Frequently Asked Questions

Below are questions ranging from the highly relevant to the rather silly but each of them have been asked many, many times which is why they appear here. Forgive our occasional snarky-ness.

The information below is our considered opinion combined with feedback from many, many customers over the years. Some answers may become outdated and on occasion may be outright wrong if a manufacturer has made changes we are unaware of.

Some manufacturers may be annoyed with answers that appear below, but all content is protected under freedom of speech and again, is our opinion. If you feel we have made a comment about your product that is partially or wholely wrong, by all means email us and make your case. If you can clearly demonstrate that something we've stated here is incorrect we will change the answer. If you are merely annoyed at our candor regarding your product though, that's another matter. This space is meant to deal with our time constraints for answering emails, not to offend anyone. If your product has a serious wart, fix it, don't crab to us.

Q: Why don't you sell Grabner, Sea Eagle, Sotar, Stearns, Demaree, Sevylor, Maravia, Coleman, Achilles, Advanced Elements, Jack's Plastic Welding, Airis, Custom Inflatables, BIC, or Star brand boats? Return Top

A: We've put this at the top of the Q & A page because we get questions regarding other brands at least once a week via email, and often on the phone. There are a number of companies that sell either mostly direct to the public, or who do so exclusively. Demaree is an example of the latter. They make some of the most durable inflatables on the planet from mil spec materials with flawless workmanship. They sell direct to outfitters and government entities and are nearly the sole supplier for those huge snout tubes you see on the Grand Canyon. As good as they are, no one will accuse their rafts of being featherweights or the best handling, but a private boater could get 40 years out of one in heavy use.

Custom Inflatables, Sotar, Star, and Maravia mostly sell direct or through a minimal dealer network, and these companies aren't really set up to sell at dealer pricing. Each brand has it's relative merits as well as it's possible downside. In the case of Sotar and Maravia rafts, both are well known to be terrific handling, but both also roll up just a bit smaller than a refrigerator. And if you have to ask the price, you likely can't aford them. Custom Inflatables and Star both employ glue, a bit on the CI, and for all seams on the Star, and this can limit lifespan. More about glue & pvc below.

Grabner in Austria produes some of the very finest inflatables on earth, though one could make a case that they are not that much better than equivalent Innovas. We did have Grabner boats on our site for a full two year period, but there was just not that much serious interest. Why? Simple- it was the price point. Not many paddlers want to spend $2,000 to $3,000 for an inflatable kayak or inflatable canoe, no matter how nice they may be. Grabners really make the most sense for yacht owners who take long trips and cannot expend valuable fresh water for cleaning an inflatable. The hypalon exterior of a Grabner is arguably the best option if the boat is going to experience "salt abuse". Someday, if the economy and demand changes, you may see some Grabner models here again. However, do not buy a Grabner based on their claim that their boats are the stiffest because they can be inflated to 4.3 p.s.i. An AIRE kayak with 3 to 3.2 in the side tubes is just as stiff. An Airis is even stiffer.

Stearns, Coleman, and Sevylor are sold through so many mass market merchants and big box stores that we really needn't jump on the band wagon, and we couldn't compete on pricing if we did. Back in the 90's we did sell some higher end Jumbo boats, and Jumbo was a division of Zodiac & Sevylor. We also dabbled with Stearns boats for all of about one year, but problems with torn stitching on them surfaced early on.

Jack Kloepfer from Jack's Plastic Welding in Aztec, NM, is a fellow who has always strived to keep his "Made in America" label accurate, and he has a well deserved rep for honesty. Occasionally a certain Halkey valve vintage or tiny tidbit of hardware might have come from somewhere else, but his boat fabrics, tooling, and labor is all-U.S. Jack has had some unpleasant run-in's with people from Asia stealing his website content and boat patterns, so he believes in his mission. Right now, we don't carry his product line but that doesn't mean we won't down the road. His boats are light, and most models handle well. Our personal experience has been that old un-bladderized pvc boats will not retain air as well as equally old rubber boats, especially if they get deeply creased, so if you roll your boats up at the take out this is something to bear in mind. We try to offer the best values here, and it often seems like AIRE has better deals on cat tubes. AIRE has no equivalent to many of Jack's unique products though, so we may pick up some of the JPW boats again. We did carry his regular inflatable kayaks back when he made them.

What about Avon and Achilles? Aren't they terrifically durable rafts? Well, leaving aside the propensity for Achilles inflatable floors (found on their self bailers) to blow I-beams easily, the answer is a strong yes. The thing is, so are at least half a dozen other brands, some of which cost less. You no longer need to buy "toughness". Even low-end Asian glued pvc rafts have two layers on the bottom. Given this, we feel very strongly that a buyer is only getting two variables with modern rafts: One is lifespan, and two is handling. If a boat is pvc and assembled with glue, 13 years is about the top lifespan. A quality welded pvc boat, or hypalon raft, can go double or triple that. The problem with Achilles and Avon - and a number of other rubber boats - is that they score poorly in the handling category. People run Avons on hairy class V rivers all over the globe, but they could do it with less effort in another brand. Avon has strong brand loyalty and we aren't here to try to change anyone's mind. We just don't feel these brands offer the best value. Your Avon or Achilles went 32 years? So can an AIRE with a change of bladders at around the 20-year mark (and the original cost of the AIRE plus the bladders won't be more than the Avon), and you'll have the pleasure of using a much sportier raft for those 32 years.

