Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Check out this completely inflatable pontoon boat built by Ron S. It’s designed for fishing and drifting down rivers, and the goal was to make something lightweight that he could easily hop on and off of wearing waders. Here’s what Ron had to say about it:
“The camo raft in the photo is my 3rd generation. My first raft was the 210D Yellow raft. It has the same basic shape but the center piece is an air filled box 8″ x 40″ x 22” which I heat welded to the pontoons. It was tricky to get the sides with the TPU out while getting the top and bottom TPU in. The reason was so I could do the baffles between the top and bottom and also attach the sides to the pontoons. It was necessary to reinforce the seams between the pontoon and the seat. That was also tricky but do-able. That raft works but due to the square corners on my seat it was difficult to seal and I have yet to find that final pin hole… I tried something different on the 40D red raft and after 20 hours (estimated…) I inflated it and the fabric tore at the intersection of the attached seat and the pontoon. The stress of 2 things inflating in different directions was too much for the 40D. I then dreamed up the Camo raft design. Two pontoons with a top and bottom sheet of fabric connecting the pontoons. Then I built a large seat which fits in the hole. The “seat” is essentially the same as your seat, an easy to build proven design. I made it with the 40D because it will be protected on all sides with 210D and I am shooting for low weight. The air pressure from the seat holds the pontoons apart without stressing one another. The pontoons are 12″ Diameter. It is completely adequate for one person and some gear. It weighs 5lbs and one ounce and rolls up very nicely. I want to float 2 people and I wish I had gone a foot longer and with a 13″ diameter.”
It’s amazing how much volume you can get at such a light weight! Very cool. Thanks, Ron!
Hi Eric – thanks for joining 🙂
I’ll answer the part here that wasn’t covered in the whitewater topic.
You could definitely add a second layer of fabric to the inside bottom of an inflatable floor – you would just have to cut “windows” in it so the top layer of the floor could be attached to the bottom layer (either using baffles, or by joining them directly, as discussed elsewhere). The inner layer would also have to be cut smaller than the bottom and top floor pieces to allow them to be sealed together around the perimeter of the floor. All in all, this wouldn’t be too hard to do.
For reinforcing the tubes by laminating fabric up the outside of the tubes, that could either be done by adding separate pieces butted up against the regular floor piece, or by cutting a new, larger floor piece from a 2-3 m length of fabric (depending on how far up the tubes you want it to wrap). To get the correct shape, just lay out a regular floor piece and tube pieces on top of the 2-3 m piece of fabric (tube pieces lined up correctly between the dots on the floor and taped in place), and then trace around the resulting shape as far up the tube pieces as you like. Then subtract about 1 cm around the edges of the tube reinforcement flaps on the new big floor piece (so the seam strips will be able to attach to the regular tube pieces) and cut out the new, larger floor piece. That will be your bottom floor piece, and then you can add a double or triple layer inflatable floor as described above.
Hi Edward – great job on the packraft, and thanks for posting the photos! Lake Taupo looks just as crystal clear as I remember it – what a great place to paddle!
Please keep us posted on your cruiser deck, as it looks like you’re on the right track 🙂
Hi Josh – I would definitely choose the seat, as it raises you up into a more comfortable paddling position. Without a seat, you have to lift your arms up quite high, which feels a bit awkward and would be tiring after a while. You could bring something else to sit on, like maybe a folded up camping mattress, but there’s a good chance it would get wet, so if you don’t have a chance to dry it out at the end of the day, you’d have to sleep on a damp mattress. Another option might be a sleeping bag in a waterproof stuff sack (i.e. a dry bag). I haven’t tried that though.
Hi Mikkel, I have just posted an update about this here. I will add the green fabric to the shop so it’s available for pre-order – that’s a good idea. Thanks!
I have used a similar sealing iron (I built my first packraft with one – you can see it in my older videos) and it works fine for sealing, but the ironing surface is too wide for most purposes so it is a bit slow because you have to use the tip or the edge of the iron instead of the flat surface.
