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Just did the first inflation of the Voyageur. I extended the overall length by 16″ (40cm) to hopefully accommodate my wife and 7 year old on mellow water. I still need to build the inflatable floor, seats, and fix small leaks.
I might have made it too big, we’ll see. Was a fun build and I’m looking forward to building a regular sized one next. Learned a lot along the way. Probably should have built a standard one first to get the hang of things, but overall it wasn’t too bad.
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Got the “packship” down the Mendenhall and Herbert Rivers with me, wife, and 7 year old. Working well. I put 3M 5200 on all the seams instead of Aquaseal because I had some minor leaks and for whatever reason, nobody will ship the big 8oz bottle of Aquaseal to AK (hazmat?). It’s ugly, but I could care less, it works great.
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Paddles fine, and outside of my craftsmanship, I’m totally happy with it. I didn’t foresee how difficult the inside tube seam would be when I made the floor length 16″ longer and had difficulty with those seams being airtight. So….3M 5200 to the rescue. Works fine now.
I sit with my knees slightly bent and feel I can navigate easy rivers fine. My 7 year old being a 7 year old insists on having a paddle as well. His contribution to the effort is noble;)
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Haha – sounds like fun!
Thanks for the tip about the 3M 5200 – I picked some up and I’m testing it now. I couldn’t find the quick-cure version locally, so it’ll be a few days before I can really pull on it. It seems like it might be a good product for coating the inside of the seams during construction to prevent those annoying pinhole leaks that are hard to track down.
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Hey Derek,
Great build. I’m actually just starting on building my own plus-size voyageur, but even larger to accommodate two kids (about 100″ long).
Any other general tips you want to share? It sounds like sealing that inside tube seam during construction might be a good approach. I have loads of Aquaseal but none of the 3M stuff you referenced.
I bought fabric to make an inflatable floor, but your backpacking airpad idea would be a nice time saver. Are you planning on gluing attachment points or anything to the pad, and then fastening from there to attachment points on the raft?
Also, are you making it self-bailing? I decided to and Matt recommended closable drain-valves which I thought was a great idea. So on the mellowest water we can just keep them closed.
Thanks.
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The long seams were tricky trying to reach inside those tubes. If I remember right, my floor is 84″ long. I’d say think it through before you proceed so you are sure you’ll be able to effectively seal those long seams from the extended tubes. I had some persistent leaks there that I finally sorted out.
Don’t mess with the 3m stuff, I just used it because I couldn’t get Aquaseal in town. Stick with Aquaseal or Seamseal, it cures faster.
My inflatable sleeping pad is 78″ I believe. It’s 1000% better than trying to make one. I’d go that route. $80 for a pad, no time to build, doesn’t leak, works perfect. I also use Exped inflatable camping pillows for seats. They cost $35, don’t leak, fit perfect, and saves time from building the seat kit.
Not doing self bailing, this is a calm water, family boat. If I need self bailing, I’m in water I shouldn’t be in.
Overall this thing is working great. I’ve had it down easy class III alone, and use it several times per week on my boat to get to shore when we anchor our 24′ boat. Will be fishing from it for a few weeks on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers soon.
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