Sea Eagles, a.k.a. Harrison Hoge, is another importer that mostly, though not exclusively, seels direct. They deseve credit along with Sevylor for opening the door for just about every other inflatable kayak brand. We remember their adds in the back of Popular Mechanics (or was it Popular Science?) when we were just kids, so Cecil Hoge's been at it as long as anyone out there. These guys are brilliant at marketing, and the recent vintage boats are of good quality. Where they have never excelled is in the field of hydro-dynamics. Their inflatables for the most part range from slow to slower. As of this update, they do have a new tandem boat coming out that is more oriented toward touring, but it still is not going to keep up with a less expensive rocket ship like a Tributary Sawtooth, or probably the Innova Sunny either. And the high pressure floors that many of the Asian importers are using these days are not as wonderful as they may sound. The edges of these floors are tricky to seal with a welder, so many of these companies still have glued perimeters on them. And this glue will fail eventually, so if you keep a kayak or marine boat equipped with a high-pressure floor matt more than ten or twelve years, you need to factor in the cost of a second floor matt down the road. Sea Eagle's pontoon models are as slow as any of their other boats, but they do have a level of versatility you cannot get with many other products. Again, if a certain boat works for your needs, we are not here to talk you out of buying it. What it really comes down to is whether for about the same money, can one buy a better, faster boat for their intended purpose ? Return Top

Airis / Walker Bay has some cool inflatables made almost entirely of 8" thick flat drop-stitch material, and though marketed as touring boats, we have heard from a fellow who uses his for a lot of class IV and V whitewater. This type of boat though is equivalent to a normal inflatable kayak with 8" side tubes - and a narrow one at that - so in general these would hardly be a stable choice for whitewater. But why don't we sell them? The workmanship looks quite good (though time will tell), but to be honest there were two issues. One is that there is pretty serious dealer saturation throughout the country, and especially in CA where we are. And on both occasions when we did call Walker Bay to ask about carrying the Airis line, we got voicemail in the sales department. We left messages, but no one ever called back. Here's the deal, and we want you all to think about this carefully: If we cannot get them to phone back when we want to BUY something, how much luck is a dealer going to have when there is a problem? This could change, and maybe someday we'll carry them, but for now call us underwhelmed.

We had a couple Advanced Elements kayaks in our San Jose store when they first came out, and again, it boils down to whether you can get something else in a similar price range that may work better for your needs. Many folks are very happy with their AE boats and that's fine, but they are widely available so we've elected not to carry them at this time. A lot of potential buyers are also very taken by the enclosed, decked appearance of certain Sevylor, Stearns and A.E. models, and they can indeed keep you warmer than open boats on cold windy days. Beyond this though they are also harder to dry out and clean than an open-hulled inflatable, as are models like the Innova Traveler. Also, in heavy seas, expecting a sprayskirt to stay on an AE boat is delusional at best. When an Advanced Frame tacos in a big wave, the skirt can easily pop as the cockpit rim flexes. And a big wave crashing down on the deck will do the same. Huge waves can also pop a hardshell skirt, though it happens with far lower frequency. Also bear in mind that a lot of heat loss comes from your chest and head, and there is really no way to enclose those body parts! Believing that the purchase of any decked boat, inflatable or otherwise, gives you license to dress inappropriately is unwise. Things can happen in the open ocean, or even large lakes. Never count on a boat to keep you warm. Re-entry is also more difficult on a fully decked boat (though a lot easier with an inflatable model than with a plastic kayak), and the ability to move your legs around is restricted. An open inflatable is easy to get back into, and very easy to rid of water with a small bilge pump, assuming you are not paddling a self bailing model. You can move your legs around as much as you wish in an open boat, and on some models you can even sit on top (rather than against) of the seat. Kneeling is also an option with open kayaks, and impossible with a completely covered models.

If you are in the minority of individuals who fly somewhat often with your inflatable kayak, or you would like to, some of the tandem AE's would be a bad call due to their weights and packed size. Most airlines now have a 50 pound per bag limit. On a trip to Kauai in the Fall of 2004, we took an Innova tandem IK, two multi-piece kayak paddles, a Bravo I footpump, an adult kayak vest, and a child lifejack all in one small suitcase. The total weight including the suitcase was between 47 and 48 pounds. In the case of the Advanced Frame II, the boat alone is 56 pounds bone dry (and they rarely are) without it's carry bag. What this means in plain English is that most airlines would be charging you a minimum "overweight" fee of $25 to $50 each direction flown. United is assaulting their passengers with much larger fees. So, assuming you find an Advanced Frame tandem online for $100 below list, fly twice over a 20 year period with the boat, and replace the main tube and floor bladders at least once in those 20 years, you have now shelled out at least the price of something like an Innova tandem, and more than the Tributary Sawtooth. AE's new Airfusion model looks intriguing, but as mentioned in the Sea Eagle write-up above, we are always leary of "high-pressure" tubes or floors. Especially when those high-pressure chambers are made in China or Korea. Only time can demonstrate whether something new and exciting really has long term durability. And thus, we come to the BIC's.

