Kit Checklist
Note: Do not use a knife to open your kit, as you may damage the fabric.
Before beginning construction, identify the parts of your kit and place the pieces someplace where they won’t get lost. Please unpack your kit carefully, as small pieces (like valves) can be overlooked when wrapped in fabric and/or packing materials. Each kit includes:
- A letter including your password to the instruction pages and videos. Do not discard!
- Pre-scored fabric in the color of your choice for making the packraft’s tubes, numbered 1-4, L & R (left and right), with the forward direction indicated by an arrow
- Pre-scored black fabric for making two inflatable seats and ten attachment points
- Pre-scored heavy black fabric with alignment dots and a forward arrow indicated in silver pen for making the packraft’s floor. This piece also contains ten pre-scored attachment point reinforcement parts.
- Three heat sealable Boston valves (black, three parts each)
- One top-up valve (black valve stem and black+white twist valve)
- Three pre-scored seam strips (long black fabric, approximately 4 m or 13′ long)
- Inflation bag fabric (lightweight red or black ripstop fabric, approximately 1 x 1.5 m, or 3′ x 5′)
- Inflation bag adapter tube (black silicone tube, approximately 5 cm or 2″ long)
- Scrap fabric (this is all of the fabric surrounding the scored shapes). Use it for heat sealing practice, making reinforcing strips, repairs, etc.
- Non-stick baking paper for mess-free heat sealing
- Optional: airtight zipper (tucked into the folded floor fabric) + lubrication tube
Before You Begin
Important: Before starting on your packraft, take some time to ensure you’re using the proper heat sealing technique by practicing with some scraps of fabric to dial in the correct temperature on your iron. This page will help with that: Practice Proper Heat Sealing Technique
2-Person DIY Packraft Kit Instructions
Please familiarize yourself with the instructions before you begin – you’ll be much less likely to make a mistake if you understand what you’re doing and why.
Note: Be sure to review the pictures and written notes on the instructions pages – not just the videos. I can’t re-edit a video each time someone asks a question, so the text is where I add clarification and emphasis in response to feedback from builders. If you only watch the videos, you may make mistakes that are warned about in the text.
Note: Due to an issue with a copycat website, access to the following pages is limited to those who have purchased a kit. Your password for these pages is included in the letter packed with your kit (it is not the same as your Forum password). Please do not reproduce the instructions or share your password. The techniques are similar to those used in the V2 DIY Packraft instructions, which are not password protected, but the packraft design and assembly methods have been improved.
Note: If you do not have a smartphone, tablet or computer where you will be constructing your packraft, you might choose to print the instructions – if you do so, I recommend printing them only as you need them to ensure they are up to date, because I frequently update instruction pages in response to questions from readers.
Before starting the packraft itself, you may want to build confidence by completing your inflation bag and seats first:
Here are the instructions for assembling the packraft (Tip: When watching the videos in the links below, you can press the arrow keys on your keyboard to scrub back and forth. Also, if you click on the gear icon in the video player you can change the playback speed.):
Step 1 – Separate & Identify Fabric Pieces
Step 2 – Seal Tubes 3R & 3L to Floor
Step 3 – Add Tube Pieces 2R & 2L
Step 9 – Inflate & Test for Leaks
Step 10 – Apply Sealant to Outside of Seams
Step 11 – Tie-Downs & Attachment Points
Questions? Leave a comment below!
6 Comments
Ron · May 17, 2022 at 3:16 pm
Hi, I have a two person kit and have been practicing heat sealing with scraps before I start the raft. My question concerns welding with the tube fabric. Looking through the instructions and the comments I have learned that it is normal for the TPU to leave the floor fabric after welding and remain mostly on the tube fabric. However, when I weld the two together, the TPU almost always peels away completely from the entire welded surface of the tube fabric. This also happened between the tube and seat fabric even when I welded with the iron on the side of the seat fabric. ( I don’t know if it means anything that I am using the camo tube fabric.) I have tried lowering the temperature of the iron, and while that might have helped a bit the same thing is still happening. These welds also don’t seem as strong as they should be. While I have made a few that would have taken the Hulk to separate, most of these welds peal apart pretty easily. Any tips or explanations you could give me would be very helpful.
Matt (Admin) · May 17, 2022 at 5:08 pm
The camouflage fabric is a bit different compared to the other tube (and seat) fabrics, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the peeling favored that side over the other fabrics, and without knowing how wide the welds are that you’re pulling apart and how much force it’s taking, it’s difficult to say if what you’re describing is normal or not. None of the seams in the actual packraft have a peeling force applied to them – they’re all either backed with a reinforcing strip welded along the inside of the seam (a third piece of fabric welded across the two TPU faces where they join), or they’re overlapping layers where the force is applied parallel to the fabric (a shear force, not a peeling force). Try making a few of these types of welds and see if they come apart easily – if not, it should be fine. If you’re not sure what I mean, send me an email and I’ll draw a diagram.
Kees Jaap · April 6, 2021 at 10:07 am
of course! Just to be sure, this has consequences for the connection 2R – 1R, which cannot be at the end of the split, but is coming inwards, if the forward end of 1R is to end at the central split. So I lenghten the split between 2R – 1R?
Matt (Admin) · April 6, 2021 at 10:33 am
Instead of lengthening the slit, place the corner along a line between the dot and the end of the slit. If you email me a picture I will annotate it and post it on the appropriate instructions page.
Kees Jaap · April 6, 2021 at 1:43 am
my 3R came about 1 cm short at the silver dot; should I position 2R adjacent, so that the connection 2R – 1R is not at the end of the split, but about 1,5cmm more inward?
Matt (Admin) · April 6, 2021 at 8:38 am
Yes, in that situation I would match 2R to 3R instead of the dot. Cheers!