I fancy giving the tube a try this year and have been looking at tubes from different manufacturers but its all a bit much is the new ron thomson tube ok for entry level and occasional use? I would be using it on small unstocked waters with a wee walk in at times.Any point in looking for 2nd hand ?
mick

It would be all too easy for the last manufacturer in the West ( that's me ) to say no .

' Ron Thompson ' is a fabricated marketing entity that Lars Swendsen came up with - as he once said to me 'Steve , if the silly b....rs want to buy something American - I shall give it to them ! ' ( There was a witness and he'll back me on this one ! I've already checked !!

I have actually met fishermen who claimed they once did fish with 'Ron Thompson ' - interesting that - but it wasn't the made up one - obviously !

Lars was the first Dane who discovered that if you bought it cheap in China and flogged it fairly cheap in the West - you could make lots of money - and he has - and credit to him!

But this is another Chinese made watercraft !

The Chinese are famous for manufacturing only the one sort of watercraft and that , technically , is a junk !


Over to you !

Buy British and you may float longer !


Best wishes ,

Steve Parton



Steve parton

I've got a Fish Cat 4 and it suits me as it's high up in the water. Not to say that this is to everybody's liking just personal preference. It has two large zipped containers on it that can carry a fair amount of bits and pieces as well as food and drink.

Admittedly it's not British and is difficult to get hold of over here but I'm very happy with it. I've heard very good reports about Steve's stuff too.

I use one of steves cruiser jobs (red and black tube) and its absolutly brilliant,i started tubing in a round tube which again came from Steve Parton as did a lot of early tubing advice,for safetys sake buy a tube with a decent bladder and none of this see through,well almost see through urethane stuff,water is generally cold wet and deep,so stay safe,spend the extra and get something you can trust from a company whos advice you can trust.


Bry

What's the difference between your bladders and the bladders used by say.....Snowbee ? Are they a different material ? will the last longer ?

The Shakespeare expedition comes highly recomended as an entry level tube and is classed as vgfm. From what I have read though they are not making them any more. Certainly not this year. You may be able to pick one up though.

Other than that Steve Parton is a name that is highly credited in the tube world.

Plenty more info here and here

I have just bought my first tube, not used it yet, went for the Super Fat Cat based on reviews and as I am shall we say built on the larger side.

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Jim

My only worry is that when I die,my wife sells my fishing gear, for what I said I paid for it

I have done quite a bit of tubing since i got my first tube from Steve Parton in what now seems like donkeys ago,and reckon i know a thing or tube,one thing is for sure,i tubed a water in my v cruiser tube which sits a little higher than a caddis round tube but still lower than a friends super fat cat which a mate of mine HAD,the wind on sweethope would blow him back down the lake quicker than i could say "theres a fish" and he had to work harder to move than me,the innertubes were no thicker than the tubes you float on at wetnwild water parks,and having been to such parks my mate had little or no confidence in that tube,neither would he sell it,he burnt in on a bonfire and now uses a shakespeare tube with the better bladder system.
Whatever you buy,be safe,buy the safest you can afford and a lifejkt to the highest standards and then you can enjoy your days afloat with total confidence in the tube and concentrate more on the fishing than having to padal like a madman.

Bryan

Oh and that round caddis i bought from Steve is still working well ,with new innertubes of course,and a new owner,i even have a back up tube which is a bucks giant top gun and its never been wet yet,only stored.

I have a fat cat and I have heard that myth before as well

I've just bought a guideline drifter,not got it wet yet, waiting for warmer weather.

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I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.