Bonafide Bonafide XTR130
A genuinely class-leading motorized fishing platform that is stable as a table and built to be rigged like a bass boat, but its size, weight, and price put it out of reach for paddle-first or beginner anglers.
Best for: Serious, gear-heavy anglers who plan to motorize (bow trolling motor and/or stern motor), run multiple sonar units, fish big water or fish two-up, and have a trailer or truck plus a launch they can drive close to.
The good
- Exceptional, stand-and-fish stability — independent and dealer reviews repeatedly call it 'stable as a table' with a wide, walkable elevated deck, and Bonafide markets it for larger anglers or anyone wanting maximum balance
- Built from the ground up for electronics and motorization: PowerLink ports, bow + stern motor compatibility, foot steering, and room for a 100Ah lithium battery powering live sonar and down-scan simultaneously (Boating Mag)
- Huge 750 lb capacity and a 24" x 65" walkable floor plan with optional tandem seating — it converts from a two-angler setup to a one-person platform
- Made in the USA, and reviewers note it handles bigger waves and moderate chop well thanks to its size and hull
The bad
- Very heavy: 155 lb hull / 170 lb rigged. Eco Fishing Shop's own review states car-topping it would be 'next to impossible' and Boating Mag says it 'is best loaded in and out of the water with a trailer'
- Effectively requires a motor — multiple reviews state that as a pure paddle kayak it 'would take significant effort to move,' so the sticker price is just the entry fee before motor, battery, and trailer costs
- Not beginner-friendly and not a river boat: dealers flag it as a poor fit for first-time kayak anglers, and its size makes tracking in current/wind harder and rules out small or skinny water
- Likely needs DMV/state boat registration once motorized (Boating Mag), and a transducer typically protrudes off the stern — added cost, paperwork, and rigging hassle
The XTR130 is exactly what Bonafide says it is: the high end of the fishing-kayak-as-mini-bass-boat category, and reviewers across the board praise its stability and electronics/motor integration. The honest caveat is that nearly every documented "downside" is the same downside — it is big, heavy (155 lb hull), and built to be motorized, which means the real cost is well above the ~$2,950 hull price once you add motor, battery, and a trailer. We could not find deep, independent owner-forum complaint threads (the one relevant forum thread is paywalled and no substantive Reddit discussion surfaced), so the negatives here are reviewer- and dealer-attributed plus the unavoidable physics of the weight rather than a large body of long-term durability reports; treat reliability over years as not-yet-well-documented.