Ever since I built the Synabego, I’ve been obsessed with finding the perfect boat system—something I could carry in or on the van that would let me fish bigger water without towing a trailer. I love trailers about as much as I love untangling a bird’s nest in a fly line. Over the years, I figured out how to mount a 12-foot Porta-Bote on the side of the van. I also managed to transport my two favorite float tubes: an Outcast Super Fat Cat and a Dave Scadden Zonker. Mission accomplished…sort of.

The problem wasn’t getting them there—it was everything that came afterward. Back in the pickup truck days, life was simple. Toss the boat in the bed, grab a rod, and go fishing. The Synabego, while infinitely cooler, has a lot less storage space. Getting boats in and out became a strange combination of yoga, CrossFit, and interpretive dance. At 70 years old, that wasn’t exactly the retirement fitness plan I had in mind.

The Porta-Bote fishes great, but assembling and disassembling it every trip can feel like wrestling a stubborn PVC alligator. My Zonker is probably my favorite fishing craft, but it has to be inflated and deflated every time if I want it to fit inside the van. That’s fine if I’m fishing all day in one location, but if I just want to hop over to another launch spot, it’s enough work to make me reconsider moving fishing locations when I need to.

The SuperCat Pontoon Boat solves part of that problem because it fits in the van fully inflated. Unfortunately, it’s a frameless float tube, and while it’s comfortable enough, I’ve always preferred sitting higher in a true pontoon boat. I really prefer fishing pontoon boats.

Since owning the Van, my holy grail has been a five-foot pontoon boat with an aluminum frame and a real seat—something light enough that I could simply pick it up, toss it in the back of the van, and be fishing five minutes later. I knew such a unicorn existed because my cousin Wayne owned an old Water Otter that was just about perfect. Sadly, they quit making them years ago. I’ve been stalking eBay for what feels like forever, hoping one would appear. I honestly didn’t think anyone still made a pontoon boat that short.

Then everything changed.

While fishing at Bidwell, I ran into Benson and noticed he was using a compact SuperCat pontoon. Five feet long. About twelve pounds for the frame. It checked every single box I’d been dreaming about. Sold. Less than two weeks after ordering, the boat arrived.

Like any fisherman with an Amazon account, I immediately ordered a stripping basket and a waterproof rear storage bag…only to discover both came included with the boat. Apparently I was trying to accessorize something that was already accessorized. First impressions were excellent. The construction quality was impressive. The tubes felt thick and durable, and the minimalist aluminum frame was exactly what I wanted. Naturally, within about fifteen minutes of putting it together, I started figuring out how to modify it.

I love modifying float tubes and have been doing it for ages since selling the first ever float tubes manufactured at the Millpond in the 70’s. Before owning boats, it was my main watercraft being a poor kid. I dont think Ive ever owned a float tube that didnt have batteries and electronics added. I have always admired tricked out float tubes and I met Don Cheserek at San Luis Reservoir admiring his tricked out Scadden Zonker.

Around that time my fishing buddy, Waymen Lee, contacted me about the Bixpy motor mount I had built for my Zonker the previous year. By coincidence, he owned the six-foot version of the same SuperCat. Waymen is one of those guys whose garage probably contains a CNC machine hidden behind a fishing net. His engineering work is clean, elegant, and built almost entirely around 7/8-inch aluminum tubing and fittings. His goal had been very similar to mine: mount a Bixpy K-1 motor and battery neatly behind the seat using a fin-box adapter. After fishing it for a year, I asked him what he would change. His answer was immediate. “Make it lighter.” Great advice. That single comment influenced almost every decision on my build. My goal became creating a modular system that could go from fully motorized to lightweight kick boat in just a few minutes.

The heart of the design became two aluminum T-track rails mounted beneath the frame. These support a removable motor extension and battery tray that can be installed or removed depending on the day’s fishing. If I want to kick around a small pond, the motor comes off. If I’m crossing a windy reservoir, it goes right back on.

Finding the right motor mount took a little digging, but I eventually paired the rails with lightweight horizontal bar clamps and an aluminum billet battery tray from Amazon. It all bolted and rivetted together better than I had hoped. I had some experience modifying boats with aluminum and rivets modifying both the Crestliner and Alumaweld. The T-track rails ended up being the real MVP of the project. They gave me mounting points for just about everything, including a RAM mount for the Garmin transducer.

I also built a small electrical junction box that clamps to the rear crossbar to keep all the wiring clean and organized. Nothing says “professional build” like eliminating the spaghetti bowl of electrical cables.

For the electronics, I tapped threaded holes into the aluminum tubing for RAM ball mounts. I wasn’t completely convinced that threads cut directly into thin aluminum would survive years of bouncing around reservoirs, so I backed each one with stainless steel hex nuts underneath. Overkill? Maybe. But so far they’ve been rock solid, securely holding both the Bixpy controller and my Garmin Striker Vivid 4cv fish finder.

The final surprise? Even fully rigged—with motor, battery, electronics, and accessories—the entire boat weighs right around 40 pounds. That’s light enough for me to pick up with one hand, carry to the water, and launch in minutes. After years of experimenting with Porta-Botes, float tubes, trailers, racks, and more than a few engineering rabbit holes, I think I’ve finally found the answer. The instant fishing boat. The Synabego finally has the perfect sidekick.