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Below are questions
ranging from the highly relevant to the utterly inane. Each of them have
been asked many, many times. Forgive us our occasional snideness. 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 Some answers may become outdated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 manufactur has made changes
we are unaware of. Updated February, 2006
Boats we do not stock
Boat Pricing
Return Policy
Freight Charges
Boat Inflation
Rentals
Miscellanious
Q.
Why don't you sell Sea Eagle or Stearns or Sevylor
boats?
A. Let's
take these one at a time. We've put this at the top of the Q & A
page because we get these questions at least once a week via email.
First, the Sea
Eagles: Harrison Hoge, the importer of Sea Eagle, made a push to
pick up dealers in the early part of 2001. Their dealer discounts weren't
that great though and for most of their existence, they have sold direct.
The thing with Sea
Eagle boats is that there are a couple levels of boats: the welded but
unreinforced vinyl 330 / "heavyweight" series, and the reinforced
(pvc with nylon or polyester scrim inside) glued "Explorer"
series, which technically includes Sea Eagle's pontoon-style "Paddle
Ski" models.
The quality of Sea
Eagles is not bad at all but the current Explorers, unlike the older
French welded Sea Eagles, are now being glued together in Asia. The
Explorers have reinforced main tubes & undersides mixed with unreinforced
floor uppers, seats, and bow & stern dodgers. So some of the auxilary
pieces may not last as long as the main hull, which is not really a
big deal since they are replaceable at a low cost. What matters more,
as we have stated in several other places on our site, is that despite
the increased heat resistance of the newer adhesives used with pvc fabric,
pvc must contain softeners, and these softeners still outgas and attack
the glue over time. This means the lifespan will be shorter than with
a glued rubber boat (rubber does not outgas anything harmful to the
glue), or a welded pvc inflatable. "Shorter" may still mean
as much as twelve years, but many competing products will go 20 to 25
years.
Two other things
we consider problematic with the Sea Eagles are that neither the 330
or any of the Explorers really excel at any one thing beyond providing
a stable platform for divers. All four models are too wide and sluggish
to be enjoyable for paddle jaunts of any distance on flat water, especially
in headwind. This has been confirmed many times over by lots of customers
who have come in to buy a more streamlined inflatable from us. And as
whitewater boats, the drain plugs do not really qualify the Explorer
series as true self-bailers. With two medium sized adults in a 340 or
380EX, there is some water inside the boat constantly, which drops the
boat's performance considerably and makes for a very chilly ride. With
two large occupants, there is a lot of water. With a single paddler
the situation is better but all three Explorers could use a thicker
floor mat and more drain holes. In no case will they drain quickly enough
to keep you empty in rivers that are more continuous, and sometimes
even a class II river can be pretty zippy during Spring runoff. The
new longer 420 likely works better in terms of draining because of it's
larger displacement, but we have no feedback on this model, and it seems
too long for technical whitewater.
The reply from Harrison Hoge to the above comments would be to the effect
that "lots of people have run big whitewater in our boats (with
one group even preserved for posterity on television!)". True enough,
but that does not mean they wouldn't have had more fun in a different
kayak. It is a fact that lots of people have run the Grand Canyon with
Orange Torpedos, an IK outfitter group based in southern Oregon, in
Sevylor Tahitis and lived to laugh about their chilly advanture. It
is also a fact that one pair of crazies swam the whole Canyon in lifejackets;
there's even a book about it. But none of that means you should always
strive to do things the hardest possible way.
What it really comes
down to is whether for about the same money, can one buy a better boat
for their intended purpose? Sea Eagle's Paddle Ski model is fairly unique
since it can easily be rigged with a motor (a good reason to buy one)
or a sail kit (not such a good reason to buy one because the performance
with the sail is, by most accounts, pretty sluggish). But if you are
a flatwater boater with $700 to $800 to spend it's beyond argument that
Innova's Sunny, Solar, and Helios line are vastly superior touring
boats compared to the Explorer's. Their hull speed is half again to
double that of the Sea Eagle and their lifespan is far longer since
the glue holding the seams together on an Innova is not subject to attack
by chemicals the way a Sea Eagle hull is. You're not in a hurry you
say? Fine, wait until the wind kicks up. Hull speed is not about racing,
it's about making your afternoon of paddling enjoyable rather than an
endurance test. If
you are a whitewater boater, for far less than the cost of a 340EX or
380EX you can purchase one of AIRE's imported Tomcats, which out-perform
the Sea Eagles in every way including flat water. Tthe two AIRE Strike
models are about the same cost or a tad more, but are also much zippier
than an Explorer.
