Outcast Stealth Pro

[2FlyFish4]

Pretty much have settled on this boat. I think I will be picking one up at the first of the year. I've researched it as much as I can online. Unfortunately there are not dealers close to me so I can't see it in person or test it our before I buy. Anyone have any reviews or experience with this boat they would like to share? Thanks in advance.

[JAWallace]

No experience with the Outcast Stealth Pro or any of the new Outcast boats, only the PAC 'toons and SFC. They look good but are heavy. I assume you've looked at the Scadden boats? Less money and much lighter. I've had three and am pretty impressed. If the weight doesn't bother you, and if you plan to drift rivers primarily, pretty hard to go wrong with Outcast products.

[Larry S]

Scadden's Outlaw Renegade Stealth looks like the chief competitor. Look forward to your report.
Best,
Larry S

[JAWallace]

Or the 14 lb. Predator. I love that boat like a second child

[Bob Scheidt]

My buddy has a new stealhtpro and I got to try it out for a few hours. Before inflating the boat you need to put in the foot bar. Some oil or fly floatant silicone is needed so the bar slides down easy. It is difficult without something slippery as an aid. The boat weighs 35 pounds and can be easily handled and carried on your shoulders. It rows nice and the standard oars it comes with are all you need. The stripping apron has to come out when you row, easy enough to do. Your legs will kick up the apron when you put your feet on the foot bar to row. The seat has an inflator regulator which will open and not allow you to over inflate the seat. The seat is a stable platform. The boat seems very good quality.
There is enough room behind the seat to put a small ice chest or whatever you want to take with you.

The seat sits up higher than the Outcast super fat cat I have. I think hippers are all you would need if you wanted to wear waders with the Stealthpro.

I'm 6 foot 2 or 3, and here is my only complaint. The chair is adjustable with straps for your height. This was fine. The chair however doesn't come up very far on your back. If the chair back was a few inches higher it would be better. I have to roll a towel up and place it behind my lower back for comfort on any float tube. I have always needed extra lumbar support. Once I put a towel behind my lower back the chair felt better and was more comfortable. I wish Outcast made the chair taller in the back, but I was comfortable for the 2 hours of testing the boat.

The boat is well thought out for fly fishing. I would not hesitate to buy one. I really liked it.
For my own tastes, I am going to try out a kayak, one with foot pedals. So it's either going to be a kayak or a Stealthpro for me. Stealthpro is a really good product and fun to use.

[James_M]

I’ve been lurking around these forums for a while now and finally created an account so I could reply to this thread. Time to contribute a bit I guess…

I bought a Stealth earlier this year and have fished from it at every possible opportunity. I've been fly fishing from float tubes for 20+ years but never made the step up to something I could actually row. I went through a painstaking evaluation process and read everything I could find about different boats and options. I was looking at everything from tubes to cats to rafts to drift boats. The key question that a few intelligent folks have pointed out is “How many friends do you have who like to row and have flexible schedules to go fishing?” Sadly my answer is ZERO. That lead me away from rafts and drifters and put me on the track of cat-style tubes.

There are plenty of trade offs, and it all depends on your use case. Key requirements for me included:

1) I needed to be able to maneuver it with fins. Rowing is great (important) for long stretches of dead water but I can't have my hands on oars to get the perfect drift through a ripple while holding a rod. Alas, I only have two hands.

2) It was a huge plus if I could get it places without a trailer. Thus a big, solid frame was not optimal.

The Stealth seemed to be the perfect boat for my needs.

I’ve fished from it… maybe a dozen times since buying it. It does everything I hoped it would. I got the Outcast “Deluxe Boat Bag”, which fits it nicely. I can throw it in the trunk of my car, or in the back seat of my jeep (or, more commonly, on a rack on the back of my jeep) and be on my way. I can have it inflated in less than 10 minutes and be on the water.

Things I love about the Stealth:
- Collapses pretty small, all things considered
- Can be out of bag and ready to fish very quickly / can be deflated and put back in a bag extremely quickly (few minutes). Be sure to get a good K pump.
- It floats high out of the water so you can make it through water just a few inches deep with no problems. I weigh ~ 200 and have probably 40 lbs of gear (counting an anchor) and I’m floating high. Naturally, being high up is also better for casting and landing fish as well.
- It is somewhat portable when inflated. Can you carry it 100 yards to the water? Yes, I’ve done it a number of times. Can you carry it AND all your gear? Probably not. Plan on making 2 trips. Still… much better than a raft or a drifter for that purpose.
- Compared to any other float tube I’ve owned it has MUCH more room for gear (counting the space behind you).
- The integrated gear system. This allows you to customize your accessories (bags, rod holders, whatever). LOVE IT.
- It’s super easy to stop and stand up in shallows to fish ripples. You don’t even need to anchor up for that. Stop, make a cast or two, sit down, and you’re on your way. I also carry a pair of studded Simms Stream Treads in case I want to anchor up and wade. Not as good as my boots, but much lighter, smaller, and quicker to get on and off.

Things I don’t love about the Stealth:
- The side pocket for gear is a little small. I’ve used other tubes (including an Outcast Super Fat Cat) and those have more room in the built-in pockets than the one, medium-sized cargo pocket that comes with the boat. NOTE: to mitigate this I purchased the Outcast XL Splashproof pocket, put grommets in the bottom of it, and mounted it on the side. MUCH bigger. I love it.
- The oars are too small to really dig when you want to. That said, they are MUCH better than using fins when trying to really move (i.e. through long stretches of still water). It’s easy to put your feet up on the bar—which you must do if you want to cover ground. I guess what I'm saying here is... "it's not a raft or a drift boat", but I knew that when I bought it.

Clearly the things I like about the Stealth significantly outweigh the things I don’t like. And the things I don’t like are easy to fix. The most important consideration is to know how you plan to use this boat. It does exactly what I hoped it would. For solo fishing on lakes or rivers without crazy rapids where I need to maneuver while fishing I couldn’t ask for a better option.

Of course, if you want to bring your 10-yr old son in with you and teach him to fly fish… wrong choice. Which is why I have a Sotar Stryke raft on order and am playing Leggos with my NRS raft frame parts while waiting for the raft to arrive. Guess I’m getting a trailer now. And today I found myself browsing drift boats online. In summary, there is a niche for the Stealth that cannot be filled by very many boats on the market—it’s perfect for certain situations.

Ahhh, so many fish out there and so little time to go catch them!

I hope that helps.

[JAWallace]

Great rundown. A great read for anyone trying to decide if an inflatable pontoon is right for them.

[fomoco69]

Just bought one last month ....I had a Scadden Renegade years ago & like this a little better..... I might up grade to a quality Kayak seat?.....plan on using it on the Yuba , American , feather , upper Sac / Redding area....should be good for lakes & rivers