The Float Plus 1 C Review: When You're Done Killing Float Tubes

I'm 6'5", built like an offensive lineman turned Dad, and I'm hard on gear. Not because I'm careless; I just take up a lot of space, put a lot of load on whatever is holding me up, and I'm out chasing big mama bass enough days a year that anything I sit in gets used like a rental car when a college kid paid for the optional “insurance’.

Over the last few seasons I've gone through multiple "top of the line" float tubes. I don’t mean that they wore out, I mean that I straight-up killed them. Seams giving up, bladders fatiguing, fabric pilling and chafing through, valves leaking. If there was a part that could fail, I’ll find it. And as a big guy, I also hated the feeling of a tube compressing in on a guy my size and sinking into the water. Even-high end tubes just don’t seem to be designed with me in mind.

I finally got tired of replacing $400–$600 tubes every few seasons and set out to look for the perfect, comfortable, durable tube. I wanted a nice clean-slate to build the tube out specifically for my needs. For example, I don't use oars but I need the ability to mount sonar, I won’t be backpacking with it, but I will be beating it up through bass lakes. Storage space, weight capacity and durability were my three guiding requirements.

My research brought me to a small company out of the Netherlands called Float Plus and their Float Plus 1 C model. I'd never heard of the company before and they were half a globe away from me in the PNW, but after several back and forth emails to ask them questions, I finally decided to give it a go.

What You're Getting​

The Float Plus 1 C is the company's full-size, heavy-duty platform. The numbers on paper give you the gist and they are impressive:

• 230 kg (~507 lb) buoyancy - This offers a comfortable capacity margin even with me, a full vest, a battery, electronics, and a day's worth of gear on board.
• 185 cm long, 122 cm wide (73 inches long x 48 inches wide) - Substantially bigger footprint than a typical U-tube. You feel it the first time you sit in it. You're on the water, not folded into a pocket of it. It wont compress in on you.
• 0.9 mm PVC throughout - Every panel is the heavy duty stuff. This is the spec that actually matters for guys like me.
• 12 kg (26 pounds) - Yes, it's heavy. That's the tradeoff. More on this below. They do offer slightly smaller, lighter weight version the Float Plus 2C.
• Fixed inflatable bottom, durable wear strip underneath, conical tubes, sloping bottom for an upright seating position, cable-routing hole - The design checklist reads like someone actually fishes out of these.
• Large storage pockets that Velcro in place - These have a lot of room and I will be getting two spare pockets so I can keep a set for bass gear and a set for trout gear. Quick and easy to grab and go for what ever species I'm after.
• A quick and powerful foot pump - Easy and fast blow up

Why It's Worth the Premium for Some of Us​

Most anglers don't need this tube. Let me say that up front. If you're 5'10", 180 lbs, fishing a couple weekends a month on calm water, a mid-range tube will serve you fine and you'll save a few hundred bucks. The Float Plus 1 C is overkill for that use case, and overkill costs money.

But "overkill" is exactly what I need and wanted. Here's what the premium actually buys you when you push a float tube hard:

Real Carbon PVC, everywhere. The thinner fabric on lighter tubes is fine until it isn't. Drag a tube across a rocky launch, beach it on gravel, sit on it for 8 hours with 280+ lbs of human and gear; thin PVC starts showing wear fast. The 0.9 mm hull on the Float Plus 1 C shrugs that off. Every spot on this tube that deals with wear has heavy duty wear strips. Thick and durable.

Buoyancy that doesn't lie. A lot of tubes spec a max load that assumes you are in just a swimsuit. Once you add in a full vest, waders, lithium battery, sonar unit, and a tackle bag, that "300 lb rated" tube is sitting noticeably lower in the water. The Float Plus 1 C's buoyancy rating gives me real headroom. I sit high, I stay dry, and the tube isn't fighting me on every kick. Waist high waders are all you need.

Customization. Between the conical tube tips with grab handles, the wear strip on bottom of tubes, the sloping seat geometry for comfort, the central valves, there are a lot of small touches that turn into big quality-of-life wins over a full day on the water. I can rig this thing how I want it, and nothing about the platform fights me. This is a platform that holds an actual rig. Sonar is easy to set up and you have plenty of space for glue on mounts, batteries etc. Build it how you want.

The Honest Tradeoffs​

It's heavy. 12 kg (~26 lbs) inflated, plus whatever you're loading into it. Carrying it from the truck to a remote launch isn't a casual stroll, and if you fish a lot of hike-in water, the lighter and smaller Float Plus 2 C (9 kg, 19.8 pounds) is the smarter buy. That being said I can and do hike with it. The shoulder straps keep the load nice and balanced.

It's also big and takes up real space in the bed of a truck or the back of an SUV. If you pack it down you have 6 chambers to pump up. None of this is a problem if you're driving to a launch and rolling it out. But it's a real consideration if your setup runs on speed and minimalism. I like to be quick to the water as my friends can attest. But that being said I don't think the tube slows me down much.

Finally, it's expensive. It ships from Europe, and you are going to get a ugly tariff bill. There's no getting around that at this time. You're paying premium-tier money for premium-tier construction. The quality is truly unmatched and every possibly detail has been thought out and built on quality.

If a tube is something you use a handful of times a year, the math might not work. If it's your primary platform, like it is for me, it pencils out fast once you stop replacing cheaper tubes. A piece of gear to grow with.

Who Should Actually Buy This​

The Float Plus 1 C makes sense if you check at least two of these boxes:

• You're a bigger angler and you've felt the limits of standard-spec tubes.
• You fish out of a tube a lot. Your primary platform, not occasional.
• You run electronics off the tube (sonar, action camera, Livescope setups, lithium battery banks).
• You want a nice clean platform to make the tube your own. Add the accessories you want. Don't use oars? Don't add them (I don't).
• You've already killed a tube or two and you're tired of doing it.

If none of those apply, save your money and buy something mid-range. If two or more apply, this is the tube I'd point you toward.

Where I've Landed​

After several months of brutal testing this is the first float tube I haven't been actively measuring against its replacement. It's overbuilt in exactly the places I need it to be, the configuration options actually matter when you fish hard, and the build quality reads like a piece of gear that's going to outlast the next several seasons rather than the next several months. This is a well built, well thought out tank of a fishing platform.

The Float Plus 1 C might not be the right tube for everybody. But it is absolutely the right tube for me.