Activity

Holes in the floor will lower the waterline somewhat. The amount will depend on a few factors, such as packraft model/size, paddler weight, and weight of gear carried. The best way to find out is to make a small hole in the packraft’s floor (where you plan to place one of the drain holes), load up the packraft with your typical gear, and then sit…[Read more]

Since the start of the pandemic, I have noticed it is taking much longer for Aliexpress parcels to arrive from China… hopefully this will improve as countries recover.

I’m not sure if this ships from the UK or China, but this appears to be the same type of leather iron, here on Amazon UK:…[Read more]

I just had to place a second order from AliExpress for my iron.  The first one I ordered two months ago never arrived and was presumably tossed overboard somewhere in the Pacific.  Disappointing, as I was hoping to use the rainy spring to assemble my raft.  Hopefully the next one arrives in a ‘timely’ fashion ~1 month from now so I can get out at…[Read more]

Hello, posting here because I’m a bit frustrated in my search for heat sealing tool.

I’m in germany and I can’t find any of the solution recommended:

• I can’t find the black baron and it seams out of stock everywhere in US as well
• I can only find the european version of the clover mini (no adjustable heat)
• The only option I found are the…

[Read more]

Hello I’m not a bot at least I don’t think I am.
Looking forward to build my first raft.

Hi!

I’m new here and looking for some information to build my own raft. I’m from the Netherlands, so if someone can help me source parts here in the EU, please contact me!

Hello, all.

I ordered the sample materials pack a couple of weeks ago. Should be here soon.

I am going to make the two-person raft. I think. I ordered my iron on Ali Express, too.

I’m very excited.

There’s currently a sell-off of a 100 Liter (no idea much this is cubic inches) inflation bag on German eBay and similar sites, for around 5 Eurones. Just in time,  as I anyway wanted to build an XXL inflation bag. The Produkt is called Fluxbag:…[Read more]

Beautiful!

Pay close attention to the inside of the raft tub, i.e., at the junctions where the two tube ends and seal strip come together and are welded to each other and to the floor.  Matt stresses this area for extra care during fit up and welding.  Even so, those are the locations where I had most trouble.  My second most source of leaks was at small bu…[Read more]

I recently learnt that a good dishwasher fluid to detect leaks is Fairy Ultra diluted one plus ten. This is what people use in homemade formulas to blow giant soap bubbles. Works better than the no name stuff I used before. You have to cover the whole raft in detergent and wait a while for all leaks to show up.

Harald,

now it is much clearer and my valves are mostly the same as yours. I was a little bit afraid to drill a hole in the cap, because I thought I will not get it airtight again.

Also thinking about installing a second valve without a flap, for deflation. This will make rolling up the packraft much easier. But for now I open the zipper a…[Read more]

With a giant stinky goober of sealant globbed in the tip of the stern, I nervously tested my completed project. 60 seconds later, I was loving it. 60 miles later, I am loving it a little more. The testing continues. Always remember that when you are finished, you get to paddle it. That’s a nifty reward. I might build a few more! … or maybe I…[Read more]