[JoeD]

Thanks Matt! Really appreciate the reply, even if you don’t have a definitive length for me. I think confirming that 1 paddler could handle a long boat is helpful. If anything it seems the longer boat will fare better on the mellow lakes and rivers we’ll use (your “Tracking, or Directional Stability” article makes that point with regard to kayaks/canoes).

Also a good point about getting up higher from the floor. I’m planning on making it self bailing, and was going to aim for a total height of 10 or more inches from the bottom of the boat (using a combination of inflatable floor and inflatable seats). Bruce in his “Voyageur 2-person first float” article talked about getting 10″ up and being comfortable paddling there. I know the Alpacka Forager has a 7″ inflatable floor.

Obviously the weight will go up as it gets longer, but activities with kids don’t tend to be lightweight. Bruce’s Voyageur was 72″ and only weighed 8 1/4 lbs, so it’s still possible to keep weight reasonable. That’s the beauty of DIY.

Now I’ll just have to figure out how to secure the floor to the raft. It will be a separate “camp-mattress”  type floor. And I’ll also have to work out where the drains will be in the floor and how many.

[JoeD]

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.

[JoeD]

Hello again Matt.

I’m ready to get a kit and thought I’d ask about specific lengths of material here, in case anyone else is interested in expanding the Voyageur. I’ll explain what we’re after so you can guide us to exactly how much extra material. The plan is to make an interior length of 100 inches, or 37 inches longer than the standard 63 inches. I’ll make it self-bailing with a full length inflatable floor using the seat kit design and 210D fabric. What we’ll need:

– Voyageur kit, 1000D floor, 1 TIZIP, Extra Boston Valve instead of top-up valve, Inflation bag kit

– How much extra 1000D floor material?

– How much extra 210D material for increased tube lengths?

– How many red, two-way push valves for floor drains? (you mentioned in a separate article using two drains towards the sides and rear for spray and occasionally swamping… would you advise increasing that—maybe using four—since we’re making the raft larger?)

– I see other manufacturers just punch holes in the floor. But your idea of valves seems good. That way on a lake or super-mellow water we could just close them because virtually no water would enter the boat. Is that the idea behind recommending valves rather than punching holes?

Inflatable floor

– Seat kit for inflatable floor (I want to elongate and widen the kit to make the floor)

– Boston valve for inflation

– How much extra 210D material for the floor? I want it to cover the entire interior length, and as much of the 18inch wide width of the raft as possible, while leaving just enough room for water to drain out the self-bailing floor.

– How thick would the seat kit make the inflatable floor? I’d like 7 or 8 inches thick if possible.

– Any thoughts on securing the inflatable floor to the raft? Alpacka’s seat conversion kit is one option… two strips sealed along the sides of the raft. Those strips also get the holes/valves for drainage. Then between the strips is a sleeve that the floor slides into. To save weight I could make the side strips and sleeve only cover the middle 3-4 feet of the raft, which would still probably secure the front and back of the inflatable floor just fine. Any other thoughts appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Joe

[Author]

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