Cheap inflatable canoe?

What is the cheapest price a decent inflatable

would sell at? I doubt the $40 one on Amazon is any good.



Thanks,

Andrew

I personally do not consider ANY of the
so-called inflatable canoes to be real canoes. They are more like bulgy barges. This is not to deny that one can paddle them solo or tandem with a canoe paddle, but there the resemblance ends.



If you want a competent inflatable, look at the ones calling themselves kayaks. A few of them are fairly good handlers.

Advanced Elements
sells a 10’ inflatable for 'bout $400.00

Looks half way decent. Nice color too.

S.B.

Re: cheap inflatable canoe
I’d primarily be using it to explore swamps and marshes. Will they float and be reasonably stable, if not handle the same as canoes?



Thanks,

Andrew

pirogue
make ourself one!

SOARS
The SOAR inflatables aren’t too bad.

They are expensive though. I suspect

g2d hasn’t paddled one. I’ve paddled one

loaded in class IV. I can’t say I would even

consider doing that in a hard shell. All these

“special purpose” boats have there uses.

The SOAR’s handle somewhat like a regular canoe,

for ferrying etc, but are considerably slower.

Huge initial stability, is what you get.



314159

And huge technical maneuverability
is what you don’t get. They are rafts or barges, not canoes. With a big load, they may be preferable in heavy whitewater, but it ain’t really canoeing.

You should be able to find a 'hard’
canoe, fairly inexpensive, used. Check with liveries to see what they’re selling at the end of the season. Or keep an eye on the classified ads.



I explored swamps and marshes as a kid in various homemade and/or inflateable craft and I can’t recommend it for your main boat. I used a rubber raft for monitoring mosquito populations in marshes and swamps and it was a hassle. I really liked it when a piroque or john boat was available.



Also, the state parks around N.IL don’t let people on the lakes in the inflateable stuff unless it’s a ‘zodiac’ type boat.


inflatables can also be maneuverable
I paddle both an inflatable Soar-14 and a solo Royalex hard boat (Mad River Outrage) regularly in Class 3/4 water. The differences in the craft are obvious but I will say this emphatically about the Soar: they are NOT barges but highly maneuverable craft cabable of holding lots of gear and still be nimble in C3/C4 whitewater. If g2d would try one on a wilderness trip, perhaps on something like the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, I think he would better appreciate those characteristics.