Red Star Marine Navigator II 500 Boat

We took this boat to Panama city, used it for 8 days, sometimes in 3 foot seas, 150 yards from the shore. Had me, wife and 5 and 8 year old boys fishing. Anchored up with the 15 lbs anchors and set around among white capping waves. The boat is comfortable and rigid and took it well. Thought about buying Intex Marirer 4 but after using Navigator I don’t want another boat. Multiple reasons: 1. The biggest reason for me,- oarlocks are unbreakable. If you are in rough ocean with the family and your boat has 1 set of plastic swivel oarlocks (and that’s what Intex Mariner has) and one of them breaks,- I think you are in trouble… With Navigator this is not an issue. 2. Intex Mariner’s oarlocks are positioned towards the middle of the boat which dictates you where to sit, so you can not sit on the tube. Navigator has 2 sets of oarlocks: at the front or in the back. I sit on the tube in the front (saving inside space for gear), right next to the front D-ring (which I use to tie the anchor to), I paddle (sometimes in the wind or current) and I lower down the anchor and tie it to the D-ring right away (before the wind takes me to where I don’t want to be): and I don’t have to move or ask somebody else (one of the kids?) to tie the anchor. 3. Intex Mariner’s floor may be nice but it would be too heavy for my situation. Carrying it up and down the hotels stairs to the 4th floor would be hard. Navigator 500 is roomy yet much lighter then Mariner and we were doing just fine without hard floor. Here are some minor disadvantages: 1. Paddles are like toys for kids: don’t even think about going out in the ocean with them: you’ll be crying for help. Buy yourself a $50 set of 6 foot solid shaft, 1 3/8 SeaSence oars: wow they fill solid! (you can find them here: ***** 2. Pressure gauge is a great idea in theory but doesn’t work in practice. When it is inserted, it doesn’t push the inflation valve open to let the boat pressure come back and get shown on the gauge. The gauge only shows pressure coming through the pump and not the pressure in the boat.(Strange, ha?) 3. Return air tube fell out inside the air pump and it stopped working in the very beginning. Had to buy another one from **** 4. Unlike Mariner, this boat doesn’t have carrying handles on the front and rear. I’m rigging up my own, because it is very uncomfortable to carry it by the grab robe. 5. I wish it had fishing rod holders on both ends of the boat (may be 2 at the front and 2 in the back?) so at least 2 fishermen could enjoy the convenience of rod holders 6. To deflate 2 floor chambers you’ll need to insert small straws or tubes in the valves or they will not let the air out. It would be nice not to be dependent on auxiliary pieces to deflate the boat. 7. Used boat carrying bag for 4 days or so and it started to tear. I will have to buy a big and strong backpack for it instead. 8. Be ready to receive a different color boat then advertised: advertised as mustard green but the boat itself is navy green (much darker then online picture) Let me repeat myself: the things listed above are MINOR disadvantages. Overall this is a VERY NICE BOAT and I would buy it again if I had to. And the most important: I had to contact Red Star Marine customer service for some help and… let me tell you: they went above and beyond and out of their way to make sure I’m happy and satisfied. I will advertise their product any chance I get on the trips we take.

I am very much satisfied with the rst navigator. I was trying to choose between intex mariner and rst navigator and decided to buy this with no regrets.

Works great with a sail kit. The greater firmness and rigidity of this boat as compared to many other inexpensive inflatables make a big difference. When you attach the sail kit and get this thing out on the water it really comes to life. You can find the sail kits online.

We got the Navigator so that we could have easy access for fishing in the Chattahoochee River, just a mile from our house. The boat works perfect for what we intended it for. There were only a few downfalls...like NO instructions in the box at all. When the box arrived, it was damaged, so maybe they fell out during shipping? Also, the description of the Navigator 500 on Overstock.com shows it is a "Five Person" boat. But, the Navigator itself has "Four Person" boat written directly on it! One more thing...some people's reviews on here say that the boat comes WITH a motor mount, but ours did NOT. Overall, the product quality and price were good for what we were looking for...Rafting down the Lazy River and doing some fishing!