When you buy a human-powered recreational toy, be it bike, wakeboard, or kayak, the two most important things your money should buy are performance (basically speed) and a reasonable cost-per-year to own that item. This is why we keep coming back to brands with proven lifespans and low cost-per-year ownership. After 29 years, we do have a pretty good idea what holds up and what doesn't. On the other hand, if you are a fisherman or sunbather who only wants to paddle out fifty feet from shore on a lake, why would you buy anything but a cheap Sevylor or Intex boat? You don't need a $700 boat for this. On abusive rocky rivers though, repairing a Tahiti every other rapid does not make for a fun day. And even some fishing enthusiasts are nervous about puncturing a vinyl boat's thin skin with their hooks & tackle. A lot of folks have paddled Sevylor Tahitis down some mighty big whitewater, but you might go through ten of them in the lifespan of one quality inflatable kayak.

What about BIC's Yakkair inflatable kayaks? We actually had full plans on carrying this line when they came out in the Spring of 2009. Upon getting some in though, we did an abrupt about-face. The reasons were detailed thoroughly on the Touring I.K. page of our old site, but that part won't exist on our new shopping cart version so here's the key details:

1) The Yakkairs are the first bladderized boats we have seen that did not appear to have access to the left & right tube bladders via zippers. If you rub a hole in one of the bladders (which could easily happen by virtue of the fact these need to be folded tightly to fit back in their carry bags, and the further detail that the female part of the boston valve has nothing to stop it from rubbing on the bladder), you end up with an unrepairable hole. One BIC owner from France sent us an email late last year saying we were wrong about this - that of course there was access to the bladders. How could we be so dim? Well, if so, we missed it, and it could not have been more than a small opening if there was anything there at all. And if this access point did exist, no one at BIC-USA seemed to know anything about it. Having bladders with no access, or only minimal and difficult access, is just a bad idea, period. Being able to yank a bladder out through a tiny and possibly fictitional opening does not mean you can get it back in again. And this fellow from France was never able to explain to us just where this mysterious orifice was. Perhaps BIC will change this and put long access zippers on the bladder pouches some day.

2) The above might be somewhat less of a concern if BIC, like AIRE, used 14 mil urethane for the tube bladders with anti-rub boots behind the valves. But they don't - the material is half the thickness of the AIRE urethane. Bladder punctures on the BIC's are only a matter of sooner or later, not "if".

3) The first Yakkairs we inflated had immediate air leaks around the affore-mentioned female boston valve seat. Specifically, at the female valve part's flimsy welded attachment to the bladder. So there was no way we could sell these to any customer. BIC claims they have had no other issues with the Yakkairs thus far. While we do believe them, we think that it may be a while before the problems get reported back, when more of these boats get out in the field. It's possible we could have received two leaky lemons, but the way in which the female valve seats are installed did not instill confidence. The actual valves can also be lost easily since nothing holds them to the boat.

4) Something we always worry over is people using glue with pvc material. There is much discussion about this here and on our Raft and Cataraft pages, but basically it portends a guaranteed failure down the road. In the case of the Yakkairs, four things are glued- The drop-stitch high pressure floor edges, the inflatable keel tube under this floor mat, the attachment of this keel to the actual bottom of the kayak, and an exterior reinforcing strip on the bottom directly under the keel. When the glue fails, you have a big, unfixable problem. At this point the quality and heat resistance of the glue is not known. Not by us, and we must emphasize, not by BIC. These are built in China and the factories over there will tell their clients whatever they think they want to hear. So... these parts could go 12 to 13 years before they come apart, or it could happen in less than four. With the high pressure floor pad we must emphasize it is highly unlikely you would get a 12 year life. If some of the more major problems are corrected, we may still carry these. That said, BIC is not in the inflatable business and the French engineers of the Yakkairs appear to have some very odd misconceptions about boat construction. And don't get us started about feeble French car engines. We hope BIC Sport USA can pound some sense into their counterparts.

What about other pvc inflatables you don't carry, like Aqualine, Zoik, Vanguard, Aquamarine, or those great bargains on Ebay ? Return Top

What you need to know before the bargain pricing of any Chinese or Korean pvc brand (including the Maxxon cat tubes and 14' raft we sell) tempts you is that all pvc boats that are glued together, rather than being welded, are problematic by their very nature. PVC outgasses a glue-destroying chemical (softeners called phthalates), therefore all glued pvc boats will come apart at the seams eventually, though the Stars, Maxxons, and Vanguards seem to have maximized their lifespans where glued boats are concerned. Still, 13 years seems to be the upper end of the lifespan range. The glue on some other brands may soften in the heat of a Summer day even when your raft is only 2 - 3 years old. It depends on the heat resistance and quality of the glue used. There is more about this in the raft section of our website. Our gripe is that we don't like to see large bundles of pvc (like a raft that has come unglued) go into land fills. PVC sometimes has other nasty chemicals along with the phthalates, including dioxin and chlorine. The longer a boat goes the better. AIRE, Maravia, and Jack's are welded, not glued, as are all major seams on the Incepts.

