How To Choose a Boat

The most important things to take into account when finding the right boat for you are:

• Size required
• The main application of use
• Using motors with your boat
• Cost

Let's jump right in.

Size

Newport offers inflatable boats starting at 7'7" up to 12'6". If the size of your boat is an important issue to you, you may want to check out our Boat Catalog, which shows all of the boats we produce, with size diagrams to compare.

You may also want to consider storage size. Our boats are made with either Hard Floors or Air Floors. Boats with air floors can deflate and be rolled into an even more compact size. Check out our collection of Air Floor Boats.

Application

Whether you intend to use your Newport boat as a yacht tender or a fishing dinghy, they can handle what you intend to dole out. Yacht tenders are boats that sit on the stern of a larger vessel. Newport boats are high-quality, sleek, and easily deployable yacht tenders. All NV boats include oarlocks and oars if you don't intend to use a motor. If you intend to use an outboard or trolling motor to propel your boat, see the section below on motors. However, know that our transoms can handle everything from gas-powered outboard motors to Newport trolling motors.

Use With Motors

While the transom found on all Newports boats is made of the same durable and strong materials, the size and floor type of a specific model may be better suited to certain levels of thrust, especially with gas-powered outboard motors. To find out exactly how much horsepower each Newports boat allows, check out the "Tech Specs" tab on any product page, like our Del Mar product page.

Cost

Starting at $1099, there's a Newports boat for everyone. All of our models, from the Carmel all the way up to the Catalina, offer the same high-quality materials, manufacturing processes, adhesives, componentry, and performance.

For further reading including explanations of details like Construction and Materials, Exact Thrust Specifications, Hull Shapes, Keels vs No Keels, and more, check out our Boat Buyer's Resource Guide. You can also use our extremely helpful interactive flowchart to help narrow down a boat based upon how you plan to use it. Please see our Finding The Right Dinghy Guide!