I have learned so much from all of you regarding folders versus sectionals. Thank you.
What about this? Someone had an idea, and I thought this might be reasonable. This guy Tim Root has a new video and excellent review (thanks, Tim). Thoughts? Anyone have one?
http://www.timroot.com/articles/reviews/pakboatswift/foldingswift.html
Did you buy that one on ebay that
was complete with the tandem spray cover?
Thank you, TSC. Nice.
Thanks, have thought of such boats
for times when gas may be so expensive as to make cartopping a significant aerodynamic liability.
Nice
How much is it? A strap-on skeg might help to stabilize it.
I’ve got a Pakboat 15 ft. canoe
Havent’ used it much, but it is well-made and seems pretty durable. Paddles decently.
@
The 12’ doesn’t track very well. Hope the 14’ swift is better. The cockpit is small. I like pulling my knees up on warm rides. There are lots of piecies so don’t lose them. When you hit something in the water it will shake and make an aluminum sound…I didn’t like that feeling. They are not for rocky rides where you might be bumping into rocks.
Third hand review
Friends of mine bought a Pak Canoe for a two week Canadian wilderness trip. It made for a huge savings over the cost of flying in hard canoes. They were quite happy with it’s performance and thought it ran dryer than their MR Freedom (16?) on class II.
I enjoy watching this vid from the pakboats site.
http://www.pakboats.com/canoes.htm
Looks like a live thing moving down the rapid.
Tommy
@
A pak canoe is definitely a different animal, hence the big price difference.
San Juan this spring
On a trip this spring down the San Juan in Utah, 4 out of our 6 boats were a Pakboat of some type–a 14, 14T (paddled solo), 16 tandem and a Puffin 12 set up with a kneeling thwart to paddle with a single bladed paddle.
All did well, better than a Wenonah Vagabond (which proved not deep enough and took a lot of water in the rapids) and at least as well as an Aire Tomcat (which did fine in the whitewater, but was limited in what it could carry for the 8 day trip and not very fast in the flat sections).
The 14s did very well (the solo set up was better), the 16 did fine but proved a little small to carry two people and gear for a week, and the modified Puffin did a lot better than I would have guessed–although its lighter structure made it a little fussy–it wanted to come apart when loading and unloading–but was sound enough on the river.
In general, the canoes were very good on whitewater, fair on the flatwater, good load carriers, and pretty durable. I don’t really know what to say about the Puffin, except that even modified it was tough enough to complete the trip without any serious problem.
pakboats
Canoed the san juan a few times with
hard shells- very sandy.
I’d be apprehensive on paddling such a sandy
river with a pakboat more than once or twice.
That sand really gets into places and grinds away at stuff - between the ribs and frame there
could be quite a bit of wear and tear and in the joints in the frame.
As far as paddling a pb. They don’t perform nearly the same as a hard shell. Somewhere in between an inflatable (such as a SOAR, which I’ve seen on the San Juan, I’ve paddled on a long trip), and a hard shell. I put quite a few holes in a (loaded) pakbout on a very rocky river once. They are difficult to drag over things because of the flexible hull, and it doesn’t slide over things as well as a hard shell. The rubber is a bit sticky. But they can save money in transportation costs (which is why I have used one).
Ally
I use several of the Ally folding canoes and I am very pleased with them. If you need a pack boat for storage and transportation they are really good and take a lot of abuse