TL;DR: Any order placed during the COVID-19 pandemic may be subject to unavoidable shipping delays; by placing an order, you accept this possibility and agree to wait. For up-to-date postal service status information, check the following links: Available shipping methods by country (outside USA & Canada): International All Postal Service Read more
All this frightening news about the coronavirus pandemic is enough to make one want to pack a bag and take an extended packrafting trip deep into the backcountry – or at least hole up with some canned food and spend time making packrafts alone. Fortunately, experts at the Centers for Read more
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I’m constantly working to improve the DIY Packraft designs, instructions, and materials. Today I’m excited to introduce a new fabric that has been specially made for the DIY Packraft floors. It’s only 450 grams per square meter (13.3 Read more
Ken S. recently sent me some pictures of his growing DIY Packraft fleet, which looks fantastic. He also sent some really useful feedback for me, which I have turned into the Telkwa build report linked below. I try my best to make the DIY Packrafts as easy to build as Read more
I’ve been working on an article about how to evaluate different packrafts when you’re shopping around online. It started out as a blog post, but it ended up being quite long and detailed (over 4000 words!), and I think it will remain useful indefinitely, so I decided to post it Read more
If you’d like to save some money on a DIY Packraft and give to a worthy charity at the same time, you can bid on a $200 (CAD) DIY Packraft coupon at the annual Rotary Club online auction here. At the time I write this, bidding is at $111, so Read more
While doing some research for an upcoming packrafting trip, I came across a very useful resource that I’d like to bring to your attention. It’s a concise 38-page PDF called Backpacking Food: Recipes, Rations, Stoves & Storage, written by legendary long-distance backpacker/ultrarunner/explorer Andrew Skurka (named “Adventurer of the Year” by Read more
I’ve been promising a DIY Packraft spray deck + spray skirt kit for literally years, but until now I didn’t have a system that was affordable, simple to make, lightweight, safe, and quick to set up. After lots of experimentation and several design iterations, I’ve come up with a deck Read more
Every so often I think DIY Packraft should have a logo – something beautiful, clever, iconic, and instantly recognizable – like Apple’s apple or the Coca Cola script… but I’m not a world-class graphic designer, so that doesn’t really seem feasible. I’ve considered hiring a designer or a brand consultant Read more
It’s been a couple of years since I made an introductory video for DIY Packraft, so I thought it was time to make a new one. I don’t really know where to post it, so for now it goes here.
I don’t know how I failed to notice Molly Absolon’s book, “Packrafting – Exploring the Wilderness by Portable Boat” (2017) until now, but I finally picked up a copy last week and read the nearly 250 pages in just a few days. There are beautiful color pictures on almost every Read more
225 pages, 2009, Erin McKittrick I received A Long Trek Home as a gift in 2009 and I’ve since read it a couple of times. The story follows the author and her husband as they hike, packraft, and ski about 4000 miles (over 6000 km) from Seattle, Washington, to the Read more
Note: I’m not recommending that you buy an expensive carbon paddle and then cut it up to make a packrafting paddle – if you’re purchasing a new paddle then you can probably find a 4-piece paddle that suits your budget – but if you already own a 2-piece paddle, or Read more
When paddling on calm lakes, it’s often possible to enter and exit a packraft without getting your feet wet, but in moving water I find that it’s rarely an option. In fact, it’s usually a matter of scrambling over sharp rocks, jamming your feet between slippery cobbles, or wading through Read more
A few keen-eyed DIY packrafters have noticed that the newer Telkwa and Skeena kits have lower capacity ratings than the V3, in spite of being longer and having more air volume in the tubes. This is a result of a more conservative assessment on my part, not something intrinsic to Read more
Since the new Ultralight and Telkwa DIY Packraft kits were released, several people have asked for a similar packraft kit made from standard weight fabrics without a wrap-around floor. Tonight I inflated this new packraft for the first time – I haven’t even weighed it yet, but I was so Read more
Several people have reported having issues with this website not working properly in their browsers, so I’m making some major changes both behind the scenes and to the design of the site. All the same content will still be here, and hopefully you’ll have a better experience once you get Read more
I’ve just made a new video that shows what to look for (and what to avoid!) when setting the temperature on your heat sealing iron, and how to tell how long you need to iron two pieces of fabric together to create a strong bond between them. Together, temperature and Read more
The “leather iron” from www.aliexpress.com is my preferred iron for assembling DIY Packraft kits. It’s hot enough, it maintains a consistent temperature, it’s robustly built, it’s the right width for heat sealing the packraft’s seams, and it’s affordable. It’s not perfect out of the box, however, so I made this Read more
Last weekend the ice on my local river had opened up enough for me to go paddling, so I spent an hour navigating some Class 1 water while dodging ice rafts in the new 1-person packraft with the wrap-around floor. I carried the new 2-person packraft with me, and when Read more
Notice anything unusual about this packraft? The tough floor fabric wraps halfway up the tubes to make this DIY Packraft extra tough where it counts, and it’s still lightweight and packable. I think that’s a world’s first! This prototype is the 130 cm / 51″ size with 560 GSM floor Read more
When heat sealing TPU coated fabrics together, it’s important to apply pressure to the fabric as it cools, otherwise it tends to buckle and lift before it forms a strong bond, so you end up with bubbles and weak or leaky areas. I used to use a leather glove or Read more
Update: Gustav’s detailed fabrication instructions are posted here! If you’ve ever tried fishing from a packraft, you know that it’s nearly impossible to hold a fishing rod and paddle at the same time. Gustav K. has come up with an ingenious solution to this problem – a lightweight and flexible Read more
Here in the north we’re deep in winter, so I haven’t had a chance to paddle the new 2-person DIY Packraft yet, but here are a few more pictures that show the new seat design (just one of them, because I’ve only made one so far). Hopefully I’ll have a Read more