WE SELL NESTING, SECTIONAL & FOLDING BOATS, WORLDWIDE.
Range includes dinghies, dayboats & kayaks, from 8-16 feet.

Welcome to Nestaway Boats.

We sell a unique range of sectional, nesting, and folding boats from the world's leading manufacturers. These include:
- NESTAWAY sectional nesting boats, designed and built by us in the UK. Five sizes, from the 8ft two-section Pram dinghy (popular as a yacht and camper van tender), to the three-section Trio 16 family dayboat.
- PORTABOTE fold-flat boats, made in the USA. Their robust plastic hulls can be collapsed to a package that is just 4" thick. Four lengths, 8-14ft.
- POINT 65 sectional kayaks, from Sweden. There are sit-in, sit-on, solo and tandem designs.

All the boats we sell offer easier transport and storage than conventional boats, without the performance and durability disadvantages of inflatable boats. 
They are also quick and easy to assemble.

We sell boats that are suitable for sailing, rowing and motoring.

We also sell outboard engines (Suzuki, Tohatsu, Torqeedo) and a huge range of boating accessories.

We exhibit at the London and Southampton Boat Shows, plus various outdoor and camping events throughout the year. We welcome visitors by appointment, and are pleased to offer demonstrations as needed.

The rest of this page offers a brief summary of the different boats, or you can use the links below to jump direct to our Boat Information Pages: 


Above: our 8ft nesting Pram dinghy, ready to go....
... and (below) nested on the foredeck of a yacht.
 

8ft Nesting Pram Dinghy 
Trio 14 Car Boot Boat
Porta-Botes (fold-flat) 8-14ft
Outboard Motors (petrol & electric)
9ft Nesting Stem Dinghy
Trio 16 Family Dayboat
Point 65 Sectional Kayaks
Nestaway Prices Jan 2013
Contact us by email: nestawayboats@yahoo.com
Or by phone: +44 (0)1202 423094; +44 (0) 7768 600595

Magazine Reviews of our Boats here: Magazine Reviews

We will be at SOUTHAMPTON Boat Show 13-22 Sept 2013

BRIEF BOAT SUMMARIES:

8ft PRAM DINGHY

This two-section boat is often sold as a yacht tender, or to fit inside or on the back of a camper van. She is 8ft 2" long assembled, with a nested length of 4ft 8". The glassfibre hull is fitted out in Iroko or Teak.

Assembly is very simple: hook the sections together then do up the bolts. It only takes a couple of minutes.

The Pram is stable, dry, easy to row, and takes up to three adults. The optional sailing rig can be used with or without a boom. She will also take a small petrol or electric outboard. Click here (Pram Dinghy) for more info.


Our two-section, 9ft Clinker Stem Dinghy is very popular - just the right size for many different applications: Yacht Tender, Sailing for Fun, Rowing, Fishing and just general "Messing About in Boats". She can be launched singlehanded, but carries three adults comfortably.

In similar style we do an 8 foot nesting stem dinghy with stowed footprint of just 4ft square

Like the 9 foot she rows superbly,
going along at hull 
speed with surprisingly little effort. If you haven't tried rowing this sort of dinghy it will be a revelation; 
in fact you'll start wondering 
why you'd need 
an outboard at all - for most journeys you'd probably find the row ashore ashore would take less time than fitting the engine! The two sections can be hooked together and the bolts done up in less than a minute. 

Everyone who sees it 
loves the look of this boat: it's not as stable or capacious as the others but as a two person plus luggage dinghy for a small yacht it's perfect... and on larger yachts it would make a brilliant second tender for when the crew have different shore-going needs.  It can stand upright too: in or on the back of a camper van perhaps, or even on the bathing platform of a motor cruiser. Click here for more information:  8ft Stem Dinghy

Above - standing up in the front of a van

The TRIO 14 multi-purpose-boat (above and right) splits into three sections that nest together to make a package that will fit in the back of many estate cars - no trailer or roof rack needed. Based on a modified square stern canoe type, she can be sailed, rowed or motored and takes up to three adults. The high length to beam ratio makes her an efficient rowing boat, and fast under power, achieving speeds of 10-11 knots with a 3.5hp motor.

Click here: 14ft Trio
 


A larger version, the TRIO 16 (prototype shown above) is now available. Two foot longer than the Trio 14, a foot wider, and a few inches deeper, 
she has a lot more stability and carrying capacity. She won't go in many estate cars but will fit the back of many pick-up trucks and vans, or can be carried on a 7ft trailer instead of a 16ft one (easier to manoeuvre and park, cheaper on ferries, etc). She rows, sails and motors very nicely.
Click here to see more:  NEW TRIO 16 

 
These sectional "sit-on-top" plastic kayaks are a lot of fun, and great value (starting from £489 for a complete, ready-to-go package). You can use them with or without the optional middle section, as either a two-piece one-person kayak, or a three-piece two-person kayak. The pieces don't "nest" like our other boats but as the only company in the world offering a whole range of sectional boats we felt this clever and versatile design deserved to be in our line-up. There is now also a sit-inside version. Click here for more information: SECTIONAL KAYAKS 


Finally, we also sell Portabotes (also commonly referred to as Portaboats, Porta-Bote, Porta-Boat), which fold into a surfboard-like package that is just 4" thick. A different approach to transport and storage - we tend to find that customers' needs dictate whether a Nestaway or Porta-Bote will suit them best (rarely do they overlap) - in a tough, durable (virtually indestructible!) package that is popular with anglers, motorhome and yacht owners around the world. Click here: PORTABOTES  

Some Frequently Asked Questions (more here:FAQs)

WHERE ARE THEY MADE?

