SOLO Inflatable Kayaks

CALL - 408.295.2628 Hyside Padillac Innova Safari NRS Bandit I AIRE inflatable kayaks AIRE Lynx AIRE Tomcat I AIRE Force AIRE Force Expedition AIRE ForceXL AIRE Strike !

AIRE, Hyside, Innova, NRS, and other whitewater inflatable kayaks are appropriate for rivers, fly fishing, hikers, or kayakers who normally use hardshells but want portability for air travel. They are great for beginning river paddlers who want to get close to the water with an easy-to-learn craft that they can get in and out of quickly in the event of a swim (no entrapment, no roll required). These models will generally not track well or go very fast on flatwater since that is not what they are intended for, though some like the Innova Safari and Force from AIRE are very zippy, and the Safari even has a removable tracking fin.

Depending on the manufacturer, some solo inflatable kayaks have nearly as much cargo space as a tandem, making them a nice choice for multi-day trips where it is mandatory to pack all your camp gear, food, drink, and clothing into the boat. Check out the boat descriptions below for the qualities you're looking for: size, weight, performance, price.

Please note the changes in the way we've priced out the kayaks from AIRE, discussed in the header to that section below.
For information about multiple boat discounts, and discounts on accessories that are purchased with your boat, please see the F.A.Q. page of our website.
Revised April 2008

Hyside Padillac

The Hyside Padillac is one of the most stable whitewater inflatable kayaks and is often a choice for rental livery operations with its tough double-sided hypalon and excellent workmanship. This is a good example of a forgiving inflatable kayak, though with its bulk and wide profile it's the slowest of the lot. The 3/4" bail holes run along both sides of the inflatable floor, so you can install the lace-down thwart backrest or optional thighstraps anywhere via hoopi thru these holes. On one hand Hyside Padillacs are a good choice for novice river runners or anyone else looking for a low maintenance craft that can handle a lot of abuse. However, the underside is deeply grooved between the two tubes and the inflatable floor, giving it a trimaran look. This ridged underside gives the Padillac kayaks some odd handling traits that can be annoying, and sometimes unpredictable in cross currents and violent eddies. It was fairly rare in fact, for our rental customers to want to use one a second time; they usually opted for something sportier. That being said, if someone forced us to go down the Grand Canyon (with it's huge hydraulics) in an inflatable kayak, this might be the first choice. In blue with Leafield valves and a full coverage five-year warranty.

Innova Safari

Are you a hardshell kayaker looking for something packable? Perhaps a person with a good whitewater brace and no fear of swimming rapids? Looking for a fast ocean boat? If so the Safari from Innova may be your ticket. It is a solo inflatable kayak similar to the Solar found in our Touring inflatable kayak section, with two differences. First, the floor thickness has been increased from 3.5" to 6", allowing this boat to have bail holes. Second, the side tubes have an I-beam in their center section creating a partial double-tube and an even more rounded bottom than the Solar. The Safari is much narrower than any other boat on this page at only 28" and quite tippy too, so it wouldn't be a great beginner's boat if you insist on starting with class III or IV rivers. However, along with the AIRE Force, this is one of two inflatable kayaks that can be rolled if you possess this skill, and if you are willing to work your way up the difficulty scale slowly the Safari will yield hardshell performance without hardshell entrapment hazards. It comes standard with factory thighstraps and an adjustable inflatable footbrace. Although the AIRE Force's also have high hull speeds, the Safari is superior on flat water since it is far less zig-zaggy with the tracking fin attached. This, the tandem Sunny on our "touring" page, and the Force's are the fastest inflatable kayaks available at any price. For flatwater, even novices should have no problems with the Safari, unless you happen to be even more spastic than us Boat People.

We now have a frame that will connect two Safari's together (with a 17" gap between them) if you want an ultimate speed-demon river vehicle with high stability - something a single Safari alone does not have. See the "What's New" page for details.
On the subject of stability, or lack thereof, as mentioned above the Safari's are pretty bad. A question we get asked time and again is "just exactly how tippy are they?". The answer is that because they have a much higher center of gravity than a hardshell river kayak, and a more rounded bottom than many models, a Safari will be far too unstable for most buyers to handle in whitewater. If you plan to use yours for lakes, bays, ocean, and mild river use you shouldn't have to worry much though. Safari's also surf well on ocean waves, and most surfers should be comfortable with the idea of dumping from time to time, so again the tippiness should not be an issue for this usage.

The seat is a blend of the Solar and Sunny seats (on the Touring inflatable kayak page) and is much more comfortable than the old one pictured in the photo just below. The total weight is a very hikeable 24 lbs and the rolled size is the smallest of any solo whitewater inflatable kayak. It comes with an Innova shoulder strap drybag, repair kit, and the tracking fin. The nitrylon fabric is extremely strong and stiff, and though the exterior nitryl coating may not have quite the UV resistance of hypalon it's still very durable and will last 20 to 25 years with a little care. This exact same weight of material is also used for large river rafts at the Czech Republic factory where Innovas are made. Oh yeah, and of course the best part..... at $839 the Safari is one of the least expensive quality i.k.'s made. Recommended for paddlers under 220 pounds, expect a small amount of water around your butt (you can tape over the bail holes for flatwater use). Two-year warranty on air-holding seams and material (does not cover I-beams blown due to over-inflation).

