Not much in the search section about them. Any owners can comment on them? ie build quality, reliability etc. its starting to do my head in now trying to pick a boat as i keep changing my mind. Willing to spend up to about £1500 ish mebees a little more. Not bothered about fish finders as will just attach my deeper chirp +2. Ive went from sb3 to gowi osprey to bespoke pd33 to nd2 and now like the look of the toslon after watching some vids on youtube, thought it might be to big but size looks fine. Its starting to get on my nerves as cant decide on which boat 🥴 Cheers.
Do you really need a bait boat?
In reply to Post #1
What sort of size lakes you fishing the tolson xboat is quite a big boat
What sort of size lakes you fishing the tolson xboat is quite a big boat
In reply to Post #2
Yes need one now. Just got back from my first france trip and did ok but everyone else had a boat and couldnt compete with them.
Yes need one now. Just got back from my first france trip and did ok but everyone else had a boat and couldnt compete with them.
In reply to Post #3
Over here lakes are quite small but need something that will cope with france. Dont want anything massive. Just booked back up for france again. Tolson looks like its the perfect size to cover just about anything.
Over here lakes are quite small but need something that will cope with france. Dont want anything massive. Just booked back up for france again. Tolson looks like its the perfect size to cover just about anything.
In reply to Post #5
I have an x boat with autopilot and fish finder, it's a great bit of kit. Needs treating carefully, but then again electronics and water aren't a great combination. Wouldn't be without mine now. Use it mainly in France or on one of the bigger lakes I'm a member of as a shoulder injury I sustained a few years ago now hampers my casting ability. The battery life is great at 6hrs. I found on a weeks trip I would change to my spare batteries on the 5th day.
I have an x boat with autopilot and fish finder, it's a great bit of kit. Needs treating carefully, but then again electronics and water aren't a great combination. Wouldn't be without mine now. Use it mainly in France or on one of the bigger lakes I'm a member of as a shoulder injury I sustained a few years ago now hampers my casting ability. The battery life is great at 6hrs. I found on a weeks trip I would change to my spare batteries on the 5th day.
In reply to Post #6
Cheers 👍🏻 Have you had any issues with it mate? Tfg have always been great when ive had problems before with things so thats a bit piece of mind. Is the auto pilot worth the extra money? I think its between the xboat and the bespoke pd-33 boat now, might just flip a coin as cant decide 🤷♂️
Cheers 👍🏻 Have you had any issues with it mate? Tfg have always been great when ive had problems before with things so thats a bit piece of mind. Is the auto pilot worth the extra money? I think its between the xboat and the bespoke pd-33 boat now, might just flip a coin as cant decide 🤷♂️
Stumbled across another company now. Berns baitboats in holland. There xpolre mk2 boat looks good and a nice size. All hand made a bit like the bespoke boats. Not keen on buying from another country mind.
In reply to Post #8
Have you owned / tested all these boats or just 'considered' them Stuart?
You know my thoughts on SB3s (best all rounder out their IMO) however if its sporadic use / foreign trips and your happy to strap on a deeper the latest variant Actor Plus (Compass) is def worth a punt for the £ . . .
Have you owned / tested all these boats or just 'considered' them Stuart?
You know my thoughts on SB3s (best all rounder out their IMO) however if its sporadic use / foreign trips and your happy to strap on a deeper the latest variant Actor Plus (Compass) is def worth a punt for the £ . . .
In reply to Post #9
Never owned a bait boat in my life mate. Yes still like the sb3 but my mate recently bought a sb4 from steve at carp technics and it wasnt very good at all so really put me off the sb3. It looked like a child had siliconed it together as there was silicone all over the place, it was very slow and wouldnt go it a straight line so he sold it after 3 wks and lost £300 on it. He said his £300 actor was in a different league to the sb4 and its a third of the price. There were a few actors in france which were great until the wind got up a bit si want something that will cope better when the wind gets up.
Never owned a bait boat in my life mate. Yes still like the sb3 but my mate recently bought a sb4 from steve at carp technics and it wasnt very good at all so really put me off the sb3. It looked like a child had siliconed it together as there was silicone all over the place, it was very slow and wouldnt go it a straight line so he sold it after 3 wks and lost £300 on it. He said his £300 actor was in a different league to the sb4 and its a third of the price. There were a few actors in france which were great until the wind got up a bit si want something that will cope better when the wind gets up.
In reply to Post #10
Have you thought about a RT4 the new boat is out so maybe a second hand rt4 might be a option as people do upgrade 👍👎
Have you thought about a RT4 the new boat is out so maybe a second hand rt4 might be a option as people do upgrade 👍👎
In reply to Post #1
I have been the same as you but I think i am gonna get a Gowi Osprey. They look good on the vids and have a lot of good reports and all in for £1835. Maybe not top of range sonar but as long as it can show me depths and features that is s good enough for me
I have been the same as you but I think i am gonna get a Gowi Osprey. They look good on the vids and have a lot of good reports and all in for £1835. Maybe not top of range sonar but as long as it can show me depths and features that is s good enough for me
In reply to Post #11
Rt a bit to dear for how much i will use it and dont want to go down second hand route incase of any problems.
Rt a bit to dear for how much i will use it and dont want to go down second hand route incase of any problems.