Q: Which is better, hypalon or pvc? Or urethane/lexatron? Return Top

A: Again, see the paragraph above, because the answer depends if the pvc boat you are comparing is welded or glued. PVC generally produces a lighter, stiffer boat. Elderly hypalon or neoprene boats tend to hold air better than pvc rafts. But this can change if the pvc boat maker takes other steps. In the case of AIRE, the pvc does not hold air at all - the urethane bladders do. An old AIRE can have phenomenal air retention. With Maravia, there is an additional outer coating of urethane. So these things change the answer. As for the Sotar and Revolution urethane fabric, it is very strong, reasonably light, highly abrasion resistant in the water, and it slips off rocks better than anything out there. It can also delaminate when it gets old, and friction can create rub spots. Being extremely stiff, a urethane raft is hard to roll up and tight creases can create porous areas just like with pvc. What has better abrasion resistance between hypalon and pvc? PVC has less abrasion resistance on dry land, and many brands of pvc don't deal with sunlight as well over the long haul. But in the water pvc boats seem to have better, not worse, abrasion resistance since they slip off rocks easier. There is also the confusion of thinking that just using hypalon makes a boat somehow stronger. It doesn't. It's the thickness of the base fabric that has the main effect on tear resistance. And various rubber coatings can be shortchanged or corrupted depending who is making them. Almost without exception, all West European and Japanese hypalon is of very high quality. But in the old days, there were Japanese and Taiwanese rubber compounds that were not so great. Like hypalon mixed with mystery rubber. EPDM is another prime example. Firestone's U.S. made epdm sheeting (used for expensive roof jobs and pond liners) has a very good lifespan. The alleged same product that used to come from Taiwan's Formosan Rubber Group was garbage, and yet FRG's hypalon was quite good. So the answer as to which coating is better has no simple reply, sorry!

Q: I'm confused between vinyl and pvc? Return Top

A: The "v" in pvc stands for vinyl. However, in the inflatable boat industry, "vinyl" has come to mean the material used in the cheap WalMart toy boats and air mattresses, and pvc usually refers to heavy polyester or nylon fabric coated with pvc - or vinyl if you want to call it that. In other words, straight vinyl has no cloth inside of it. Keep at it with a good pump, and you can make your cheap vinyl boat bigger, and bigger, and bigger.....BOOM!

Q: from Chris Scott- Why do some IK's (and rafts) have bladders, and does it matter if they do or not? Return Top

A: Brands that use some form of bladders include AIRE, Advanced Elements, Stearns, BIC Sport inflatables, a few Sevylor decked models, a number of fly fishing pontoon boats, and a handful of semi-homemade rigs from the Baltiks. The basic answer is that if the boat is well made otherwise, it doesn't really matter if your boat uses them as far as performance. The down side to bladder boats is that if you use them in humid areas or places that are frequently cold & foggy (like, say for example, Wales in the UK), they may not dry out well on their own, and funky smells and mildew can develop. These smells and stains don't really effect most of them though. Additionally, if the outer skin of a bladder boat is full-on raft weight fabric like with AIRE, Stearns, AE, or a couple brands of fishing pontoons, the overall weight of the boat will be higher than non-bladderize pvc models. Still, most companies have managed to keep their bladder boats to reasonable weights. Among AIRE's bladder boats, only the imported Tomcat kayaks - with their heavier vinyl bladders (most AIRE use lighter urethane) - seem a bit heavy for their size. AE's tandem Advanced Frame is pretty heavy too. This aside, there are also positives to having bladders. As a general rule, bladder boats are almost always easier to repair in the field than than non-bladderized models, with the exception of the rather flawed BIC's mentioned up above. Air retention tends to be very good on them as well, regardless of brand, even when they get older. A simple welded bladder with one long seam is easier to make air-tight than the complex outer skin of a conventional inflatable, with it's criss-crossing seams and compound curves. Last, if the outer shell of a bladder boat is well made and beefy, and you are willing to replace a bladder or three once in a great while, you can make many bladder boats last almost indefinitely. If the stitching is of poor quality or there are weak points, as is the case with some Stearns, Sevy, and low end fish tubes, then maybe not.

Q: How does a self-bailer work? Are small elves with buckets included? Return Top

A: A self-bailing raft or IK (infl. kayak) has an inflatable floor that needs to be thick enough when blown up to offset the water. This means that the top of that inflated floor needs to be higher than the water outside, which if the boat is overloaded it might not be. Assuming proper load limits, when water comes in, it flows back out through bail holes or vents or lacing. If a IK or raft floor is not thick enough when blown up, it may suffer from a low load limit. This is something you need to pay close attention to on tandem IK's. Few rafts have issues swamping though.