If you only have
the budget for a Sea Eagle 330 you still have the option of getting
a Stearns touring kayak or Advanced Elements Dragonfly, which both have
reinforced raft material bottoms, far more bomb proof than the thick
but unreinforced 330 vinyl. The main reason the 330 Sea Eagle is
so reasonable is due to the automated mass production way in which they
are made, exactly the same as most Sevylor products. Die cut, fed into
auto-welders, and assembled with all-too-narrow radio frequency welds
that blow out the softening chemicals in the vinyl, making the seams
less flexible than the adjacent areas. For short distances and casual
lake paddling a 330 may be just fine, but for smaller solo paddlers
you can also buy an Innova Junior for the $60 more and move twice as
far with every stroke of the paddle.
So the point isn't
that Sea Eagles are bad boats, just that in most situations you can
usually find something more durable and/or appropriate for your use
on an equal budget. Many of Sea Eagle's customers have one thing in
common: they are first time buyers who didn't do much research before
buying, and looking at where Harrison Hoge avertises the Sea Eagles
it's pretty clear who they are aiming for.
Q.
What about the various Stearns & Advanced Elements models?
A. We thought
about stocking Stearn's self bailing i.k's way back but there are so
many sources, often discounted, for these boats that it seems pointless
for us to jump on the bandwagon too. And looking around on the net,
reading various chat groups, most paddlers are only satisfied with their
Stearns bailers until they paddle something else that belongs to a buddy.
All Stearns, AIRE
Tomcat, and AE inflatables have strong undersides but internal vinyl
air bladders that are less durable. These bladders are quite thick,
but they still have the same narrow welds that are prone to splitting
on Sevylor products, over relatively short time periods - even if this
bladder is totally protected by an outer shell. These bladders are replaceable,
though if you do it often the lower price point of these models is negated.
With Stearn's standard
tandem, solo, and youth flatwater models, the price point is tempting
and they are probably fine for general lake and fishing use. More serious
users can buy an Innova touring model with far superior hull speed and
life expectancy at a price point that is still within reason though,
and a slightly more expensive boat might actually cost far less per
year to own than a cheaper one.
Another quality
issue with some Stearn's inflatables is that they have had trouble with
cockpit zipper stitch lines ripping. Stearns seems to have been pretty
good about covering this under warranty, but if you like to blow your
inflatable up rock hard - and you definitely should not with a Stearns
- this is something to keep in mind.
The Advanced Elements
models range from the lower priced Dragonfly series offering a more
durable alternative to the Sevylor Tahitis and their knock-offs, to
the fancier Advanced Frames. The Dragonfly construction is quite similiar
to the flatwater Stearns models though we haven't heard of stitching
coming loose with these yet. The similarites to the Stearns are not
coincedence - Clay Haller, owner of AE was also one of two people behind
the original Stearns models. The Advanced Frame construction is more
akin to the Stearns self-bailing models in that the vinyl bladder is
enclosed on the interior with a thick polyester zippered shell, and
the solo model seems to be a decent value.
The tandem Advanced Frame II may or may not be a good bet depending
how you use it. If you are in the minority of individuals who fly somewhat
often with your inflatable kayak, or you would like to, this tandem
model would be a bad call. Most airlines are moving toward a 50 pound
per bag limit and the majority have already implemented this policy.
On a trip to Kauai in the Fall of 2004, we took an Innova Solar II,
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 well over 50 pounds. What this means in
plain English is that most airlines would be charging you a minimum
fee of $25 each direction, or $50 per round trip, per flight. So, assuming
you find an Advanced Frame tandem online for $549, fly twice over a
20 year period with the boat, and replace the main and floor bladders
at least once in those 20 years - which is optimistic - you have now
paid more than the price of the Innova tandem.
