[DancingDragons]

I plan to give a more detailed writeup about my experience with the Ultralight, encompassing everything from building to modding to hiking to paddling. For now, though, enjoy this crunchy picture as well as this imgur album for some highlights of my time with my new getaway car boat!

I was introduced to packrafts when looking for an alternative to an IK or inflatable boat for flat water – all the options I’d seen were too heavy/bulky or out of my budget. Packrafts solved problem one but were very pricey pieces of gear so I’m glad I went the DIY route. I chose the Ultralight kit since I valued its diminutive size when rolled and extremely light weight. I’m glad I did! All my gear for a day trip fits in a single small backpack + 10L drybag and I hardly break a sweat on even the longest portages.

Since this is primarily a flatwater/slow current vessel I modded it to take on a skeg. It really does make a world of difference in terms of tracking! Once I get the design down pat I plan to release it on printables.com with a host of options to choose from that should be suitable for both deep and shallow water 🙂

Thanks, Matt, for allowing me to fall in love with the water again!

[DancingDragons]

Hello there! Hoping to graduate from a slack raft to something a little lighter and easier to pack this summer 😀

[DancingDragons]

I had a similar idea about making my ultralight self bailing by extending the seat into a full length inflatable floor and cutting bailing ports into the original floor (and reinforcing around them) since I found that the seat alone gave nearly enough buoyancy to keep my behind above water. I imagine that with a full length inflatable floor + a slightly thicker seat you would get self bailing capabilities without getting too wet (though being damp is a given)

Unfortunately finding comparable fabrics is proving difficult unless I buy on a B2B platform like alibaba. The lightest stuff I can get appears to be 210D based and is much too heavy for my liking.

[DancingDragons]

Hi Matt, I noticed that though the floor fabric is heavier due to it being double sided TPU, it isn’t actually stronger than the tube fabric since the base fabric appears to be the same. I understand the UL isn’t a very popular item for you, but is it in the cards for a future revision to have a sturdier floor fabric option? I imagine that maybe the tube fabric from the other packrafts would be a decent option moving from 70D to ~210D

[DancingDragons]

I’ve replied to Matt with skeg pictures 🙂

As for durability, I’ve found that I no longer worry – I’ve seen marine life and debris brush up through the floor enough times and it still causes concern, but nothing yet has caused a breach or puncture. I don’t drag it along shore or docks, and I only launch and land directly in the water to reduce the amount of abrasion the bottom would take. If I had to make a change to the design I would suggest a slightly thicker floor while preserving the use of 70D for the tube. That would be enough to quell all my concerns for flatwater use!

[DancingDragons]

Hi Matt, you absolutely can use this photo! As for the skeg, I don’t have any pictures of the current revision but here is what V1.0 looked like. As you can see it’s a two part design to make printing easy (three if you count the skeg) and is compatible with Intex skegs. Base is TPU and top is PETG, but V2.0 is all TPU since I have determined that with a high enough infill the top is stiff enough to constrain even a deep skeg when crabbing. To attach to the raft I prepped a section of seam with aquaseal, then HH-66ed the base to that section to ensure a good plastic-plastic bond instead of trying to glue directly to the fabric. The top is then heatsealed/welded to the bottom piece on the tabs you can see.

[Author]

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