Riv-rafting

[John Rinker]

After several months in a box, I finally took my pack raft for its maiden voyage down the Salt River. 

I rode 20k out to the put-in, and in about 30 minutes was ready to shove off. The Alpacka raft is a fine design that has exceeded my expectations for comfort, stability, and maneuverability. My tall bike and body fit just fine. It's a super fun boat!

If you love riding and rivers, this is the way to go!

Cheers, John

[Curtis McKenzie]

Looks like a great adventure.  Enjoy.

Curtis

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[Sue J]

John, I am curious to know how this craft behaves if there is no bike in the bow. Did you give that a try?

Also, do you secure the bike in the bow, or if you capsize would it sink to the bottom of the waterway?

Sue

[John Rinker]

Hey Sue, 

I haven't tried my boat without a bike yet, but I did paddle one a few years back sans bicyclette and I remember it being like any other raft without a keel- kind of squirreley. 

With the bike, however, it handles very nicely indeed. Alpacka makes other such rafts for use without a bicycle, and I imagine these track much better. 

Yes, the bicycle is attached at 4 lashing points with Voile-type straps, and the wheels with bungee cords. It's all very solid and stable. If there was a chance that my bike would end up at the bottom of the river, I'd think twice. 

Maybe this photo shows it a bit better:

Cheers, John

[Patrick Moore]

That looks very tempting. I can't make out a trailer; does the boat fold up small enought to be carried on a rack?

I'm 1/4 mile crow-directly west through bosque scrub from the Rio Grande and it's an easy and pleasant ride north on a paved recreation trail to various possible insertion points. In fact, my next door neighbors have a couple of inflatable canoes which they generally drive north to entry points, float back south, then drive the other car to pick up the first one; tho' husband Chris some years ago did drive north, float south, then rode his bike back north to get his car.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[John Rinker]

Hello Patrick. No trailer needed as, you guessed it, the raft rolls into a tidy little 5lb burrito and fits very nicely on the rack. In addition to the photos of the raft with the bike, I should have taken a photo of the bike with the raft on it!

Cheers, John

[Patrick Moore]

Got it; again, sounds very interesting. I see that Alpacka boats retail basically for the price of an entry-level Clem.

I should probably buy an entry level Clem first, though.

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[John Rinker]

Yes, but Clems don't float! ;)

[Wesley]

I’ve got a slow-developing project to create a bike raft out of a $40 “inflatable camp lounger”. If I can raft 30 feet across an irrigation ditch, I can swap gravel country roads for 12 miles of commuting alongside interstate 80. I’ll let you know if it works.

-Wes

[Michael Morrissey]

That looks incredible. More pictures and details please! It's the exact opposite of my normal bike rides (urban NYC).

M

[John Rinker]

Hey Wes, I'll look forward to seeing photos of that! I'm confused about your swap- you want country gravel or I80? 

Hey Michael, Urban NYC must require a whole different set of skills than cruising around the desert on trails or rivers. Here's a link to a GaiaGPS track with a few more  photos of the paddle. Another cool feature of this paddle is a herd of wild horses (mustangs) that come to the river to drink. I saw a small group of 15 or so and more solitary ones along the way. Apparently, they are descended from the Spanish horses set free in the 1600s. You probably don't see too many of those in Central Park! 

Salt River Deux

I'll shoot a photo of the bike loaded with the raft when I paddle again on Monday. 

Cheers, John

[Takashi]

Wow, John, that looks like a lot of fun. Looking at beautiful scenery from the river must be a very different experience from cycling.

I too am looking forward to seeing more of your photos!

Takashi

2024年5月11日土曜日 3:44:37 UTC+9 John Rinker:

[rlti...@gmail.com]

This guy did a bike/boat commute from Jersey into NYC. Pretty unique setup!

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA

Sent from my iPhone

On May 10, 2024, at 11:44 AM, John Rinker <jwri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Wes, I'll look forward to seeing photos of that! I'm confused about your swap- you want country gravel or I80? 

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[Patrick Moore]

Now that has to be one of the most interesting commutes I've heard about; thanks for sharing.

I'd love to know more about his boat and what it's made from and its features.

[Wesley]

That’s a fliptail: https://duckworks.com/fliptail-7-plans-pdf/

I built its ancestor the origami from the same designer about six years ago to be a compact tender for the boat we were living aboard. It turned out very heavy so we never used it, preferring our inflatable kayaks. 

The fliptail is probably a bit lighter but I don’t think it’s really a great combo with a bike. Would love to be wrong, though!

-Wes

[Patrick Moore]

Tom Lutz seems to have accommodated himself and his Brompton to the mass of his Fliptail. I'd guess that with the wheels (or is it a minimalist trailer?) and flat terrain that even a weighty boat is less of a problem than, say, the inflatable 2-person kayaks that my next door neighbors have (fun fact: he was a brazer for Serrotta back when Serrotta did lugged steel bikes) which take a while to deflate, dry, and roll up.

John: what do you think: is your boat easier to manipulate between bike packing and floating and back again than this Fliptail with tailer?

I've no dog in this fight*; I think any bike-cum-boat travel incident looks like great fun and ought to be illustrated on this list with a great number of photos.

[*Ill disciplined imagination: recall the Economist cover with drawing of Ozarks or Appalachian front porch during Clinton I vs Lewinsky, with slogan: "He's a hard dog to keep on the porch." Nothing beats Southern syntax.]

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[John Rinker]

Hey Robert, I remember seeing this once upon a time. Perhaps it's where the seed of my idea to get my bike in a boat came from. Very cool, indeed!

Hey Patrick, It's hard to say. The Alpackaraft may be a little more particular about where the bike is placed, but time from arrival to launch is probably similar. I do imagine that Wes is correct- the Alpackaraft weighs only 5lbs, and that's pretty tough to beat.

In the end, I agree with Patrick: any bike/boat combo is just plain fun!

Cheers, John

[John Rinker]

Hey Takashi,  Yes, indeed, it's a lovely way to travel. Very serene for the most part. I would have enjoyed this boat when I road along the Nyodo River on Shikoku.

Cheers, John

[John Rinker]

Here are a few more photos of the Riv-raft from my trip to Salt River today. Highlights include wild horses fording the river, eyeball to eyeball with blue herons, multitudes of canyon swallows (or swifts?), and great swimming.

For the auditorily inclined, attached is a soundscape of the river. 

Cheers, John

[Patrick Moore]

More interesting photos; thanks. Particularly interesting is how small the inflatable packs up for rack carriage. 

How long does it take to unfold and inflate, and afterward to deflate and fold up the boat?

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[John Rinker]

You bet, Patrick. I'm new at this so from when I arrive at the river to launching the boat is about 30 minutes. Same with the deflation and pack up. As I become more practiced this time may shrink, but I'm never really in much of a hurry.

Cheers, John

[Sam McDermott]

There's a lot of...

😎 Riv raft love 😎
... on this thread