AdvancedElements.com

sedimentary · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 17

Anyone try or use these in the past?? I have been considering a second kayak just for short outings, and am definitely wanting something lighter than my AC convertible. Tempted with the Dragonfly but am curious about these Pakboat Puffins. Very light and seemed extraordinarily durable even in rough whitewater and submerged crud. My main concern is how difficult are these to set up?? It has many parts like spines and several steps in it's set-up and breakdown.

JCOOLEY · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:24 am Post subject:

Tried one once, didn't actually paddle it. It took almost 45 minutes to set up the first time. I am sure with time and practice I could get the setup time lower but not nearly as low as the ADvanced Elements kayaks.

Jeremy
Cool

sedimentary · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 17

Not something I want to do for 45 minutes in the baking hot sun. By that time I would be ready to stroke out once I was ready to hit the water. The looks nice when set up but damn so many pieces!!! Think it's a Dragonfly for my second kayak

joren · Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

If you're looking for truly lightweight, packable, check out alpackaraft.com . A 5 pound inflatable raft is a totally different boat than an AE kayak—pluses and minuses (balance, puncture resistance, comfort, speed). It probably won't be my next boat, but I'd love to get an alpacka raft eventually.

ATPringles · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:10 pm Post subject:

I have a PakBoat Puffin II. I like it a lot, but it takes me 30 minutes to put it together. I have a number of hardshell kayaks, so when I'm close to home, I use my hard-shells. People who put their Pakboats together frequently say they can do it in 15 minutes. It's a comfy boat, tracks fairly well, and feels sturdy. I have used it in Jackson Lake in the Tetons and on Lake Diablo in the North Cascades and loved it, but if it were easier to put together, I think I would have used it much more often. I also have a PakCanoe. We used them for three weeks on an an Arctic canoe trip. The canoes take longer to out together but are very sturdy. For me, it takes about two hours to put together, and then I need to take a nap. Those canoes are very, very sturdy, and much less expensive to fly or transport into remote locations than a hard canoe, but that doesn't help when you just want to float in your boat.

I don't have an Alpacka, they're out of my budget. But, Flyweights Designs makes a $300-ish raft, called the Flytepacker. I have one of them. It's not for whitewater, it's for hiking up to a mountain lake, inflating, and going fishing. I don't like to fish. I got it to take backpacking and use on little inland lakes. The Flytepacker isn't as strong and durable as the Alpacka, but it also isn't as heavy. I don't remember exactly how much it weighs, but it is about the size of my backpacking tent and under 5 pounds. It steers like a wayward cow, but it floats and is easy to carry and inflate. I guess to be honest, the steering issue may be user error, but don't expect to follow a fast and direct path.

I saw a Dragonfly for a good price and got it figuring if I didn't like it, I could get my money back by selling it. I set it up at home and then again at the river. It took 5-8 minutes. It floated, went where I told it to, and went back into the case without a brawl. It will be in my truck camper from now on.

Pringles

sonar · Joined: 28 May 2011 Posts: 174 Location: Northeast. U.K

what a great informative detailed information on other kayaks.

I found this very intresting any pictures ?

Heard a lot about pak boats never had one or even seen one but i am happy to keep and use my AF kayak.
As you have said in the trunk and ready to go.

ATPringles · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:43 am Post subject:

What would you want pictures of? That sounds rude, and it's not meant to be. The Pakboat pages have pictures of their boats so you can see the structure within. They also have a video of a Pakboat canoe in whitewater (not me, I can tell you) and pictures of people in pretty places and tourist cities. Here's a trip report from the canoe trip I took in the Arctic that used Pakcanoes. http://www.lssu.edu/faculty/bhronek/outdoors/water/Porcupine/porcoverview.php It's long. There are plenty of pictures, and some have canoes in them, but I don't think there's anything that is just of the canoe. I don't think I have a single picture of the Puffin. Usually when I'm using it, I'm so excited about getting to a new body of water, that I forget about pictures. If you tell me what you'd like to see, I might be able to get a picture. Right now, of course, I have a new kayak and must play with it. Smile

As to the Flytepacker, you can see them here.
http://flyweightdesigns.com/default.aspx The one I have is the "generic" one, that's at the bottom right on the page. It may also be the only one they have in production now, and is the one that's sold out right now. As with the Puffin, I don't have any pictures of it. You can search for flytepacker on Google or Yahoo and find some reviews and pictures. It seems quite solid. I haven't gotten to take it backpacking yet, but hopefully soon... . It's sad when you have too much new stuff to play with all of it. I'm dealing with the stress as well as I can.

Pringles.