Nestaway Boats are hand made in England. Hulls from Dorset, spars from Oxfordshire, joining bolts from Birmingham. Many of the components are bespoke, and we offer a high level of customisation. Most Nestaways are built to order but we usually have show boats available to see/try. 

Portabotes are made in the USA - we are the UK south coast agent and co-import them with UK distributors Intramore (in Lowestoft). We generally hold stock of the 8, 10 and 12 models at our base near Christchurch, and can get 14s fairly quickly if needed.

The sectional kayaks are from Swedish company, Point 65 North (model ranges"Tequila" and "Martini").

Torqeedo electric outboards are German. Suzuki and Tohatsu petrol outboards hail from Japan. 

WHAT IS A NESTING BOAT?

It's just like a "normal" boat, but made in two or more pieces that detach from and fit inside each other. They are much more portable and can be carried in ways that other boats can't: on the deck of a yacht, or a towbar platform on the back of your car, or on a tiny trailer, or even (some models) INSIDE an estate car. They can be stored in the corner of your garage, shed or beach hut, horizontally or vertically.

HOW DO THEY SEAL? WON'T THEY LEAK?

The answer (no) is essentially the same for both: think of it as two (or in some cases three) small boats joined together to make one bigger boat - each section will float in its own right. More technically the partial bulkheads at the ends of each section come above the loaded waterline, so whilst a thin film of water may come up between them, it never gets high enough to enter the boat. There is no need for a seal as such, apart from a rubber washer on the lower joining bolts.

HOW DID IT ALL START?

We lived on board a 31ft yacht in the Caribbean for two years - our dinghy was equivalent to a car. It was used, hard, every day: carrying water, going to the shops, going to the bar, visiting other yachts, setting anchors, going snorkelling... and one day, having been through several tenders, we fell in love with another yacht's home-built plywood nesting dinghy. It could be rowed, sailed or motored, 
and whilst we found plans for DIY build versions, nobody actually made such a thing to buy. So we decided - in an age that many people don't have the time and/or ability to build their own boat - we would!

As time has gone by, through chatting to potential customers, we have come to realise that there are many other innovative solutions to the problems of transporting and storing a boat; and at the same time almost every customer has a different set of requirements. To help fulfil these needs we have also taken on distributorships for other products that we like and find to be of good quality. So far these are Portabote (folding boats), Point 65 (sectional kayaks), and most recently Nautiraid (folding dinghies, kayaks and canoes).

We hope that by displaying all these products together - at boat shows and our (shall we say "workmanlike") showroom near Christchurch - it will be easier for you to choose between them. We know all the products well - their advantages and disadvantages - and use them ourselves, and will happily take you out on the water in the harbour if you want us to (especially if it's a sunny day!).

HOW DO WE CONTACT YOU?

By email - nestawayboats@yahoo.com

By phone - 01202 423094 or 07768 600595. We are still a fairly small business and won't always be able to hear/answer - if so please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

We attend most of the major UK boat shows, particularly London ExCeL (January) and Southampton (September), plus a scattering of the smaller ones.

Our boats can be seen at any other time by arrangement, and with a little notice, near Christchurch (east Dorset). Please note that (especially at busy times of year) we don't always have all varieties of boat available - don't just turn up "in the hope!"

Nestaway Boats is a limited company, established 2007.
For more contact details click here: Contact Form and Details

Quick Links:

8ft Nesting Pram Dinghy     14ft TRIO multi-purpose boat
7ft 10" Stem Dinghy          
NN10 nesting stem dinghy
9ft Nesting Stem Dinghy     Point 65 Tequila! sectional kayaks
What the Press Say (Magazine Articles reviewing our boats)
Torqeedo Electric Motors     PORTABOTES 

Nestaway Boats Ltd, a Dorset and Devon based UK company also trading as
PortableBoatShop.com. We make and sell Nestaway sectional nesting boats;
sell Portabote (Portaboat, Porta-bote) folding fold-flat boats; sell Nautiraid folding dinghies, kayaks and canoes; and sell Point 65 sectional kayaks and canoes. We also demonstrate and sell Torqeedo electric outboards and Tohatsu and Suzuki petrol outboards

We are the world's leading one-stop-shop for easy-to-carry and store, portable, folding, nesting and sectional boats and dinghies. If you don't have anywhere to put a normal boat or hate the idea of trailers, call us.
 

NB We are occasionally asked for smaller boats. Whilst smaller sizes of dinghy exist elsewhere, we don't think they count as "useful" boats. A 6ft Pram or 7ft Stem dinghy will usually take one average-size adult OK, but no more than that in anything other than flat-calm conditions (no wind or waves). As a nested Nestaway 8ft Pram dinghy - or Portabote 8 - takes up quite a lot less space than a 6ft single-piece boat, we don't think it is a compromise worth making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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