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I use a 240 cm paddle and it does drip a fair amount if I leave the blades unfeathered (blades at the same angle), so I don’t think a longer paddle is necessarily the solution, but it could help. I feather my paddle to 30 or 60 degrees so the top blade is flatter when the low blade is vertical in the water, and then water doesn’t run off the top blade quickly enough for it to drip – it makes a huge difference. It takes a while to get used to a feathered paddle, but it’s well worth it – not only to reduce the drips, but also to minimize wind resistance when paddling into a headwind.
Another factor is the blade shape – a wider whitewater style blade seems to help prevent drips from falling in the packraft because there’s a low spot on the edge of the blade closer to the tip, so drips tend to fall from there instead of running down the shaft as it would with a narrow touring blade or a Greendland style paddle. My go-to paddle doesn’t need drip rings because it has fairly wide blades so water never runs down the shaft.
I’m not sure if I’m explaining this very well – if not, let me know and I’ll draw some pictures.
Yikes, that could have ended badly!
I’m not aware of any time limitations for the irons – I have left my irons plugged in for much longer than two hours without any sign of problems, and I haven’t heard of anyone else having this problem either, so I think maybe you were unlucky and received a bad iron. It’s unfortunate that it takes so long to get a new one… I hope someone will see your note and help you out!
Haha, that’s great! This project really does appeal to a certain type of person – there’s surely another type that ends up shelving it unfinished, but those people don’t tell me about it so it’s hard to know how many there are. It is pretty gratifying to see the “repeat offenders” though!
I think you’re right that the Anfibio self-bailing tube would be easy to replicate.
Cheers
If tube 1 fits nicely between tube 2 and the center slit then I would locate the tubes as you have them in the pictures without modifying anything, but if tube 1 doesn’t fit, then I would trim the corner in this picture to make tube 1 fit.
It looks like it extends about 5 mm past the slit, so I would trim off 5 mm at the corner and gradually taper the trim so that it merges with the existing edge after about 20-30 cm (8-12″). That will not make any noticeable difference in the shape of the packraft.
Alternatively, you could trim the tube 3 in the same way. Note, however, that unless you are diligent about tacking the fabric in place before you weld it fully to the floor then you can expect the tube fabric to shrink a small amount as you weld, so if you trim everything before you begin welding then you could find that the parts end up smaller than you anticipated. That is why it is important to tack the fabric in place with the edge of your iron before welding it with the flat part of the iron.
Does that all make sense?
Hi Tuk,
Apologies for the slow reply – for some reason the notification for this post went to my spam folder and I just saw it now.
A 1 cm difference isn’t a big deal (it’s about 1% of the overall length of the seam) and it won’t make a noticeable difference in the finished packraft, but how to accommodate it depends a bit on the adjacent tubes (#2 and #4). You mentioned a photo that shows tube 2, but I don’t see that one (it looks like you accidentally uploaded a different photo twice). Can you send me that other photo? That will help me decide the best way to proceed.
If you’ve already gone ahead and started sealing things together, don’t worry about it. As long as the tube corners are aligned with each other, the placement relative to the slits doesn’t actually matter.
Thanks
Thanks for posting this, Bruce! It’s amazing how much gear you can store in a packraft’s tubes. If you don’t have to carry everything far, there’s no reason not bring those luxury items because as you say, the packraft will handle better with some weight in it. Cheers!
Pretty much, yeah.
Alpacka used to use wide velcro (and maybe still do on some spray decks) but people complain about water getting in through the velcro.
You can buy “waterproof” (more like water-resistant) zippers of various lengths on Amazon and elsewhere. Some of them even have a heat sealable TPU coating on one side. Remember you’ll need a separating zipper (like zippers used in jackets), not ones that are closed at the ends (like zippered pockets).
#5 zippers are a bit small. I’d prefer a #10 for a spray deck but they are less common.
Hi Damo – yep, it’s definitely doable, I just don’t offer it as an official option because I haven’t found a reliable zipper supplier. Cheers
Greetings! Great work on your Skeena!
I’m not sure if the seat position will have a noticeable effect on the directional stability, but for comfort, my recommendation would be to start with it as far back as possible and then lengthen the tether if you want to try moving it forward. If you use the stock backrest then you will need to place something behind it or add a back band to move it forward (if you move the seat forward without moving the backrest, it will give you a reclined seating position which is comfortable for drifting, but not efficient for paddling).
You can pack things in front of your feet, for sure. It’s not necessary to have your feet touching the front tubes. If you are paddling hard, using your whole body, sometimes it is nice to have something to push off of.
I suggest that everyone should experiment with different paddling positions and postures to figure out what feels good for you in the type of paddling you enjoy.
In case anyone is interested, here’s a detailed post I wrote about directional stability.
I either sit on the tubes or on a seat slid all the way back, depending on what else is in the packraft and how it all fits. Solo in the 2-Person, I use a kayak paddle – the longest one I have. If I was paddling with another adult, I might choose canoe paddles because it’s less annoying (you don’t smack paddles if the person in the rear stops paying attention). I’ve done a lot of canoeing and kayaking, so both paddle types feel natural to me, but you might prefer one or the other. Solo, a kayak paddle will be more efficient.
As a point of comparison, the 2-Person packraft with weight in it handles more like a canoe or a double sea kayak (i.e. not very manoeuvrable), while the single-person packrafts handle more like river kayaks (you can turn on a dime).
I think you’ll find the width of the 2-Person packraft to be as much of an issue as the seat height, and after testing the idea of a kayak-style seat you might change your mind. When paddling solo with a large/heavy load, I actually prefer to sit on the rear tubes because it’s narrower there and you have better visibility and control.
Very cool! If I had a 3D printer I would definitely make one. What kind of plastic did you use?
I tried to figure out what threads are in the valves, but I wasn’t able to find a match. The same threads are in valves from at least two different sources, so it might be a Boston valve thing.