It's quite clear
that many, many people are very taken by the enclosed deck of the Stearns
and A.E. boats, but it's never been very obvious why. For one thing,
these boats are considerably harder to dry out and clean than an open-hulled
inflatable. We have had quite a bit of feedback on this subject from
owners of these boats, with one person actually stating he thought it
smelled like a petri dish. Now, we could chalk this up to laziness on
the part of the paddler not taking the time to open the boat up and
shop-vac it thoroughly, but it still takes more time than with other
boats. The bladderized AIRE rafts and kayaks can also get very funky
if left wet & rolled up, but they are easier to clean after the
fact.
Of course the interior of an AE Advanced Frame can be kept fairly dry
with a sprayskirt if you will be paddling one in the ocean, but it doesn't
seem like many owners bother to use a skirt.
The biggest issue we have is that so many wannabe paddlers buy these
inflatable decked boats based on a visceral reaction to the appearance
of the boat - it looks like an Aleutian kayak, so that must be good!
Many of these folks seem to believe that they are somehow safer
in an enclosed boat, and/or that they will stay warmer. Assuming the
use of a sprayskirt, the second part holds true for the lower half of
your body, but we have seen several people in Advanced Elements AF solo
and tandems on Monterey Bay without skirts. Even then, most heat loss
will be from the upper half of your body, and buying a decked kayak
is not a license to go into the ocean wearing levis. You still need
to dress appropriately. Re-entry is also more difficult on a decked
boat (though a lot easier with an Advanced Frame 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.
If you want a solo model for ocean paddling and like the AE line, that's
fine but we would suggest looking into their newer self bailer rather
than immediately focusing on the Advanced Frame.
In fairness to Clay we must also say that a big part of his focus has
always been to make a boat that competes to some degree with folding
kayaks rather than just standard inflatable models, and if you look
at it that way the Advanced Frames sure set up a lot faster than a Feathercraft,
as long as you aren't looking for equal hull speed.
We feel very strongly
that when you buy a human-powered recreational toy, be it bike, wakeboard,
or kayak, the two most important things your money should buy you are
performance (basically speed) and lifespan, or at least a reasonable
cost-per-year to own that item. And this is why when discussing touring
inflatable kayaks we keep coming back to the Innovas, because for the
cost per year over their 25 year lifespan, and the great hull speed,
they really cannot be beat. And if you don't think we ever pick on Innova
or AIRE, you're wrong. We will say right here in fact that we are pretty
underwhelmed by the Innova's whitewater models, and really can not recommend
them due to their steep prices and incorrectly designed floors. And
as for AIRE, as much as we like their river boats, there is one model
of raft they make that we wouldn't buy on a bet. So you see, we pick
on everyone.
Q.
And you guys don't carry the Sevylors either. You just don't like cheap
boats, huh?
A. 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 Sevylor boat?
On abusive rocky rivers though, repairing a Tahiti every other rapid
does not make for a fun day. A lot of folks have paddled Sevylor Tahitis
down some mighty big whitewater, but again, you might go through ten
of them in the lifespan of one quality inflatable kayak. And yes, like
the Stearns and Sea Eagles there seems to be a dealer on every block.
There are also some
better boats in Sevylor's line like the River-X 100 and SVX200, both
of which are self-bailing. Sort of. These bladderized boats are a bit
swampy in the tandem models with the drain plugs open, with two full-size
paddlers on board. Both utilize inferior valves and both run in the
same cost range as AIRE Tomcats, which don't share the valve or bailing
problems. Are the Tomcats as pretty as the River-X's? No, not quite,
so if you value aesthetics above all else go with the Sevy's. If there
was nothing else in the $500 to $600 range the River X's might be a
fair choice, but that is not the case.
Q.
You are an Innova dealer, but I don't see the Traveler model on your
site. How come?