Q: Why are rafts and inflatable kayaks so expensive? And why the huge price range? Return Top

A: There are really several answers to this. First, if we are talking about a rubber boat (rubber being any type of hypalon, neoprene, butyl, epdm, nitrylon, or other obscure European synthetics), every piece that makes up the raft or inflatable kayak must be sanded along each edge where it joins to the next section, and these pieces must then be hand glued to one another. All valve boots, internal bulkheads, D-rings, floor attachments, motor mounts, logos, and chafers must be sanded & hand glued as well. Then there is the seam tape, which is generally adhered to both sides of all joints & overlaps. And the process isn't finished until thwarts and/or backrests, floors, and any bow & stern dodgers are also assembled and mounted. If we are talking about a self bailing raft or i.k. (inflatable kayak), there is also the horrendously labor intensive operation of making all the internal floor I-beams, which have to be adherred along with the edge tape to the top & bottom floor layers. And let's not forget any grommets, hole punching, or piano hinge manufacture that is required to attach this inflatable floor to the boat body. In short, there are a lot of hours and days that go into building an inflatable. None of this takes into account the material cost either, and if we are talking about better grades of hypalon, urethane, or mil spec neoprene, there can be many hundreds of dollars just in a raft's fabric.

PVC boats come a bit cheaper because sanding at the joints is unnecessary, pvc fabric is far less expensive than better grades of rubber, and these days most quality pvc rafts are welded together via superheated air or flame. This obviously saves a great deal of time, but all the little pieces that make up the boat still have to be cut out, and all boats have to be engineered properly for the pieces to fit together without twists & distortions.

Price can range due to a number of factors. A "cold lay-up" boat - one that is glued together - will cost more if it is made here (an example would be Demaree Inflatables in Maryland) or in Western Europe where the labor rates are high, than if it is made somewhere where labor costs are lower. Hysides, as an example, are made of wonderful two-sided hypalon, BUT, they are built in Korea so they are not as pricey as Demaree or Avon. And a pvc boat built in Korea or China will be considerably cheaper than a Maravia, AIRE, or Jack's Plastic Welding boat made here in the states.

Q: What about your mark-up? Don't you greedy dealers make an awful lot on boats? Return Top

A: The only way to make good money selling inflatables is to import them en masse from another country, and doing this requires a large outlay of cash and a pre-approved bank letter of credit. Specifically, it is generally necessary to order 50 to 500 of one model in order to deal with places like Hungary, Poland, Korea, China, Taiwan, Russia, Bali, etc. The monetary commitment is a big one, and the cash outlay doesn't stop there. You need to have your own people supervising and checking for problems constantly, with all the associated payroll and plane fare. And how do you market all these boats once you have them? Tons and tons of very expensive advertising. If you are not a direct importer the mark-up on inflatables is lousy, ranging from about 18% to 33% after freight charges are figured in. In other words, a kayak that retails for $1000 might be listed on our website at 5% off, or $949. The wholesale typically might be $700 on this kayak, and the UPS might be another 28 dollars. So, with a cost of $728 and a selling price of $949, obviously there isn't a huge mark up at all. If a buyer uses a credit card, that eats another 2.6 to 3.4% off the top, depending which card is used and whether the card is manually keyed into a terminal. The 20% margin the example represents also does not take into account the overhead of running a store or the federal and state taxes. It is a gross margin, not a net margin. Customers have to always bear in mind that some retailers stock product as well, and that sometimes an item may collect dust for a very long time before it sells. A person can invest money in a number of ways, and receive almost as good of a return as we do on boats that sit in inventory, and they can do it without overhead.

Although it should be blatantly obvious that not all retail products in this world have the same mark-ups, this concept does seem lost on some people. Jewelry, clothing, auto parts, imported furniture, "antiques", just about everything on the shelves of the now-defunct Expo stores ($129 for a Chinese towel bar?!?), and many other day to day items may incure enormous mark-ups by the time they hit your retailer. Not so with quality inflatables

Q: Still, whitewater seems to be an expensive sport to get into.... Return Top

A: It can be, yes. There are some ways to save though, like starting with a used boat and accessories if you can find them. That can be difficult for the majority of potential buyers though for one reason- they always wait until Spring when demand is high for used gear, and the supply is low. One thing we do want to point out though is that unlike downhill skiing, where you have to keep shelling out big money every single trip for lift passes, expensive food, and expensive lodging, with rafting or kayaking once you have made your initial outlay of cash it's really a very cheap sport.

