It’s not that often we get to test ‘baby’ boats — a category into which Polycraft’s neat little Tuffy fits quite nicely. Designed primarily as a tender for larger craft, the Tuffy offers plenty more for those who like to poke around, stealthily and quietly, in confined water ways. Powered by the new Mercury Avator 7.5E electric outboard, this package is easily affordable and a lot more versatile than many would think.
Like all Polycraft, the Tuffy is constructed from rotomoulded polyethylene plastic, which offers amazing durability in a vast array of conditions. You can knock this stuff around without having to worry too much about it, which is always handy in a small boat used in tender situations. In fact, polycraft boasts that its plastic offers five times more impact resistance than fibreglass — a really eye-catching statistic! Naturally, polyethylene isn’t prone to any sort of corrosion, electrolysis or osmosis either, and it’s UV stabilised to guard against fading.
The dual wall construction (evident throughout the Polycraft range) offers exceptional buoyancy as air is trapped between the inner and outer layers of polyethylene, rendering the boat unsinkable. Stability is exceptional in the Tuffy for a boat that’s barely 3m long and weighs a tad over a hundred kilos, enabling a couple of anglers to stand and cast without falling over each other —or in the drink!