A. We are
happy to special order it, which only adds a maximum of two days to
your delivery time. However, there are appropriate uses for this kayak,
and inappropriate uses. If you only paddle flat water lakes and bays,
the open (and less expensive) Safari model has identical performance
at about 3/4 the price. The Traveler, like the Advanced Elements decked
models, should be used with a spray skirt if you plan to paddle in the
ocean or on large, rowdy bodies of water, because without a skirt these
boats will swamp and become unwieldy. Our concern is that a number of
Traveler buyers in the past were looking to use this model in whitewater
- a very bad idea. Any decked kayak can collapse if it gets wrapped
around a rock, or pinned between two rocks. However, an inflatable kayak
will fold in an instant, leaving you no time to escape, whereas modern
plastic kayaks will better resist bending. Search & rescue departments
are already stretched in budget and manpower, so let's not make their
job harder by making a dumb mistake. You do not need to be enclosed
in a whitewater inflatable. And if someone at an REI told you it was
okay to use the Traveler (special order only through REI) or an Advanced
Frame AE kayak for whitewater, you were talking to someone who doesn't
know enough about the subject to even have that discussion.
p.s. - AIRE also makes a model called the Traveler, but it's a large
inflatable canoe and not the one we're discussing above.
Q.
What about Star Inflatables?
A. These
guys have a well rounded line-up of rafts, kayaks, and other watersports
oddities, and they are no worse or better than the Maxxon (cat tubes)
we sell. The only differences is that Star sells direct rather than
through dealers. What you need to know before the bargain pricing of
either brand tempts you to write a check 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
sooner or later, and 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. Most
will last far longer than that if they've used modern glues with high
heat resistance. There is more about this in the raft section of our
website.
Depending who you
talk to, Stars, Maxxons, Vanguard's pvc line, ARK, and other imported
boats may be the best deal going or the biggest disaster. We've had
older boats from Incept, Maravia, Star, GeneOne, Sotar, and other makers
that had serious problems within three to four years. For
as long as the "new & improved" glue can maintain it's
properties you should not have to worry about your boat self-destructing,
but the problem of glue degradation due to outgassing remains. It is
unheard of for a glued pvc boat to go beyond it's 12th year no matter
how good the glue is. And any well cared for Hyside, Achilles, AIRE,
Avon, Demaree, Shredder, or other quality rubber boat can go double
that easily.
Q.
Why are rafts and inflatable kayaks so expensive?
A. There
are really several answers to this. First, if we are talking about a
rubber boat (rubber being any type of hypalon, neoprene, 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 the
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 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.
Q.
Still, there seems to be a fairly wide price range from expensive to terribly
expensive on inflatables. Why are some so much higher than others?
A. Again,
several factors enter in here. 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.
Fortunately for budget boat buyers, some very good Asian boats are now
on the market at pricing that harkens back about 20 years.
Q.
What about your mark-up? Don't you greedy dealers make an awful lot on
boats?
A. The only
way to make good money selling inflatables is to import them enmasse
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 keep your own people supervising and checking for problems occasionally,
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 32% 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 twenty-plus dollars. So, with a cost of $720-something
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 to 3.4% off
the top, depending which card is used and whether the card is manually
keyed into the keypad. The 23% margin the example represents also does
not take into account the overhead of running a store. It is a gross
margin, not a net margin. Customers have to always bear in mind that
any retailer has to 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, and many other day
to day items may incure huge mark-ups by the time they hit your retailer.
If a jewelry salesperson, for example, gives you a big friendly 40%
discount on a $1000 ring, there is a high likelyhood that the wholesale
may be a meager $150, so at a $600 "discount" price the store
still generates a 400% mark-up! On the other hand a lumber store
employee offering you a 10% break off retail on plywood may only end
up with a 25% gross margin since his wholesale cost was only 32% off
to start with. Running
an inflatable shop is not a great way to get rich, trust us, and it
can be very trying dealing with someone who has immigrated recently
from any country where the "barter system" is the norm.
Q.
Okay, okay. But none of the foregoing explains why I can walk into Costco
or WalMart and buy an inflatable raft or kayak for one or two hundred
bucks. Why are they so cheap?
A. The vinyl
duckies that are sold in discount stores are cheap for two very simple
reasons. First, they are made of extremely low cost unreinforced vinyl.
Second, and far more importantly, they are stamped out cookie-cutter
style and die-welded in large machines with very little human labor
or time involved. The machinery that performs this task is incredibly
expensive to start with, but at the high volume of product one of these
machines can turn out, they actually pay for themselves in rapid order.
Besides, these cheaply made boats may be fine for some applications,
but serious ocean or whitewater use is not their forte'.
Q.
I'm still confused. Aren't vinyl and pvc the same thing?
A. Yes, essentially,
as 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.
Q.