Q: Are there discounts for multi-boat purchases? Return Top

A: The basic answer is "yes". In the case of Innova all their boats on our website are discounted approximately 5% already, and AIRE products get a 5% freight & accessory allowance. The degree of break you will get depends on the brand of boat you are buying, and how you will pay for your purchase. If you are paying with an American Express card, on which we eat 3.4%, you will not receive the same multi-boat price as you will if you pay with a cashier's check, or for that matter, with another credit card like a Visa. Certain boats like Incept and NRS cannot be granted the same discounts as AIRE and Innova because they have extremely low mark-ups. Each case needs to be quoted individually, and if you change quantites up or down, or payment methods midstream, your pricing will change. The 3.4% bite that we have the pleasure of eating for accepting an Amex card, or 3% on Paypal, is very significant if we are talking about a 14' raft - generally well over $100 right off the top. In any case you need to bypass our shopping cart and call us if you want to get specifics

Q: Are there discounts for purchasing accessories at the same time I purchase my boat? Return Top

A: You will receive 10% off on all accessories except for aluminum rowing frames and aluminum dryboxes if you purchase them with your boat. You get a break on everything from paddles to pumps to drysuits. If you are looking for large quantities of a certain item, we may still be able to do some discounting even if you are not buying a boat at the same time. PLEASE NOTE: As we get our shopping cart live around early May this year, the coupon discount feature may not work properly at first. Don't worry if it doesn't. Authorize.net, the company we use, only does what the name implies - it authorizes a certain maximum on your credit card, but it does not actually ring it up. If the accessory discount is not computed properly, we will re-total your invoice and only accept the lower amount.

Q: How tough are these pricey inflatables? Can I use them around sharp river rocks or coral beds without popping holes in them? Return Top

A: Just about every inflatable kayak (except for the afforementioned unreinforced vinyl boats) made these days is plenty tough enough for all types of use. Almost every single inflatable kayak these days is actually overbuilt. This being said, if you encounter things like freshly broken glass or branches, rebar, metal, or barb wire in your otherwise pristine waterway, yeah, you'll likely be doing a repair. In real life though, boaters rarely have to fix rips these days.

Q: Can I return a boat if I don't like it? Return Top

A: If someone bought an i.k., blew it up in their living room, and realized it was just too darn short for their bod, we would be happy to exchange it for a different model as long as shipping fees in both directions are covered. Likewise, if there is a defect, we will be happy to take care of the problem. A boat that has been used is another matter though. We cannot sell this as a new boat, and to us, your used boat is worth less than the wholesale on a new one. We will do everything we can to make sure you get the right boat the first time, and that's why we really hate being forced into the move to a shopping cart system. People have whined to no end that we haven't had E-commerce before this year, but forcing people to call cuts down on incorrect choices by the customer. We ask the right questions, you get the right boat the first time. The boat will do what we say it will, so problems beyond that are going to be a pilot experience issue in most cases. If your new Strike sends you for more swims than that old Padillac you're used to, it's because you have not acclimated to the boat yet. If your Helios is spinning out, you may need more practice time, or an accessory rudder. Our concern is that a liberal boat return policy encourages people to engage in "free rentals" - not a road we wish to start down. A few large companies have found this out the hard way in years past and have had to implement preventive steps, mainly very large restocking fees.

Q: What if a helmet or clothing item doesn't fit? Are there some accessories that cannot be returned ? Return Top

A: A wrong size can be returned for exchange of course, but please note that last year we had to institute a restocking fee for clothes returned for refunds (not size exchanges). Please read our re-stocking policies in the shopping area for item categories.

Items that cannot be returned include merchandisse damaged by customers, Dyna, Bravo, & Mastercraft electric inflators (which must be returned to the manufacturers), and in particular, carabiners, pulleys, and cut lengths of rope may not be returned under any circumstance.

Q: How can I get a vague idea of freight charges on an item I may wish to purchase ? Return Top

A: We will have to have some standardized ship rates for the shopping cart, but if you want to phone your order in (recommended) and the item is under 151 pounds, you may look at UPS's website at www.ups.com, and enter our zip code (95110) and yours with the shipping weight. However, since you will probably need to contact us for the ship weight (item plus box and/or packing material), we will be happy to do it for you. If the item is over 150 pounds, we will need to contact USF Reddaway, our freight carrier, for a quote. In the last year, we have seen motor freight rates on 14' self bailers vary from a low of $100 to a high (from one coast to the other) of over $300 to a residential address. Small items are sometimes sent priority mail or first class, and we know most of these rates by heart.

Q: How long will it take to blow up my shiny, overpriced new boat ? Return Top

A: A foot bellows will usually inflate an i.k. in under ten minutes, but woe be to the poor sot who tries to blow up a sixteen foot self bailing raft with only a footpump. If you get the proper pumps for your boat, regardless of what type it is, you should be done in no more than ten to fifteen minutes

Q: Can I use a compressor to inflate my boat ? Return Top

A: There is a basic principle regarding inflatables. What all types & brands require is a source of air that is low pressure yet high volume. This is the exact opposite of what your local gas station's air hose has. Compressors are intended for tire inflation requiring from 20 to 100 or more p.s.i, but not with huge amounts of air. Stick a compressor hose in your boat - even if you can adapt the fitting to your valve hole - and you will be waiting a very long time. So long that you might get bored or distracted. And about that time, you will hear a very loud sound. That is, the sound of your hard earned money heading skyward. Boat People principle #1: For optimum boating enjoyment, your i.q. should be at least ten points higher than that of your inflatable. Some marine boats have "high pressure" floors that can take up to 12 p.s.i., and some day river boats may too, but that is still a lot less that any compressor puts out.

