packrafts

[corsican dave]

What you cannot readily do is cover big distances and carry loads. For that you need .... a boat!

each to their own. packrafts have been used to traverse the entire length of the brooks range in alaska! (as i said, check out roman dial's adventures over the past 20 years) obviously this sort of thing depends on experience and a modicum of common sense. like not trying your boat out on a river in spate conditions....  :roll: we're not talking about running rivers here: we're talking about hiking in to remote lochans. bottom line is, if you don't feel you're confident in your abilities and understand the risks involved, don't do it.

just as a matter of interest, even the intex boat i've got has three chambers.

[corsican dave]

i thought i'd put the 2-man intex on the scales and let you see the weight and packed size. it comes out at 5.9 kg. the card on the top is a standard size business card to give it some scale (the "professional" packrafts come out at nearer 3kg and a bit smaller, as you can see from the video clip earlier. they're also made of a more robust coated nylon, rather than relatively flimsy pvc. BUT they are £500+ as opposed to £30  :shock:)

even so, i hope you can see the potential here for experienced outdoors folk :

[Malcolm]

I've tried carrying boats in to lochs but I gave up. I have a few boats including a very small rib which I've taken into lochs before now along with a very basic floorboard. In all honesty though it's just too much of a faff and uncomfortable too - and I don't catch any more trout. They are addictive though and I've found it worthwhile for gettiing about when I can get a boat into the water close to the car. As far as stability is concerned a good ploy is to have the wee boat set up for oars. With the oars flat to the water the boat is extremely difficult to capsize - the oars are terrific stabilisers. You can lash the handles of the oars together with a bungee cord with the blades flat to the water if you want to fish.

[Bobfly]

I should have said above that the two in the inflatable canoe in Glenbrittle were experienced sea canoeists but were simply overwhelmed by the river in spate when they hit the stump on a bend. Everyone watching thought they were going to be bodies found out from the beach later on.

I have always been unsure of how a small inflatable can be handled for fishing in a wind when the boat is being blown about so much and a drogue would be a danger for drawing the rope side down too far and shipping in water. Probably best for simply covering some distance with gear to get to a camp spot or island. The inflating bag technique allows quite a high pressure to be put in the canoe and the website warns of having a boat out of the water and in sunshine as it may heat up and burst. High pressure bladders on some of the car valve pumped blow ups seem a risk to me when you take them out onto a shore and heat is no longer being conducted away by water contact.

[sinbad]

More info on here   https://apaddleinmypack.wordpress.com/ 

[Traditionalist]

There is always a risk with small water craft of any description, the problem lies in assessing the risk. I have fished in the ocean, (primarily the Baltic Sea),from a belly boat in quite adverse conditions, and also from a pontoon boat in very bad conditions, not intentionally, but conditions changed. This is potentially life-threatening, and is a rather sobering experience in any case.

However, individuals assess risk in different ways and more than a few like the risk involved, seeing it as an adventure.

All very subjective. What one person sees as sensible, another as an acceptable risk, and yet another as complete insanity, differs widely.

[Inchlaggan]

All very subjective. What one person sees as sensible, another as an acceptable risk, and yet another as complete insanity, differs widely.

Agreed, another aspect- particular to anglers- is that they may not have much experience of the waters that they intend to fish and be driven by work and family committments such that they only have a few days boating per annum and will take the risk rather than lose a precious day.

[Traditionalist]

Indeed, also, the majority of "accidents" ( with small water craft especially, although it applies to many other things too of course), are due to lack of knowledge, and simply not knowing the risk (s) involved.

If you are aware of a risk then you are to some extent prepared for it. If you are unaware that such a risk exists, or fail to correctly evaluate the magnitude or potential of the risk, it may very well kill you before you even realise it was a risk at all.

This is often characterised as "stupidity", but is not really stupidity as such, merely the inability to see the danger involved.