NRS Clearwater Drifter

August 20, 2012 By: Tim Romano

The NRS Clearwater Drifter

The NRS Clearwater Drifter

Check out this drift boat… no really… look closer… can you tell what makes it special?

It’s inflatable.  The Clearwater Drifter ($5995 MSRP) is made of drop-stitch PVC, can be inflated to around 9 psi, which creates a rigid, framed dory that offers the ability to bounce off rocks like a rubber raft, yet track quietly and silently like a drift boat.  It’s 17 feet long, and 82 inches wide at the beam between oarlocks.

And it disassembles and can back down to a size that can fit in a trunk of a car, or be shipped via UPS.  It weighs 300 pounds total (with frame).

I’m not sure how a boat that light will do in a heavy upstream wind (no boat I’ve rowed does greatin a wind like that)… but I can see the immediate appeal for many anglers.  This is the drift boat for the guy who can’t talk his wife into letting him dedicate a space in the garage, or leave it under a tarp in front of the house.