Well, just how tough are these pricey inflatables? Can I use them around
sharp river rocks or coral beds without popping holes in them?
A. Just about
every inflatable kayak (except for the afforementioned 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.
Despite all of what you say you have to admit it takes lots of money to
get into this sport.
A. Sadly,
that's true. There are some ways to save though, like buying a used
boat first, and maybe some used accessories if you can find them. NRS
has a bulletin board, boats and lifejackets come up occasionally on
Ebay, and you may even have annual boat swap events in your area, or
a rental business like ours that sells off gear occasionally. The 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 is a very cheap sport.
Q.
Are there discounts for multi-boat purchases?
A. The basic
answer is "yes". In the case of AIRE and Innova all their
boats on our website are discounted approximately 5% already. 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 3.3% if we have to manually key in your
card number (as we do with all phone orders), 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 Discover. Certain
boats like Incept and NRS cannot be granted the same discounts as AIRE
and Innova because they have extremely low mark-ups. As examples, if
you were to buy three Innova Sunnys, you will receive roughly a 5 to
8% discount beyond the 5% break already incorporated into our pricing.
If you buy four AIRE kayaks, you will receive an additional 5% off our
web pricing or about 10% if you pay with a cashier's check; or, if you
are only buying two Incept kayaks, and paying with a credit card, we
won't be able to do much at all. Each case needs to be quoted individually,
and if you change quantites up or down, or payment methods midstream,
your pricing will change. The 3.3% bite that we have the pleasure of
eating for accepting an Amex card is very significant if we are talking
about a 14' raft - generally well over $100 right off the top - and
you simply are not going to get the same break as another customer who
pays cash for the same boat.
Q.
Are there discounts for purchasing accessories at the same time I
purchase my boat?
A.
You will receive 10% off on all accessories except for aluminum rowing
frames if you purchase them with your boat. You get a break on everything
from paddles to pumps to drysuits. Although NRS, Cascade, Four Corners,
and a few other catalog sellers will discount their rowing frames with
a boat purchase, they generally charge full bore retail for the actual
boats, so in the long run if you buy an AIRE from us at our web prices,
you will still be ahead money wise. 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. 
Q.
Can I return a boat if I don't like it?
A. Since
this boat would now become a "used" boat, we generally do not take returns.
There is a concern, too, that a liberal return policy encourages people
to engage in "free rentals" - not a road we wish to start down. A few
catalog whitewater companies have found this out the hard way in years
past. If there is a defect, we will be happy to take care of the problem.
Likewise, 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.
Q.
What if a helmet or clothing item doesn't fit? Can I return those?
A. Yes, of
course, but please note that last year we had to institute a restocking
fee for clothes returned for refunds (not size exchanges). More on this
on the Riverwear page. Most other non-boat items are returnable with
a few noted exceptions like those below.
Q.
Are there some accessories that cannot be returned?
A. A few
things, yes. Open video tapes (again, no free rentals, and we are in
the process of deleting videos altogether), damaged items, Dyna &
Mastercraft electric inflators (which must be returned to the manufacturers),
and in particular, carabiners and pulleys may not be returned under
any circumstance.
Q.
Why so picky about biners and pulleys?
A. Because
it is possible they have been dropped hard, which can create invisible
fractures, making for a very hazardous situation for a subsequent owner
of that pulley or carabiner. No responsible retailer that handles climbing
gear, whether or not it's used for climbing, will allow returns on these
items or on climbing rope. And if they do, believe us, you don't want
to shop there.
Q.
Do you do self bailing conversions?
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 11'. 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 several others. 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 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?
A. There are covers
for a few limited models available off-the-shelf, like the Innova Vagabond
on our Tandem River IK page, and some models of Grabner brand inflatables,
which we aren't carrying at present. The Vagabond is a deep non-selfbailing
model so the cover makes sense here since it keeps water out, but 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, 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 big 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-kneed),
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 i.k's ?
No, not at this
time, though we certainly understand why people might want them. Understand
that sailing usually requires a rudder or at least a large skeg. 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.
A lot of customers that have come into our store own a Sea Eagle PaddleSki
(the pontoon boat) with a kit, and their comment is invariably the same:
"it's okay, as long as you don't expect to go much over a walking
speed".
