Actually, I don't work for him, I volunteered to work the show. Has been talk about being a rep, but nothing in concrete. I just love his products, and have had quite a few years experience in catarafts to judge them.

Not sure about 10footfreds comments though. No comparison between the boats, and not sure about the anchoring thing in question. I've used most of the boats out there, and they are alot easier to sit on the anchor with then most of the others out there. Now, if you're talking boats to pack out, of course you don't want a steelheader/guide model. They're not DESIGNED for that. They are designed to be a whitewater grade fishing boat that you can actually FISH out of. Not just sit in seat and go with flow. I've used them hard for a good 10 years now, using some of the original Steelheaders (9' models) which you can see in my avatar. You may pay way less for a skeeter, but at same time you are buying way less of a boat too. If you want a packable boat, buy an osprey model. I used mine from Jan-Dec with no real problems. Plus, during summer I had the ability to long line a cast with my fly rod well out of fishes view standing up (which is always easier to cast on your feet then in the seat). I had my old outcasts (which my upper end outcasts were very comparible to the skeeter) and would never think of using them ever again. Plus, I like knowing, especially during the heat of summer, I have a boat with no inner tubes, and no stitching on seems.

Personally, it really depends on what you want from a boat, and how you plan to use it. If you only plan to use the boat for slow drifts, and rarely plan to fish out of it, I'd buy as cheap as you can get. Alot of the lower end boats all come out of same factory in China, just with different colors and slight tube changes. And onto pricing, if anyone thinks they are expensive, never have bought whitewater grade boats before. A good set of whitewater tubes, and a professionally built whitewater frame will run you thousands of dollars. I paid almost $4,000 about 12 years ago for my then 18' cataraft with frame and oars. But I was doing alot of whitewatering back then. The tubes ran me almost $2300 of that price (if memory serves me). For what he's offering, and the grade tubes, it's actually quite a deal. But these boats aren't for everyone. And shouldn't be. If price is purely a consideration, go with a cheap boat. But these boats are for those who run their boats hard. If I was only a "sunny day" boater, I wouldn't spend the money on them either. But I'm not. The day I sold my 9' steelheader it was like new, and they're better built now. That's with years of hard use on it too.

To summize, I know I went stray. LOL. I would say only to buy an osprey/guide if you want the best boat on the water. The osprey if you want a hardcore kickboat, the guide if you want a fishing craft (stand to fish from). Any inflatable will move with a fish on. That's a given (even my 16' cataraft I still have does to a point). You can net, just have to know what you're doing when you're alone. That's like ANYWHERE you may fish, bank or boat. These boats are for you ONLY if you want a hardcore boat that is extremely well built that will safely run whitewater if you have to (and preferably if you KNOW how to do it). If you purely want transportation from hole to hole on a slow river, go with your lower end fishcats, skeeters, odc's.