chances of it failing are so poor that it is not an issue. Cheaper alternatives have multiple bladders because there is a greater chance of a failure.

Who is a frameless boat better for?

• Anglers that use questionable or non-traditional access points.
• Anglers that want quick set-up if they have to break down the boat
• Anglers that bring minimal gear
• Anglers looking for a low-profile, lightweight boat

Who is a pontoon boat better for?

• Anglers that tend to use more traditional access points. 
• Anglers that carry a lot of gear
• Anglers that do overnight or multiple-day floats. 
• Anglers with a truck/ or a trailer to leave the boat rigged up OR
• Anglers that can take a few extra minutes to set up and take down

A boat is a big purchase for any angler. It opens up so much more water and opportunity, plus it is just darn fun to run a river. Rowing and navigating is another skill to master that increases your fishing prowess. Learning how the currents come together and being able to float over fish and structure can only give you insight on how to be a better angler.

We are always happy to help you make tough decisions with your precious fishing gear. Please give us a call if you ever have any questions.

Andrew Perrault
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

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