The Grabner sail rigs are a different story. Although we often state
our belief that Wolfgang's boats are too expensive, they are beautiful
craft and the sail kits are quite functional, helped by the fact that
his touring models generally have high hull speeds. And some may work
with AIRE Sea Tigers or rudder-rigged Innova Helios's with varying degrees
of modification & Rube-Goldberging, but we are not the right people
to get hard information from on this subject. If you do undertake such
a project, tell us which Grabner kit you bought and what you had to
do to secure it in the boat.
Q.
How much does that boat weigh with air in it?
A. Same as
it does without air in it!
Q.
How can I get a vague idea of freight charges on an item I may wish to
purchase?
A. If 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 $95 to a high (from
one coast to the other) of over $300 to a residential address.
Small items are often sent priority mail, and we know most of these
rates by heart.
Q.
I'm 6'3" and my husband is 4'10" in platform shoes. What length kayak
paddles should we purchase?
A. Divide
the barometric pressure by 3.1416, multiply the result by the length
of your ex- husband'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. Unlike ski poles, or the paddles that hardshell
whitewater kayakers use, the only real factors are how wide the inflatable
kayak is, and whether it is a flatwater model or a river model. Your
height doesn't factor in much except that a person with long arms has
more reach, so they can get by with a shorter paddle.
Most flatwater boats
like the Innova Sunnys and Helios's are narrow, and you can use almost
any paddle up to 102" (260 cm) though an ideal range is more like 225cm
(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). With whitewater i.k's, narrow boats like the Innova Safari and
AIRE Force can get by with 84 to 88" paddles. 34 or 35" wide boats like
the Tomcats should probably go with something from 88" to 92", and the
wide boats like Padillacs are best moved around with 92" to 96" paddles.
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?
A. Why, that
would be the dusty one over in that dark corner of our store 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.
You see, 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,
and one company in Oregon should be teaching classes in self-promotion.
Unfortunately this same manufacturer is a lot better at promotion than
they are at taking care of warranty service.
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 very long time. And whether you buy a
line that we carry, or one that we don't, odds are very high you will
be delighted with your purchase.
Q.
What is the significance of river & rapid difficulty ratings?
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 sure as hell 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.
Q.
How hard a river is that there inflatable kayak good for?
A. It's actually
pretty amazing - and a bit scary - how often we have been asked this.
Especially in the last couple years. You see, an i.k. isn't "rated"
for a certain level of river or rapids any more than a pair of skis
is rated for a certain slope (and if you happen to be holding a hard
copy of one of Innova's brochures in your hand, please ignore the ratings
that they do give). 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.
Now there are some
exceptions to the above. For example, a pair of children's skis probably
aren't the thing to wear for the double-black diamond run. Likewise
a flatwater inflatable (like the i.k's found on our "Touring"
page) shouldn't be used for advanced level rivers, and a Sevylor Tahiti
should not be used on an abusive river with a lot of sharp rocks - unless
spending the day doing river-side repairs is your idea of a hoot.
Q.
Who helped you put this website together?
A. Fellow
river runner Carl Ramstrom, at www.ramstrom.com
Q.
How long will it take to blow up my shiny, overpriced new boat?
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 kind of boat it is, you should be done in no more than ten to
fifteen minutes.
Q.
Can't I just use a compressor to inflate my boat?
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.
Q.
Can I make my boat lighter by using helium to blow it up?
A. Yes. Be
sure to inhale when deflating.
Q.
Should I keep my boat inflated when I'm not using it?
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?
A. Most modern
inflatables take two to three p.s.i.
Q.
That's very helpful. Now could you tell
me what 3 p.s.i. feels like?
A. Firm,
but not rock hard. Basically, with a normal footpump or a six inch barrel
pump, you won't overinflate your raft or i.k. However, with a small-diameter
double action barrel pump, a 4" Carlson-type barrel, or a compressor,
you can do some serious damage. After it gets firm, pump a bit more,
then stop. 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.
You guys are always talking about rentals this and rentals that, yet there's
no information about rental pricing or options on your website. Why?
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.
How will I get back to the car after my river adventure? Does the river
go back to where it started?
A. Perhaps
you should consider lawn bowling instead. The unprepared and clueless
are a hazard to everyone else on the river. (Ask any veteran riverguide
how many times they have been asked this one!)
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