id rather row my driftboat all day anyday over our raft, that being said the raft is very nice for low flows and new floats your not sure of taking the db down. my partners raft is a 14' saturn with an aluminum frame. we dont pull plugs ever so no comparison there, but is definetly more work to keep it on track and just plain more work to row. the only way is to have one of each imo.