The Trump administration has imposed 50% tariffs on drybag kits and thigh strap kits (unless they’re part of a packraft kit). That means that if you live in the US then you’ll have the privilege of paying a 50% tax to the US government when you receive it from UPS. Read more
After binning more prototypes than I care to admit, the Chilko whitewater packraft is finally here! As you can see in the pictures below, its faceted hull gives it a stable edge that you can lean into with confidence. Compared to the Atlin, Skeena and Telkwa models, the Chilko has Read more
The new Chilko whitewater packraft kit will include an inflatable footrest, and I’ve decided to offer the footrest as a standalone kit too, so those who’ve already made a Skeena, Telkwa, or Atlin packraft can paddle more comfortably. It only takes about half an hour to assemble one, and it Read more
It’s that time of year again! If you’d like to save some money on a DIY Packraft order and give to charity at the same time, you can bid on a $250 (CAD) DIY Packraft coupon at my local Rotary Club’s annual online auction. At the time I write this, Read more
Until now, big and tall people haven’t fit well in a DIY Packraft, but that problem has been solved with the new Skeena XL, which I designed for Kenneth Dagfinrud, who had previously made three other DIY Packrafts for himself and his family and was looking for one that would Read more
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
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