In reply to Post #11
Rt a bit to dear for how much i will use it and dont want to go down second hand route incase of any problems.
Rt a bit to dear for how much i will use it and dont want to go down second hand route incase of any problems.
In reply to Post #12
Yes gowi looks brilliant and yet to hear of any problems with them. Not sure if gowi and tolson might be a bit big. Would love a one in the middle of actor and gowi if possible which kind of narrows it down to an sb3 or bespoke pd33. Quite like the idea of jets instead of props on the pd but not sure if there a good thing or not as i know sod all about baitboats.
Yes gowi looks brilliant and yet to hear of any problems with them. Not sure if gowi and tolson might be a bit big. Would love a one in the middle of actor and gowi if possible which kind of narrows it down to an sb3 or bespoke pd33. Quite like the idea of jets instead of props on the pd but not sure if there a good thing or not as i know sod all about baitboats.
In reply to Post #1
I've got a x boat with Raymarine pro 5 fitted. Only use it in france. Been faultless, holds plenty of bait and not had any issues. There is a guy in Kent that rents out 50 of them and works on baitboats for a living. I spoke to him before I bought a boat and he said as reliability goes x boat is up there.
I've got a x boat with Raymarine pro 5 fitted. Only use it in france. Been faultless, holds plenty of bait and not had any issues. There is a guy in Kent that rents out 50 of them and works on baitboats for a living. I spoke to him before I bought a boat and he said as reliability goes x boat is up there.
In reply to Post #6
Autopilot is definitely worth the money.
I damaged the autopilot (my fault) and bought another, other than that and dropping my fish finder (replaced that), no, the boat is excellent.
Autopilot is definitely worth the money.
I damaged the autopilot (my fault) and bought another, other than that and dropping my fish finder (replaced that), no, the boat is excellent.
In reply to Post #17
👍🏻
👍🏻
In reply to Post #10
. . .SB4 is a different boat to the SB3 but I've never seen any bad press about it - all carptechnics boats are silicone sealed (arguably the only downside to them) so if it was new it may have just been some excess ? (mine was like this when I first got it)
Actors are skitty in chop / decent wind / heavy loads but are fine for most UK fishing; SB3s are not (they have much deeper hulls) and are solid - if you dont want to risk an Actor you are missing a trick by ignoring the SB3 - I'm not sponsored by them - they are just an excellent product IMHO
. . .SB4 is a different boat to the SB3 but I've never seen any bad press about it - all carptechnics boats are silicone sealed (arguably the only downside to them) so if it was new it may have just been some excess ? (mine was like this when I first got it)
Actors are skitty in chop / decent wind / heavy loads but are fine for most UK fishing; SB3s are not (they have much deeper hulls) and are solid - if you dont want to risk an Actor you are missing a trick by ignoring the SB3 - I'm not sponsored by them - they are just an excellent product IMHO
In reply to Post #19
Sb3 gets great reviews and is the perfect size but after seeing my mates sb4 and how it performed really put me off especially when his sb4 was £1000 just for the boat with lithium batteries. Thats a lot of money for something that was crap.
Sb3 gets great reviews and is the perfect size but after seeing my mates sb4 and how it performed really put me off especially when his sb4 was £1000 just for the boat with lithium batteries. Thats a lot of money for something that was crap.
I have a x boat and it is great! But and I find it a big but it is massive! Way to big for me to use on most waters I fish, I only use mine for France and find the autopilot a waste of time tbh it's good but I hardly ever use it. It's ok if your fishing a water with no weed or a place with a pretty uniformed bottom but if you need to find a small hole in the weed, a small cully, right up close to a island or even a bar I wouldn't use it.
It is only accurate to 3ft now to me 3ft can be a big difference that's why I'd rather the fish finder (don't use it for fish) but I use mine for finding depths/spots much more better doing it that way in my opinion.
For my uk boat I got myself a nd2 boat only use it 2 times now but it seems a brilliant boat tbh bud, it's always a lot smaller 🤣
So I use my xboat for trips abroad and my nd2 bait for the uk
It is only accurate to 3ft now to me 3ft can be a big difference that's why I'd rather the fish finder (don't use it for fish) but I use mine for finding depths/spots much more better doing it that way in my opinion.
For my uk boat I got myself a nd2 boat only use it 2 times now but it seems a brilliant boat tbh bud, it's always a lot smaller 🤣
So I use my xboat for trips abroad and my nd2 bait for the uk
Cheers everyone, think im going to go with the bespoke bait boats pd33 as its a better size and yet to hear anything bad about it at all. But will prob change my mind again tomorrow 😀
I have an SB3 pro x and think it's great. Good design, decent build and perfect size for me. The x boat is much bigger and to me, too bulky, but obviously depends on how you like to fish. I actually spent a good deal of time looking at an x boat for a friend in TF Gear as he was thinking of upgrading from an angling technics technicat. The x boat looked ok, very refined in a mass produced sort of way when compared to my SB3, but no way I'd chose it over the SB3. I guess that is the obvious difference really. Mass produced compared to small bespoke production. I can't compare mine with an SB4, as not used one, but would have thought an SB4 would have been equally good, just smaller. I'd imagine the UKBBB models are equal to anything out there.
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