The heating tools that I have used do not have accurate temperature gauges, so I can’t say what the actual sealing temperature is, but I will buy a laser heat sensor tomorrow so I can check the ideal sealing temperature and I will report back after that (tomorrow the price drops from $100 to $20 at my local hardware store!).
Sounds good! I think if you lay out the patterns efficiently then you might even be able to get away with just one meter for doubling up the outside of the tubes (depending on how high up the walls you want the lamination to go); I think 2 m should be plenty, and you might have enough left over for other things too.
Hi Mike,
I’m interested in trying this method, too. A cheap hot plate would probably work as a heater, or even a clothes iron held in a cradle – anything that would maintain a consistent temperature.
About how long do the irons stay hot before you need to reheat them, and how many of a given size do you need to make so you can switch between them without having to wait for the next one to heat up?
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 maneuverable as a plastic river kayak – even $2000 packrafts at four times the weight of a standard DIY Packraft can’t compete with a kayak – nor with a whitewater raft for durability.
To state the obvious (not for you, Daniel, but for you the general reader/for the record), in moving water there are many factors that will determine whether the paddler and boat survive intact – paddling skill, water level, wood, stream bed rock shape/size/sharpness, momentum (speed times the weight of boat+payload), judgment/risk-taking, luck, fatigue, packraft design, care taken during packraft construction, and the materials your packraft is made of (etc.). I’m doing my best to provide high quality packraft designs and materials, but everything else is up to the builder/paddler.
With all that said, here are a few ways to make a packraft more durable:
- Double up the material in places that are exposed to abrasion and sharp objects. For example, you could extend the floor material up 1/2 or 2/3 the way around the outside of the tubes (or add extra patches to the outside of the tubes) and seal extra patches of material in the front of the cockpit area where your feet will rub.
- Substitute heavier/stronger materials in place of lighter ones.
- Add padding (e.g. inflatable floor+seat) between your self/gear and the boat to reduce pinching forces when the boat encounters something hard – when storing gear inside the tubes, always wrap hard stuff in soft stuff, and when tying gear to the outside of the boat, avoid placing hard edges against the tube fabric where it could wear.
- Add sufficient gear tie-downs so gear is held securely in place without putting too much stress on any single tie-down as the boat is thrown around.
- Add a seat back and thigh straps or knee cups to improve the responsiveness of the boat so you can avoid more obstacles. This page shows some interesting ideas. Be very careful not to add any straps that could lead to entanglement!
- Add a spray deck and skirt or self-bailing floor to reduce the weight of the boat (and therefore momentum) by reducing the amount of water on board. (The lighter your boat+payload, the less force will be applied when you encounter an obstacle.) I’m told that some whitewater packrafters actually add weight to their boats to make them punch through big water better.
- Avoid under-inflating your packraft. If it’s too soft it could wrap around a sharp object and puncture or tear instead of bouncing off or sliding past the obstacle. Keeping your packraft firm will also make it more responsive.
- Sit forward in the boat for better weight distribution and handling (i.e. add a back rest or back brace).
I hope other people will add to this list, but again, let’s be clear – even doing all of these things will not guarantee a good or safe whitewater experience! Your safety and the integrity of your boat are your own responsibility! Remember the DIY Packraft Terms & Conditions and don’t do dumb stuff 🙂
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.
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.
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 corner will sit where it should without trimming or stretching).
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 🙂
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.
Hi Jaahan,
I don’t have experience paddling with a dog, but I think your comfort will have as much to do with your dog’s temperament and the distances you plan to paddle as anything else… I have paddled at a leisurely page with two people in a Small size DIY Packraft for an hour and that was fine in regard to buoyancy, handling, and comfort – in fact, that extra weight improves handling by reducing yaw. In general, I think paddling with a dog would be more to the “mildly off-putting” end of the spectrum. For safety’s sake, I would avoid unpredictable whitewater though!
I’ve stopped giving ETAs on new plans, as they always seem to take longer to develop than I anticipate. If people want a stretched version of the Large packraft, I can make that pretty easily, but it’s not going to be the ideal 2-person boat because it will have the same characteristics as the other extra-long packrafts that are commercially available (flexible and floppy).
