Transporting your pontoon float boat has never been easier, introducing the cleverly designed EZ Packer
 

Total Score: 8.66 + INNOVATION AWARD

Introduction: Pontoon boats are agile on the water, some even capable of effectively navigating whitewater, but on land these watercraft become awkward to carry even short distances, and transporting them long distances usually requires completely breaking them down. The EZ Packer is a new boat hauling product that takes advantage of your 2" or 1 1/4" receiver on your truck, SUV, RV, or ATV to make transporting your float boat easier than ever before.
  

    
Transporting pontoon float boats: Pontoon boats are a favorite among trout anglers for their ability to maneuver on rivers, and more and more bass anglers are starting to appreciate the fishability of these affordable and customizable watercraft. My biggest complaint about these boats is their portability on land. Often anglers need to dissemble and deflate their pontoons when transporting them over even the most moderate of distances. The frames of these boats can still be quite large for many vehicles, and if you own a SUV instead of a truck you often have to spend time cleaning them off before putting them away. Enter the EZ Packer, the newest boat hauler product on the market, as well as one of the most innovative we have ever seen.

Ever wish you could traverse long distances with your pontoon fully assembled and still carry a full load in your car? Now you can with the inventive EZ Packer

Impressions: The best way to describe the EZ Packer is a mutant bike rack on steroids. This rack was mechanically engineered for the unique purpose of hauling float boats. The EZ Packer is constructed out of solid steel, and looks and feels extremely sound. This unit is no lightweight, and the EZ Packer single weighs just over 35lbs by itself. While a lighter unit would be easier to carry around when not in use, we would take "heavy" as a tradeoff for increased strength and durability any day of the week. The unit is extremely sturdy, and while it isn't designed to carry anything heavier than a 50-80lb float boat we just couldn't resist stress testing it by taking turns suspending ourselves from the rack. Suffice to say the unit held up nicely.

Overall we were impressed with the build quality of the unit all the way down to the generous welds between joints. We were eager to find out just how easy the unit would be to install and employ in practical fishing applications.
 

   
Materials: The entire steel unit is coated black to shield the steel from the elements as well as provide a slick scratch resistant surface for loading and unloading of the unit. The only plastic on the EZ Packer are the caps at the end of the bars. The inside forks of the unit have a foam pad so that your pontoon will not get scratched or rattle during transport. For added security the unit comes with a safety chain that secures the entire rack to your hitch.

The EZ Packer is built with extremely sturdy steel and quality welds, powered coated for durability, and has numerous nice features like pads for pontoon protection, locking pins for ease of use and security

Real World Test: To test the EZ Packer we went on quite a few long distance trips and tested the unit's capabilities moving from point to point on a river as well as in a bass fishing application by seeing if the unit would benefit anglers launching into reservoirs. We have now used the EZ Packer for a total of 3 months and have logged just over 1000 plus miles with the EZ Packer in tow.
 

Installation: The EZ Packer will accommodate many pontoon boats including Cabelas, Creek Company, Dave Scadden, Water Skeeter, Trout Unlimited..etc. For the full list of approved boats click here. The EZ Packer comes shipped in a oversized and insulated cardboard box. Setup of the unit literally takes 2 minutes as you must bolt in the standing leg into vertical position since the unit must ship with it collapsed. Once that single bolt is secured you are ready to install the unit onto your receiver. The EZ Packer comes in both 1 1/4" and 2" receiver sizes, and our test unit even came with a special anti-rattle hitch pin. The unit isn't exactly light but it isn't any more difficult to install than your typical bike rack.
 

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