True Kit Boats Australia 2026: Prices, Specs and the Aerowave Alternative

If you are searching "true kit boats", you already know what you want: a light, stable inflatable catamaran you can carry to the water on your own. The only real question left is which hull you put your money into.

True Kit is one of the best known inflatable catamaran names in Australia and New Zealand, and there is a good reason people shortlist it. The layout works. What most buyers never get told is how much the fabric under them differs between brands, and what that means five summers from now.

This guide covers what True Kit boats are, what they cost here, and how an Aerowave Viper compares on the numbers that actually matter.

What is a True Kit boat?

True Kit builds inflatable catamarans: two long air tubes bridged by a floor, an open or partly open bow, and a transom at the back for an outboard. There is no rigid fibreglass hull, so the whole boat deflates, folds and goes in the back of a wagon.

The appeal is simple:

• No trailer, no boat ramp queue, no registration on a trailer
• One-person launch off a beach with wheels
• Very shallow draft for estuaries, flats and sand bars
• Light enough for an older skipper to handle alone

That is the same brief the Aerowave Viper range is built to. Where the two diverge is materials, thickness and what is included in the box.

True Kit prices in Australia (2026)

True Kit sells direct from New Zealand in New Zealand dollars. On the maker's own site the 4.0 m Discovery is listed at NZ$4,410 for the boat and NZ$5,200 for the Discovery Package (boat, removable wheels, premium seat bag, bow bridle and boat bags — no bimini and no electric pump, both sold separately). Those are pre-export figures captured 24 August 2026: Australian freight, GST and customs clearance are added after checkout, so the number at your door is higher. Aerowave prices below are Australian dollars, GST included and delivered.

Prices move, so always check the current cart total on the day. The point to watch is not the sticker price — it is the delivered, fully-rigged price after wheels, seats, a decent pump and a sun top go in. That is the number people actually pay.

Our approach is the opposite: the Aerowave full packages already include the wheel kit, seats, pump and bimini, so the price you see is the boat you launch.

The spec that decides everything: hull fabric

Every inflatable catamaran on this market is a fabric boat. The hull is the fabric.

• True Kit Discovery 4.0 and comparable models: Mehler VALMEX® 0.9 mm / 1100 decitex (their own published technical page — decitex describes the yarn, not the coating thickness)
• Aerowave Viper range: 1500 GSM / 1.2 mm VALMEX® Heavy Plus
• Aerowave AeroCat range: 1100 GSM / 0.9 mm VALMEX®

The Aerowave Viper range is built on 1.2 mm VALMEX® Heavy Plus — 33% thicker than the 0.9 mm VALMEX used on comparable models in this class. That is a measurement, not marketing. If one difference decides this whole comparison, it is this one: durability is the big winner.

Why it matters in Australia:

1. Oyster racks and rock ledges. Thicker fabric plus a bonded under-tube protection layer takes the abrasion that ends weekends for thinner hulls.
2. UV. Premium VALMEX has a working life of 10–12 years in Australian sun when cared for. Thinner coatings chalk sooner.
3. Resale. A hull with visible wear is a hard sell. A hull with none is not.

Both hulls run the same working pressure — 8 to 10 PSI. The difference is not stiffness. It is how much material sits between you and the water.

Length, layout and what you feel on the water

Both the True Kit Discovery 4.0 and the Aerowave Viper 400 are 4.0 m boats. Here is how they line up on the numbers that matter:

On beam, it is a dead heat — 1.80 m each at 4.0 m, and 1.65 m each in the 3.3 m class. Both boats stand on the water the same way, so stability is a tie. That makes the decision simple: when the footprint is identical, the boat that wins is the one built from more material, with the bigger motor rating and the smarter stern.

On the water at that length you get:

1. Stability that does not depend on staying still

Two tubes far apart means you can stand on the gunwale to net a fish without the boat rolling under you. Monohull inflatables cannot do this at the same length.

2. A dry, usable floor

An air deck gives you a flat working platform for rods, eskies, dive gear or a dog. One thing worth knowing in the 4.0 m class: True Kit offers air deck floors only — there is no aluminium floorboard option. Aerowave fits a drop-stitch air deck as standard, and the Viper 400 Sovereign can be optioned with aluminium floorboards (+A$500) if you want a rock-solid standing platform for serious fishing.

3. Genuine skinny water

Both designs draw very little. You can nose onto sand, step off dry and pull the boat up on wheels.

4. Real outboard capacity — and the headroom to use it

Here is a number most buyers never check. The True Kit Discovery 4.0 is rated to a maximum of 20 hp. The Aerowave Viper 400 transom is rated to 40 hp.

That headroom matters even if you never bolt on a big motor. Run a 15 or 20 hp all day and the transom is cruising well inside its design limit instead of sitting at the ceiling. And if you ever want more speed or you are loading up with gear and people, the option is there.

The Aerowave transom is also set at 380 mm, which puts more prop in the water and kills the ventilation and cavitation people complain about on taller transoms.

5. A stern that cuts the water instead of slapping it

Watch a flat-transom catamaran in a chop and you will see the whole back of the boat hit each wave at once. A flat bottom has no way to part the water — it can only slap down on top of it.

The Viper stern is designed more like a monohull. The transom tapers into a shallow V at the waterline, so the stern slices into each wave first and lifts through it, instead of landing flat. The result is a quieter, softer, drier ride that holds speed through chop instead of pounding. The Discovery runs a flat-bottomed transom, so there is nothing at the stern to cut the water — on a lumpy day you feel every bit of it.

Where Aerowave is different

Six things separate the two boats in the 4.0 m class — and durability is the biggest of them all.

• Same beam, tougher build. Both boats run an identical 1.80 m beam at 4.0 m (1.65 m in the 3.3 m class), so stability is a tie. With the footprint even, the winner is the hull that carries 33% more material.
• 1.2 mm VALMEX® Heavy Plus on the Viper range, with an Orca Hypalon hull upgrade available at +A$1,900 if you want maximum durability.
• 40 hp transom rating on the Viper 400 — double the 20 hp ceiling of the comparable 4.0 m class rival.
• A V-cut stern that parts the water like a monohull, where flat transoms slap.
• Aluminium floorboard option (+A$500 on the Sovereign 400) — the comparable rival is air deck only.
• CE certified to ISO 6185-3 and EU Directive 2013/53/EU.
• Packages include the gear — wheel kit, two padded seats, pump and bimini on full packages, rather than a long options list.
• Delivered pricing, worldwide. Free sea freight (30–40 days) or 7–14 day air freight with a A$810 customer share. International orders to 16 destinations are quoted fully duty-paid.
• Finance through AMMF, with a calculator on every product page.
• Parts on hand in both Australia and our Hong Kong hub, sent express to your door.

Which one should you buy?

Buy the boat that matches how rough you are on gear.

• Calm estuary use, careful owner, lightest possible package: a 0.9 mm hull — including our own AeroCat 330 or 380 — is genuinely enough boat.
• Beach launching over shell and rock, fishing hard, family use, ten-year horizon: go 1.2 mm. The Viper range exists for exactly that.

The honest summary: True Kit made this style of boat popular in Australia, and the layout is sound. If you are comparing like for like at 4.0 m, compare the fabric spec, the horsepower rating, the transom design and what is actually in the box before you compare the price.

See the boats

• Aerowave Viper 400 Sovereign Catamaran
• All inflatable catamarans
• Viper 400 vs True Kit Discovery 4.0 — full comparison

Want a delivered price for your postcode, or a straight answer on which size suits your water? Call +61 2 4335 1603 and we will talk it through — no pressure, no script.