Ultrlight Raft experience

[Yelk11]

I am an ultralight backpacker, and really like the idea of adding paddling to my trips. I saw that the ultralight is great for open water and gentle rapids. I was wondering how it handles sticks and logs. There is one riverside campsite that I would like to paddle to, but im not sure about the robustness of the lightweight fabric.

 

Also, if you see this Matt. What made you take the telkwa instead of the ultralight raft on your 30 day trip? Was it that the ultralight wasn’t made at that time or something else?

 

If anyone could provide input, I would greatly appreciate it. I looked on the forums and there arent too many people making the ultralight it seems. Just wondering why

Topic

[Matt (Admin)]

I’m not sure what kind of scenarios you’re envisioning, so I’ll start with a caution for anyone who reads this: I strongly advise against paddling any packraft (or any other boat) in woody rivers, not because sticks might puncture them but because of the risk of drowning while being pinned underwater by a sweeper or strainer. If a person can see wood but can’t avoid hitting it then there’s either too much wood or the river is too challenging for their paddling skill level – either way, they shouldn’t be there. Learn how to recognize danger, scout ahead, and portage around anything that looks even remotely hazardous.

With that out of the way… I took the Skeena on that trip because I paddled in rivers that I didn’t have any information about so I didn’t know what to expect, and I was also in the ocean where the rocky shores are covered in sharp barnacles, so the Skeena with an ultralight seat was a good compromise between durability and light weight. In hindsight, I think it was the right choice.

The only puncture I’ve ever had in a packraft was in an Ultralight prototype. I was paddling in a small creek that was really too shallow to paddle down (like ankle deep) and I tried to slide over a small log that had fallen across the stream. When you’re moving, the packraft tends to just slide past sticks, but if you get hung up on something, as I did, then the moving water really starts to push, and if there’s something like a broken branch poking into the fabric then there’s not much you can do at that point. The result was a 5 cm (2″) tear in the fabric that was easy to repair with tape in the field, and then when I got home I ironed a scrap of fabric over it and it was as good as new.

The Ultralight isn’t a big seller, so I’m not sure if anyone else with experience will see this anytime soon. If you’re considering an Ultralight, I highly recommend ordering a fabric sample pack so you can feel the fabrics yourself and poke them with various things to see how they hold up.

 

[Author]

Replies