After many iterations, I’ve come up with a thigh strap design that works well, is comfortable, and has an installed weight of only 130 grams (4.6 ounces) including the attachment points. From now on, a set of thigh straps will be included with every Skeena, Atlin, and Telkwa kit. If Read more…
I made this video to show the current fabrics that I use to make the Ultralight and the standard weight DIY Packraft kits. In the video, I talk about some of their properties and show how durable they are. If you want to test the fabrics yourself, you can do Read more…
I recently added roll-top drybag kits to the DIY Packraft shop. I designed the drybags with a diameter of about 23 cm (9″) so they will fit inside a packraft’s side tubes, and they’re fairly long, with a usable volume of about 33 litres each. Assembling one of these drybags Read more…
I’ve been promising a DIY Packraft spray deck + spray skirt kit for literally years, but until now I didn’t have a system that was affordable, simple to make, lightweight, safe, and quick to set up. After lots of experimentation and several design iterations, I’ve come up with a deck Read more…
Since the new Ultralight and Telkwa DIY Packraft kits were released, several people have asked for a similar packraft kit made from standard weight fabrics without a wrap-around floor. Tonight I inflated this new packraft for the first time – I haven’t even weighed it yet, but I was so Read more…
Last weekend the ice on my local river had opened up enough for me to go paddling, so I spent an hour navigating some Class 1 water while dodging ice rafts in the new 1-person packraft with the wrap-around floor. I carried the new 2-person packraft with me, and when Read more…
Notice anything unusual about this packraft? The tough floor fabric wraps halfway up the tubes to make this DIY Packraft extra tough where it counts, and it’s still lightweight and packable. I think that’s a world’s first! This prototype is the 130 cm / 51″ size with 560 GSM floor Read more…
Here in the north we’re deep in winter, so I haven’t had a chance to paddle the new 2-person DIY Packraft yet, but here are a few more pictures that show the new seat design (just one of them, because I’ve only made one so far). Hopefully I’ll have a Read more…
The airtight zippers and green fabric have arrived! Camouflage fabric should be here in about a week. There’s a bit of a backlog of orders that were waiting for the zippers – I’ll do my best to get them shipped as quickly as possible, but it might take me a Read more…
New Boston valves are now in stock! This is a slightly improved design over the previous Boston valves, with stronger plastic loops for keeping the parts together when they’re unscrewed. Best of all, the flange on the new valve is heat sealable, so there’s no need to use glue when Read more…