Nice! I did the same thing with my Thermarest inflation bag. I used different style valves for my boat. Even a lightweight inflation bag is 100 g or more so if you are already carrying a bag for your sleeping mat it makes a ton of sense.
It took me 5:30 to inflate the boat with the small thermarest sack. I use the dump valve to start and when it starts to fill up I switch to the one-way valve. 10 breaths to finish the job.
In my photo darkroom I have a Seal tacking iron I use for dry mounting prints. It’s 145W and when it’s set on high it’s working really well for doing the floor welds. The bottom is teflon coated which is nice.
It is a bit too wide for the tube strips. I may be able to make it work but I have an aliexpress iron showing up any day just in case.
I also have a big roll of silicone-coated release paper that works really well for putting underneath when welding.
That’s a nifty paddle setup! You don’t have any issue with the blades twisting? I know Alpacka used to sell a trekking pole paddle at one point.
The DIY Ultralight is pretty amazing given it’s much lighter than the Klymit LWD, same weight as the Supai but it’s a full-sized boat whereas the other two are quite small. Of course it is made of much lighter materials, I can attest that it is easy to damage.
I’m using mine again this weekend for an extremely long day hike that starts with a river crossing. 3 of us will be ferrying back and forth.
Not quite sure about the question? I sat in the boat facing the front and used my hands to push backwards, basically how you would normally paddle. The paddles themselves are on my palms so I am pushing them through the water, the straps are not strong enough to be able to pull the paddles through. Hopefully that makes sense.
I used these Speedo Power Plus they were like $20 on Amazon.