[kdfisher]

I bought a piece of underlayment from a local hardware store.  Basically a 1/4″ x 4’x 4′ piece of plywood which has a smooth finish on one side.  I plop that on top of a plastic folding table. Works well enough that I’ll use it for my second packraft.

[kdfisher]

Finished, mainly.

I built the two person packraft.  I prefer the canoeing, followed by rowing, with kayaking coming in third.  So I wanted a packraft I could could canoe paddle or row.  So I also made a rowing frame from old yagi antenna elements I had laying around, some conduit fittings and some UHMW plastic for the oar yokes.  I gave it the first test run with my boy’s kayak paddles sans one blade.  So far I’m pretty happy with the performance.  Rowing the packraft is certainly the straightest I’ve ever traveled in a packraft.

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I designed the rowing frame around a traditional raft frame, ie, square-ish, instead of trying to bend it to the floor.  Since I’m sitting in the higher seat, instead of lower like the kayak-style seats, I’m less worried about entrapment. I went longer with the side poles to lever out the rotation forces.  I figured that would reduce the strain on any one particular tiedown.  I have four d-ring holddowns to reduce forward-backward movement of the the frame, while I can lace the frame to the tube tops with a longer tiedown pictured at bottom.  I might end up adding a couple more D-rings to snugs things up in the future.   This gives me some latitude in moving the frame fore or aft to balance the load if it’s just me or if I have a companion.

 

Here is the rowing frame broke down for transport.  Packraft was 8.2lbs and the frame was 3.4lbs.  I think I can shave off a few more ounces by trimming the UHMW oarlocks.  I’m waiting for my designated oars -standup board paddles which I’ve ordered- before doing so, however.   Currently, they are stiff enough to keep the oars in place but can allow for the oars  to be yanked out with enough pry-ing force.

 

 

Here are the tube-top tiedowns.

I had a moderate amount of leaks after first-inflation.  Large ones mainly at the zipper and a couple at the inside tube-tube-floor area.  Some really small ones elsewhere.

I used three different size wood blocks for the curves, ranging from 12″ to 3″ in diameter.  Might have slowed me down, but helped me lay the fabric down just-so for ironing.  I also used a couple of flat boards wrapped in the silicone paper to iron on.  One other trick, I found midway through, was to use a short piece of seam, to use as a jig.  I put a mid-mark on that and then slid that along my seams I was going to iron to quickly dash the mid-line along the length.

-Daniel

[Author]

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