Originally Posted By: rawhide
I have been looking at the 13 ft aire, nrs and saturns. They all seem to sell with nrs frame packages. The saturns are the cheapest and seem to get good reviews for the price. I would like to be able to take 3 people at a time including the rower and still keep the boat smaller in size. Any recomendations on brand and size?


I wouldnt go with a 13ft saturn, a 14ft or 14.5ft is a better option IMHO if you intend to fish 3 guys all the time, especially in low water conditions. I own a 14ft Saturn and 3 guys works great when you get the weight balanced correctly, but with 3rd guy back, if unbalaned the raft can sit ass heavy making it more difficult to track/row and will hang up on rocks more in shallow riffles. Also with my 14ft and 3 guys with small amounts of gear the boat is pretty much full. Cant imagine trying to comfortably fish 3 guys/gear in a shorter/narrower boat. my 2 cents.

I cant speak for the other brands of rafts as I have not rowed them before. But I would say that rowing a fully loaded drift boat all day is much easier than a fully loaded raft.