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I don’t have social media…so I have to post this pic here and show ya’ll….this is why I built this raft!!!
Well, 1 yr later (I know I’m slow!) I had my v2 out on the water today for it’s maiden voyage….wow and whew. All the hard work paid off when I got on the water and realized this thing is legit. My friend has an Alpacka I had been drooling over for a few years and he was pretty impressed with the look and how it paddled through the water.
It was definitely a learning process for me, and I was only able to devote little chunks of time occasionally which made it about a 10 month project. I had a bunch of leaks to remediate after completion but that seems to be more due to my heat sealing technique. By the end my technique was creating nice tight seams, but the first half of the build I think I wasn’t getting a truly melted TPU layer between the fabric pieces. Re-heat sealing and seam grip did the trick in the end. I installed a TiZip. I have not installed the top up valve that I ordered, just not sure if I really want it on there…I still want to install a couple more tiedowns and then I will call it a wrap. The tiedowns I have just been ordering from Alpacka. I know, not DIY, but they are good quality. My desire is to use it for fishing high mountain lakes and also to do the occasion bike/pack/raft trip; can’t wait to get a bike on it and see how it floats. I’ll post pics when that happens. Thanks Matt and all the other users of this forum for the tips and instruction to help me do this!
Well someone just directed me to the alpacka page that has their tie downs and strap plates. I think these are the way to go if you aren’t up for making your own. I’m still up in the air as to whether I’ll tackle making my own.
I’m not quite sure what I’ll do for tie downs once I get to the step (method, etc). Just a quick question… Stumbled upon this web page: http://www.stitchesnstuff91.com/dringsandhandles.html
Anyone think any of these type of premade rings/tiedowns would work?
Thanks for the input!
Steve