Q: Can I use helium to blow it up ? Return Top

A: Indeed. Be sure to inhale when deflating.

Q: Should I keep my boat inflated when I'm not using it ? Return Top

A: Yes. Neighborhood children will appreciate having a trampoline. If you can, it certainly won't hurt, but rolling a boat doesn't do much harm either. Just roll it a tad on the loose side. Also, be very aware of any possible rodent problems. An inflated, uncovered boat is far less tempting to a mouse or rat than a rolled up, covered one. Possums, squirrels, and skunks like to chew as well.

Q: How hard should I inflate my boat? What does the proper inflation pressure feel like ? Return Top

A: Most modern inflatables take two to three p.s.i. A stiff fabric like AIRE or Grabner uses can only be pushed in maybe 3/4" with your thumb if inflated fully. An Achilles raft, made with somewhat more stretchy nylon-based hypalon, could be depressed a full inch or more at the same pressure, so there is no pat answer. It depends on the boat's material and what inflation pressure it can handle. If the boat tacos out on the river, or in ocean waves, it's underinflated. Bear in mind the pressure always drops when the boat hits cold water.

Q: How much does that boat weigh with air in it ? Return Top

A: Same as it does without air in it! Actually, maybe a few grams or ounces more.

Q: Why is there no information about rentals on your website ? Return Top

A: For the time being we have discontinued rentals for quite a few reasons, the primary one being the lack of business for rentals. This may change in the future. Rafting, like any sport, may turn out to be cyclical and perhaps it is just in a slump right now in California.

Q: Do you do self bailing conversions ? Return Top

A: No, though we used to use closed cell foam to convert inflatable kayaks in the bad old days when most models were not self-bailing from the factory. Foam will only work for i.k's and small rafts less than 10'. The amount of ethafoam - usually the material of choice - that is required even to convert a small raft is quite an investment, generally around $300 to $400 at retail level if you can even find a source for it. We aren't going to get into details or instructions for doing foam conversions here, nor do we wish to explain via email. If you want to understand the fairly simple process you will need to phone us. Normally when someone asks if we do bailer conversions they are refering to a larger raft. There are shops in Colorado and Oregon that do it, and probably a number of others scattered around the country. The problem you get into with doing a conversion is that building the I-beam floor of a self-bailer, whether it is done at the factory or after the fact, is the single most labor intensive part of any raft or i.k. Depending on the quality of the material used to build the floor, conversions can run up to $1600 plus UPS (or motor freight) both directions for a fourteen footer. If you do this with an elderly boat..... well, it's like putting a Ferrari engine in an old Chevy. For example, if you have a 13 year old Avon Adventurer 14' bucket boat worth $800 on the used market, and you put a $1400 conversion into it and pay another $200 for ground transportation both ways, that $2,400 would have bought you a very nice used bailer or almost a brand new Tributary raft. Even if you can find someone who can do a proper conversion job, it should be with a raft that is very cherry and something that handles well to begin with. A piggy old Riken Miwok is only going to get more piggy with a lumpy inflatable floor replacing the smooth one that's on it now.

Q: Can I buy or make a deck cover for my inflatable kayak ? Return Top

A: There are covers for a few limited Innova and Grabner models available off-the-shelf, which we aren't carrying at present. The Innova Vagabond is a deep non-selfbailing model so the accessory cover makes sense since it keeps water out. However, it should be used with sprayskirts and mandates good coordination between the two pilots, and a high degree of whitewater skill. This question is asked most often though in relation to Innova Solars, Sunnys, and Helios tandems. On a Helios, some splash is already diverted by the chubby inflatable bow dodger, and running a small piece of waterproof fabric from the rear edge of that dodger to your belly will acomplish little - aside from guaranteeing that whatever waves do get over the bow dodger will get ladeled into your lap. This ladeling effect will happen with most deck covers unless you put some sort of tent pole material at the rear edge to lift it up (as Incept does on their Tasman and Pacific models), in order to run the water off the side of the kayak. And of course this piece of flexible pole needs something for each side to plug into. It gets complicated. The bigger problem is that unlike the Helios, the Sunny & Solar models are only 6.5" deep from the top of the tubes to the top on the inflatable floor. Therefore your legs must remain straight (hard on the back compared to bent-knee'd), and your feet have to be tilted forward or outward, also uncomfortable for any length of time. The cover accomplishes little except to increase chances of entrapment in a flip, especially if you don't design it with a velcro "peel-away" area. It will not make you safer, and if you are worried about your legs staying warm, it would be smarter to pick up splash pants and something warm to wear underneath.

