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Hi Daniel – as of early April 2017 I’m not aware of anyone paddling any difficult whitewater in a DIY Packraft… 2017 will be the first full year they’re out there in the wild, however, so that may change soon.

In the interest of managing expectations, I just want to start by saying no lightweight inflatable will ever be as tough and…[Read more]

Hi Daniel – as of early April 2017 I’m not aware of anyone paddling any difficult whitewater in a DIY Packraft… 2017 will be the first full year they’re out there in the wild, however, so that may change soon.

In the interest of managing expectations, I just want to start by saying no lightweight inflatable will ever be as tough and…[Read more]

My Dritz Petite Press arrived today and this one does not get hot enough to seal properly. Others report that the Petite Press works for them, so there may be variation among them (as there is with the Clover irons). I will try to modify mine so it works (it is almost hot enough), but at this point I cannot recommend it.

Interesting! I might try something like this. Thanks, Jeb.

Sadly, no… and I don’t have a weight yet, either. If I had to guess, I’d say around 450 grams per square metre, and double that for the 1000D.

FYI: while the 70D is good and airtight (I made a sleeping mat out of it once), the 430D is not. The packcloth weave is encouragingly tough against scissors, but the coating is so thin that the edges fray. The weave shows through the coating. A quick welding test shows that the coating is not strong enough, and I cba making a seat cushion to test…[Read more]

Would these be coming in the same shipment as the new green fabric, by some lucky chance? What sort of weight will the 420d be?

I’m still pretty excited about the potential for a two person boat.  Has anyone seen the new Alpacka Forager?  Something like that would be perfect.

http://www.alpackaraft.com/product/forager/

If I was designing one, which I don’t have the software to do, I’d make the side tube parallel with each other.  Overall boat would be fatter like the Fo…[Read more]

I also ordered the 70d fabric from extremtextil. I prefer Matt’s fabric but I wanted something around 5oz to make an inflatable seat. I agree that the nylon 66 is much better with it’s higher melting point. However I was able to work with this fabric and made a seat. With my Clover 2 iron on med setting I couldn’t get a seal. And on high I melted…[Read more]

I agree with Mike, but regardless of whether you trim it or not, hold the adjacent corners lined up correctly on the floor and see where the uneven corner sits naturally. This might make the edges un-parallel, but that will probably be the best place to attach it because placing it there won’t have knock-on effects down the line (i.e. the next…[Read more]

I agree with Mike, but regardless of whether you trim it or not, hold the adjacent corners lined up correctly on the floor and see where the uneven corner sits naturally – that will probably be the best place for it to be attached because placing it there won’t have knock-on effects down the line (i.e. the next corner will sit where it should…[Read more]

I find that trimming the long corner with a straight edge to the correctly aligned corner at the other side of the panel works best for me.  If you think of the raft shape as a frying pan before closing the chambers, the attached panels edges are much easier to work with when it is a even continuous edge (rim).  That way when you roll it to align…[Read more]

I think that makes sense. If I don’t trim the long piece, should I align the edge with the longer piece (so there’s a gap between the shorter piece and its corresponding edge) or align it with the shorter piece (so the longer piece overlaps its corresponding edge)?

Excellent work! I like the lightning bolt detail, too.

It’s a great feeling to paddle someplace where you know a boat has probably never been before – like being the first person to summit a mountain 🙂

Another red-DIY packraft-on-the-living-room-floor photo. And the maiden voyage photo on Lake Silver, Central Plateau, Tasmania. I’m pretty sure there has never been a packraft on Lake Silver before (5 hours hike from car park). I’ve named it ‘Packrafty McPackrafty-Face’.

Thanks, for the reviews, Jeb! I was wondering about both of those irons. I think the Polyvance will be out of most people’s price range, but the Dritz seems like a good option, especially since Clover seems to have a quality control problem or design flaw that leaves many people disappointed.