Canada Post is back to work now, and all of your orders are on their way to you. Let’s hope there aren’t too many delays as they try to catch up during the busiest time of the year! If you’re placing a new order, you’ll notice that the Canada Post Read more…
As the Canada Post workers strike drags on, I’m working to add new shipping options to the DIY Packraft shop. FedEx has been working for a while now, and the newest one is called Purolator. It’s a private courier company that delivers worldwide and is usually less expensive than FedEx. Read more…
This is just a quick message to say that Canada Post workers are on strike and all shipping has been suspended. Estimated delivery dates shown on the Cart page are no longer accurate! Hopefully the labor dispute will be resolved quickly; in the meantime I am looking at alternative methods Read more…
It’s been a long time since I sold any bulk fabric in the DIY Packraft shop (five years?!), so this is a bit of an experiment and I’m not sure how long it will last, but I have plenty of inventory right now so I thought I’d see if people Read more…
Just a quick post to let you know that as of now, all the DIY Packraft kit prices have been reduced! With everything else in life getting more expensive, I hope this comes as a welcome surprise. Check them out in the shop!
After many iterations, I’ve come up with a thigh strap design that works well, is comfortable, and has an installed weight of only 130 grams (4.6 ounces) including the attachment points. From now on, a set of thigh straps will be included with every Skeena, Atlin, and Telkwa kit. If Read more…
I’m excited to announce that a fabric shipment has arrived with two new colors, orange and green (or pumpkin and sage, if you prefer)! These will be available as tube fabric in all of the standard weight packraft kits. Nikki tells me these are her new favorite colors in the Read more…
The DIY Packraft spray decks use flexible plastic tubing to stiffen the rim that the elastic spray skirt fits over (the coaming), and several customers have said that the tubing I supplied with their kit is too flimsy to secure their spray skirts. I was kind of scratching my head Read more…
I have just received a new shipment of airtight/waterproof zippers from TIZIP, and this time I ordered some MasterSeal 10 zippers in addition to the SuperSeal zippers I have been using since 2016. Both zippers are the same size and have the same air pressure rating, but compared to the Read more…
I recently added roll-top drybag kits to the DIY Packraft shop. I designed the drybags with a diameter of about 23 cm (9″) so they will fit inside a packraft’s side tubes, and they’re fairly long, with a usable volume of about 33 litres each. Assembling one of these drybags Read more…
In response to a request from a customer, I’ve started selling pairs of wooden heat sealing forms in the DIY Packraft shop. These tools aren’t required for making a packraft, but they do make joining the tubes together a bit easier compared to draping the fabric over an overturned bowl Read more…
The payment processor I use (Stripe) supports several payment methods in addition to credit cards, so I recently added them as payment options on the DIY Packraft checkout page to make it easier for people who prefer not to use credit cards. Most of these options are only available in Read more…
Yes indeed – after almost an entire year, all of the DIY Packraft kits are back in stock. It will take me some time to fulfill the pre-orders, but my goal is to ship them all out before the end of the year. After all the pre-orders are fulfilled, order 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. At the time I write this, the bidding is up to just Read more…
After being out of stock for nearly two years, the Ultralight DIY Packraft kits are back and better than before! I’ve just received a shipment of beautiful new lightweight ripstop fabrics in red, yellow, blue, and black – I don’t know if the photos do them justice, but the colors Read more…
Updated August 18, 2022 Finally, the first fabric shipment is here! That’s the good news. The bad news is that there isn’t enough fabric here to fulfill all of the pre-orders (or any new orders), and due to more production delays at the factory, the larger fabric shipment won’t arrive Read more…
Inspired by bikerafting, the Atlin’s wide bow creates a stable and buoyant platform for carrying large loads. For more information about the Atlin, watch the one-minute intro video below and check out the product page in the shop. People on the DIY Packraft mailing list have known about this packraft Read more…
This is just a quick follow-up to my previous post – I received some positive feedback about the pre-order idea, so now I’ve made it possible to pre-order (backorder) the packraft kits in the Shop. These orders will ship after the fabric arrives. I have already paid the deposit for 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. At the time I write this, there are no bids and the Read more…
At long last! The Skeena, Telkwa, and 2-Person packraft kits are now available in all colors and sizes, and spray decks and spray skirts are also available. (Bulk fabric sales and Ultralight packraft kits will not be available for the foreseeable future.) Every DIY Packraft kit is custom made by Read more…
Since I announced there had been a delay in the fabric manufacturing process, a number of you have asked to be notified when the Skeena, Telkwa, or 2-Person packraft kits are back in stock. I’m delighted that you’re keen to know when the kits will be available, but I probably Read more…
Thanks to everyone who has supported DIY Packraft over the years! I will be embarking on a solo packrafting expedition for several weeks later this summer. This is the trip I have been dreaming about for many years, and it’s the reason I started making packrafts in the first place, Read more…
I’m running low on several of the DIY Packraft fabrics, and due to all the craziness in the world right now, it’s uncertain when I’ll be able to receive new shipments. For that reason, I’ve removed the bulk fabrics from the DIY Packraft shop until further notice. I really enjoy Read more…
Due to a shortage of black fabric, all packraft seat parts will be made from colored fabric until further notice. I will use the same color as the packraft’s tubes or a complementary color, depending on availability. Seam strips and attachment points will still be made from black fabric until/unless Read more…