Another accessory I would advise would be the Pakboat inflatable foot brace, which straps to the frame and gives you a firm, adjustable position platform to brace your feet on. This aids in putting more “oomph” into your paddle stroke and reduces fatigue. You can brace your feet against the hull frame but that gets tiring. For a while I used a 15" chunk of hard foam “pool noodle” slipped over a same size length of 3/4" PVC pipe that I attached with a buckle strap inside the hull to give me a “trapeze” to brace my feet against. Tended to slide around and I was much happier once I got the inflatable. I presume the seller included the hand pump for inflating the sponsons?
BTW Make sure you NEVER leave them inflated sitting in the sun or on top of the car – I ruptured one by failing to open the valve when the boat was on shore on a hot day. In the water it will stay cool enough not to expand to dangerous pressure.
On assembly: lay out the parts neatly, with the ribs in the right order. Check to make sure the rotating clips at the top of each side of the ribs are all “open”, Then take your time step by step the first few times you set it up. I have found it best to install ALL the ribs BEFORE locking any of the clips, then going back when all are in place and clipping them down one by one. It can be really annoying to realize you have a rib in the wrong place or backwards and have to unclip the locking bits. Thing to be most careful about is the orientation of the black clips t the middle bottom of each rib where they slide into the fittings along the keel longeron (the middle long frame tube along the bottom of the boat.)
Much as I like Pakboats, their instructions that come with the boats leave a little to be desired in clarity. Fortunately, the Puffins are the simplest and most intuitive so you may be able to figure it out. Don’t fret that the keel longeron seems floppy as you assemble the boat. Once everything is fit together and the sponsons are inflated it will straighten right out.
If you run into problems that you can’t figure out, send me a private message and I’ll try to walk you through. By now I could assemble my Puffin blindfolded wearing mittens!