Q: Do you sell sail kits for inflatables ? Return Top

A: Not at this time, though we certainly understand why people might want them. Be clear though that sailing usually requires a rudder or at least a large skeg, and usually an outrigger of some sort. Basically, the Sea eagle pontoon kayaks and most of the Grabner touring models are the only inflatables that have off-the-shelf sail units available. Jim Luckett from Sailboats To Go produces a number of adaptations for many different IK's and is the most knowledgable person we know of selling these accessories in the U.S. Contact him for more info.

Q: I'm 6'3" and my husband is 4'10" in platform shoes. What length kayak paddles should we purchase ? Return Top

A: Divide the barometric pressure by 3.1416, multiply the result by the length of your ex-boyfriend's hair, add an inch for each year that you've been on this earth, then divide it all by your combined weights. Actually, it's not as complicated as all that even if many hardshell purveyors try to make it so. Unlike ski poles, or the paddles that hardshell whitewater kayakers use, the only real factors are how wide the inflatable kayak is, whether it is a flatwater model or river model, and how long your arms happen to be. Your height doesn't factor in much except that a person with long arms has more reach, so they might get by with a shorter paddle. Most flatwater boats like the Innova Sunnys and Helios's, Tributary Sawtooths, or Incept sea kayaks, are narrow, and you can use almost any paddle up to 96" (244 cm) though an ideal range is more like 220cm (87") to 240cm (94"). With a wider flatwater boat like an AIRE Superlynx, it's best not to use anything shorter than 90" (230 cm). Whitewater IK's in 35" - 40" widths should go with something from 88" to 92". Longer paddles give you more power, but they may also cause the boat to swing left & right as you paddle, and during an unplanned river swim long paddles are hard to hold onto.

Q: What is the best inflatable ? Return Top

A: That dusty one over in that dark corner that we want so desperately to be rid of! The truth is, when someone asks this question of any retailer it does sort of invite the salesperson or store owner to move an item that may be more profitable, or harder to sell, rather than pointing you toward the appropriate product. Not to be coy, but there really is no "best" boat. Everyone's boats have their warts, and each raft or kayak manufacturer proudly proclaims their boat as the best. Some have made an art form of it. There may be a "best" boat for your purposes, but what are your priorities? The best handling? The best price? The best warranty? The best - or most expensive - material? The best combination of these factors? Being made in a fancy place with snob appeal, like Austria or France? The best, most forgiving boats for a beginner? The hottest, fastest one? In fact, these days almost every company has rafts and i.k's that are very well made and will last a long time. And whether you buy a line that we carry, or one that we don't, odds are good you will be happy with your purchase.

Q: What is the significance of river & rapid difficulty ratings ? Return Top

A: There is no significance. All rivers and rapids are class I unless you go for an unintended swim. Then, the ratings become very important. Seriously, if you are a beginning river runner, go slow. You wouldn't start skiing on a double-black diamond run, and you certainly should not jump into a class IV river for your first kayak trip. Classes and swiftwater rescue training are available. Take them if you possibly can, or go to a guide school. We could generalize and say that normally, rapids up to class III are safe to swim. But what if the flow is high, there are strainers, and / or the river is cold? What if you don't have a wetsuit or drysuit? What if the class III has undercut rocks, as many East coast streams do? Judgement comes with experience, and you cannot learn it from a book or website.

Q: How hard a river is that there inflatable kayak good for ? Return Top

A: It's actually pretty amazing - and a bit scary - how often we have been asked this. You see, whitewater IK's aren't "rated" for a certain level of river or rapids any more than a pair of skis is rated for a certain slope. Nor are hardshell kayaks or rafts. Yes, we know, a few manufacturers do show whitewater ratings in their pamphlets. Please, ignore them. What sort of river "that there boat" can go down depends almost entirely on the pilot. Many, many boaters take inflatables down class V rivers on a fairly regular basis these days. There have, in fact, been a number of first decents done by inflatable kayakers all over the country. If a certain river has a high number of rapids with entrapment dangers, running a class V might well be safer in an i.k. than in a hardshell. Some models are more stable than others, some are faster and can get you out of trouble more easily. There are many factors, so do your research and call us or your local river shop and ask lots of questions.

Q: I'm doing a class III river next week. Should I buy a class III lifejacket if that's the hardest run I'll be doing ? Return Top

A: Not to nit-pik, but there is no such thing as a "class" 3 or class 5 lifevest. They are type 3 or type 5, and this number has nothing to do with river ratings even though it might seem to relate. Types one through five are designations the coast guard came up with decades ago. There is detailed info in the introduction to our lifejacket section.

Q: Who helped you put this website together ? Return Top

A: Fellow river runner & webmeister Carl Ramstrom, at www.ramstrom.com, did both our new 2010 revision and the previous editions. We did all the content.

Q: How will I get back to the car after my river rental adventure? Does the river go back to where it started? Return Top

A: Yes, all rivers go in circles and Mr. Disney will be preparing your lunch today. Perhaps you should consider lawn bowling instead. The unprepared are a hazard to everyone else on the river. (Ask any veteran riverguide how many times they have been asked this one!). Snideness aside, there is something we call a "shuttle". Once you've done a trip with an outfitter, or more experienced friends, it will all become clear.