As part of my effort to continuously improve the DIY Packraft instructions, I’ve made a new, more comprehensive video about heat sealing. It’s pretty long, but it’s everything you need to know, all in one place, and my hope is that even experienced DIY Packraft builders will learn something useful Read more…
Spring is here in the northern hemisphere and many of us are getting excited about packrafting trips we have planned for this paddling season, so now is a good time to think about paddling safety. Packrafting fatalities are very rare – in most years since record-keeping began there have been Read more…
Luc Mehl, the well-known Alaskan adventurer and author of The Packraft Handbook and www.thingstolucat.com, is now offering an online packrafting course. Luc and I have exchanged a few emails over the years, so he’s not a total stranger to me, but I don’t receive a commission or any other benefit Read more…
James Cummins sent me an excellent build report detailing his experience assembling first one, and then another DIY Packraft Telkwa kit. He shares some great lessons and inspiring photos, so please check it out here. If you’d like to read more customer build reports, check out the links near the Read more…
The American Packrafting Association is hosting an online whitewater packrafting skills clinic called, “Boat, Don’t Float” presented by Mark Oats. I’m not associated with Mark or the APA, but it looks like a really cool event, so I will be participating and if you’re interested in whitewater paddling, you should Read more…
After Pilotpeat posted a question in the forum about packrafting paddles, I decided to make a permanent page to address the subject in the FAQ. Here’s the paddle page. I also received an email from Kait P. asking about life jackets (“Personal Flotation Devices”), so I started a PFD page Read more…
Ken S. recently sent me some pictures of his growing DIY Packraft fleet, which looks fantastic. He also sent some really useful feedback for me, which I have turned into the Telkwa build report linked below. I try my best to make the DIY Packrafts as easy to build as Read more…
I’ve been working on an article about how to evaluate different packrafts when you’re shopping around online. It started out as a blog post, but it ended up being quite long and detailed (over 4000 words!), and I think it will remain useful indefinitely, so I decided to post it Read more…
It’s been a couple of years since I made an introductory video for DIY Packraft, so I thought it was time to make a new one. I don’t really know where to post it, so for now it goes here.
I don’t know how I failed to notice Molly Absolon’s book, “Packrafting – Exploring the Wilderness by Portable Boat” (2017) until now, but I finally picked up a copy last week and read the nearly 250 pages in just a few days. There are beautiful color pictures on almost every Read more…
A few keen-eyed DIY packrafters have noticed that the newer Telkwa and Skeena kits have lower capacity ratings than the V3, in spite of being longer and having more air volume in the tubes. This is a result of a more conservative assessment on my part, not something intrinsic to Read more…
I’ve just made a new video that shows what to look for (and what to avoid!) when setting the temperature on your heat sealing iron, and how to tell how long you need to iron two pieces of fabric together to create a strong bond between them. Together, temperature and Read more…
The “leather iron” from www.aliexpress.com is my preferred iron for assembling DIY Packraft kits. It’s hot enough, it maintains a consistent temperature, it’s robustly built, it’s the right width for heat sealing the packraft’s seams, and it’s affordable. It’s not perfect out of the box, however, so I made this Read more…
When heat sealing TPU coated fabrics together, it’s important to apply pressure to the fabric as it cools, otherwise it tends to buckle and lift before it forms a strong bond, so you end up with bubbles and weak or leaky areas. I used to use a leather glove or Read more…
Update: Gustav’s detailed fabrication instructions are posted here! If you’ve ever tried fishing from a packraft, you know that it’s nearly impossible to hold a fishing rod and paddle at the same time. Gustav K. has come up with an ingenious solution to this problem – a lightweight and flexible Read more…
I’ve just uploaded the latest how-to video. Text+picture instructions are posted here 🙂
