The honest answer on price
We are not the cheapest inflatable boat in Australia.
Here is exactly what the cheaper boat costs you.
There is always a cheaper inflatable. Some of them are honest boats and we will say so. What a low sticker rarely tells you is the fabric thickness in millimetres, what is missing from the box, how long the hull is covered for, and whether a A$40 valve can be replaced in a week. Those four answers decide what the boat costs you over ten years — so we publish all four.
Cheap is a price. Value is a decade.
The gap between an entry-level import and an Aerowave is usually a few hundred dollars once you add the pump, the bimini and the wheels the cheaper boat does not include. Spread that over the years you will actually own it and the arithmetic changes shape.
A sub-A$4,000 inflatable
- 0.9 mm hull fabric — the one thing you can never upgrade later
- Bimini, electric pump and wheels usually bought separately
- Warranty commonly 2–5 years, and often on the seams only
- Replacement valves and floor panels ordered offshore, if at all
- Resale is a private-sale guess with no brand history behind it
Aerowave AeroCat 330 — A$4,295 full package
- 1100 GSM / 0.9 mm German VALMEX® on the AeroCat, thermo-welded seams — 1500 GSM / 1.2 mm VALMEX® Heavy Plus if you step up to the Viper Series
- Package price already includes the air deck, 22 PSI electric pump, seats, oars, carry bag and repair kit
- 5-year hull warranty on the AeroCat, 7 years on the Viper Series
- Valves, seats, floor panels, handles and transom hardware held in stock, DHL Express to your door
- Landed price with GST and delivery included — no bill waiting at the border
When the cheaper boat is the right call
If the boat gets used three or four times a summer on flat water, launches off a beach or a pontoon, and lives folded in a garage the rest of the year, a lighter 0.9 mm hull will do the job and you should keep the money. We would rather tell you that than sell you a boat you do not need.
When it is not
Gravel and rock ramps. Oyster country. Sand dragged across a hull every weekend. A boat left rigged in Australian sun on a trailer, building pressure all afternoon. Long runs with an outboard and a full load. That is where the millimetres, the relief valves on every tube chamber and the warranty term stop being marketing and start being the reason the boat is still yours in year eight.
The 4.0 metre catamaran class, side by side
Aerowave against the two boats you are probably
cross-shopping.
Every figure in the two right-hand columns was taken from those makers’ own published specification pages and price lists on 24 August 2026. Where a maker does not publish a number, the table says so rather than guessing. We name them because the comparison only works if a shopper can open the same pages and verify the numbers for themselves.
How to check this yourself. Every claim above is on a public web page. Open both makers’ specification tabs, search for the fabric thickness in millimetres, the GSM, the transom height and the warranty term, and put them beside ours. Prices captured 24 August 2026 and reviewed quarterly; competitors change theirs without notice, so confirm on the day you buy. Figures for the New Zealand boat are the maker’s own New Zealand dollar prices before Australian freight, GST and clearance.
We do not price-match, and here is why
A discount has to come out of something. On an inflatable boat it comes out of the fabric, the valves, the warranty you can claim on, or the spare parts sitting on a shelf waiting for the one owner who needs them. We would rather hold the price, publish every number, and let you check it against anyone else’s boat before you spend a cent.
What we will do is tell you the landed price today, in Australian dollars, with GST and delivery in it — and tell you honestly if a smaller boat in our own range suits you better.