North Water always has some interesting and tempting kit:
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It is cool. I’ve used mine in the winter in its camp chair configuration and unfolded so everyone could have an insulated seat at lunch on a winter paddle rather than a cold log. 
See you on the water,
Marshall Seddon
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY. 12538
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: [www.the-river-connection.com]
Store: [www.the-river-connection.us]
Email: marshall@the-river-connection.com
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Mine has only been used as a floor pad. It is bulky and heavy compared with an inflatable paddle float. However, the design is very clever and allows many uses.
I’m going to try it as a folding seat. The old Crazy Creek original can be a bit too hard after a long time reading in it. The FourPlay is just idling stored on a shelf, so if I keep it in my truck it will actually get used for car camping. Or…hmm…if I keep it in the loft at home, it would be a good reading chair. I can’t bring regular furniture up there (access is via a tall ladder).
Thanks for the reminder that I own one!
Has anyone used this as a sleeping pad? How was it?
Also, I could not find the dimensions that it has when laid out sleeping mat style… maybe I am blind, but could someone measure it?
57"x19"
See you on the water,
Marshall Seddon
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY. 12538
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: www.the-river-connection.com
Store: www.the-river-connection.us
Email: marshall@the-river-connection.com
Facebook: Redirecting...
Instagram: Login • Instagram
@Marshall and/or @PcomStealsYourData
Have either of you used it as a paddle float? Curious about its buoyancy.
Not having to blow up a float in cold weather/water is appealing.
Thanks.
It almost seems like satire.
A regular dedicated paddle float is cheap and effective.
It has a bit more foam than the Northwater SeaTec foam float so I find it is a bit more buoyant. Plus side of the folded sections is that it doesn’t matter where you jam the blade in. There’s multiple plys either end to Hold the blade.
See you on the water,
Marshall Seddon
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY. 12538
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: [www.the-river-connection.com]
Store: [www.the-river-connection.us]
Email: marshall@the-river-connection.com
Facebook: [Redirecting...]
Instagram: Instagram.com/marshall.seddon
My experience in teaching paddlefloat rescues with rigid floats is that while they may be faster to deploy they are bulky and take up a lot of back deck space. More critically, for larger paddlers they often do not supply enough floatation to allow them to be used successfully even in calm water. These people tend to sink them. Practice in the conditions where you might need a paddlefloat is essential.
One offbeat use for an inflatable paddlefloat is that when not inflated the part where the paddle fits in can be used to carry water to put out a campfire.
Sorry for the belated reply to your question.
I never used the FourPlay as a paddle float. It is considerably bulkier than a standard inflatable float, so it takes a lot of space.
The only thing way I’ve liked it is as a pad to nap on the floor, at home. If you like firm sleeping pads, this one fits. If you want cush, get a ThermaRest “self-inflating” pad or one of their really nice, lightweight versions of a much improved thin closed-cell foam. The Z-fold ones with egglike contour bumps are fantastic for minimalist camping (it’s not a thick, cushy pad).
I did try it a couple of times in the camp chair configuration. Even for my small body, the bottom portion is too short and the backside portion is too short, too. The original Crazy Creek foldup chair fits better, is simpler, and sits nicely on the stern deck, bungied down. I spent many hours reading in that one, both on kayak camping trips and car camping trips.
If you want to buy only one product to use as both a paddle float and a sleep pad, the FourPlay is the only thing like that. But frankly, toting it around exposed on top of the kayak—exactly what you would do if instant use as a float is required in cold water—means that you’d have a wet sleeping pad every night. The coated nylon and mesh covering it do get wet, even though they would dry quickly in warm, nonrainy conditions. You could pack it in a dry bag…but that would make it a fumblefest with cold, wet fingers in the event of a rescue.
The upshot for me is that the device is a folding pad to lie on, with the option of using as an insulating seat pad on hard benches, such as stadium seating. If I were to wrap it securely in a heavy-duty garbage bag, I could use it as a pad when working lying down under my truck. My aging bones and joints would thank me.
I used the older version of this as a paddle float in winter because of not having to blow it up. Worked fine.