Bandit I

This imported model from NRS is built with European 840 denier nylon coated on both sides with highly abrasion resistant urethane, and welded together with radio frequency equipment. About 18 or 19 years ago, we were having a discussion with John Mills, the original plant manager at Maravia before they moved out of California. At that time Hyside was making us a little boat that was a copy of the current Innova Junior, which was unavailable in the States back then. Although it only weighed 15 pounds, John was telling us how you could make a little boat the same size with urethane pack cloth and get it down under 10 pounds. Foolishly, we never did anything with the idea, but now all these years later someone finally has.
If you've always wanted a whitewater boat that was packable without undue back strain, here's your answer. The Bandit I weighs a bit over 20 pounds, (up three pounds from the original weight - still listed in some NRS literature - due to a beefier bottom) and measures 36" wide by 9'11" long. The 2008 specs give the width as 34", but every one we've measured is three feet plus or minus a half inch.
The Bandit has 7" of rise at the ends, a sport seat (like what is in most AIRE kayaks), Leafield valves, lots of big bail holes, and one towing D-ring. And as with the AIRE kayak chairs, you can access the interior of the Bandit's seats via a little rear zipper. This is handy since you may want to add one extra piece of closed cell foam to the backrest portion to increase rigidity.
The color is orange with black trim, very attractive in a halloweenish sort of way. Occasionally we may be able to get these in a blue-black two tone as well.
The material may not have near the rip resistance of say, a Hyside Padillac, but urethane coated fabric will tend to slip over sharp rocks rather than being caught on them. Just in case though, there is one accessory item we would strongly recommend with this boat: a two-part Aquaseal kit, found on our repair page. It is extremely difficult to repair this material with the glue provided, and it also takes a long time to cure up. Two part Aquaseal will set up in less than an hour, and requires no technical expertise to use - only a mixing cup, brushes, and the patch material provided. You would also use this product to glue on rubber or pvc D-ring patches to the Bandit. Gluing with Aquaseal is sloppy though becasue it will smoosh out the patch edges as it drys. Masking off the patch with tape can be helpful.
Along with a low total weight, this kayak also rolls up quite small and has a high payload capacity for multiday trips due to a very thick 7" inflatable floor. Space for gear is not so great though, but if you aren't too tall or don't pack too many bulky items you should be fine. There are two rear inside D-rings now plus a rear grab loop, so if you added a couple more D's that should be enough to tie down one or two drybags.
About the only drawbacks to the Bandits so far seem to be a) that the super-thick floor pokes down below the boat a bit, making for a high wear area and a potential rock catcher, and b) the rather floppy integration between the floor and side tubes. A Bandit will not spin circles around something more sporty like the AIRE Strike, but overall it seems like a winner and the reliability after the first year has been excellent.
Even though the good boys and girls at NRS have been recommending against this model for class IV and V rivers, the geology has more to do with it than the actual difficulty of the run. If a class III river has a lot of jagged shale, the thinner material of the Bandit may not be up to the challenge. Or if you are running waterfalls on a steep creek and landing hard on rocks, again, another model may be better suited. But if a low flow class V river has mostly smooth granite, there is no reason you couldn't use a Bandit at all.
We have a two-person Bandit which only weighs seven pounds more on our Tandem page.

Note: The solo NRS MaverIK is also available by special order for $1,289, though availability until this Summer will be tight.

The remaining inflatable kayaks below are from AIRE. Foam floor kayaks are no longer being made on AIRE's assembly line. They will only be available by special order at the same price as air floor models (although your UPS bill will be higher due to the huge box size), and only on the domestically produced models - not the Tomcat or Strike line. The Strikes were a new addition to the AIRE models in 2005 and have been a big hit. They fall in between the Tomcats & the U.S.-made kayaks in terms of quality, material, and pricing.

Traditionally, ever since our website has been operational, we've had AIRE kayaks, rafts, and cataraft tubes priced at about 5% off the retail. AIRE had requested quite a while ago that all dealers list their products at the regular retail (with the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada, where dealers incure high incoming freight fees and must sell above U.S. retail) to "level;" the playing field - though we've been successfully resisting for a couple years now. Due to crabbing from a certain dealer the issue has been more or less forced, and being friends with the good folks at AIRE we don't want to create headaches for them.
The AIRE and Tributary pricing below is at retail, however in most cases you will not pay any more than you would have before we made the change. What we are doing is to give you 5% of the boats price, rounded up to the nearest dollar, toward UPS fees or any accessories you may get with the boat now or later. If you need no accessories and your UPS is less than 5% of the boat's cost - which is often the case with the more pricey U.S.-made AIRE's - we will work something out for you that's agreeable. Additionally, if you use a Discover card for your order, you will get another 1% off, and if you want to pay with a cashier's check, you will save even more. This can be substantial on rafts in particular, though less significant on something like an import kayak. Email us for a quote. There is no obligation, and we will not spam you with follow-up emails beyond the initial quote.
As an example for the Lynx below, if your UPS fee would be $40, that will be included in the $1,175 price, and you will still get another $19 toward any pump, thighstraps, pfd, helmet, throwbag, footbrace kit, clothing, or paddle you might want. If all you needed was the boat and a set of curved Boat People thighstraps, you would pay a grand total of $1,189 (plus tax if you are in CA). The thighstraps are $37 less 10% with your accessory discount, making them about $33. If the UPS was $40 and we applied the remainder ($19) of the 5% credit toward the thighstraps, that would leave you owing $14 for them. That plus $1,175 would equal $1,189.
The last point we want to state is this: if you have a nearby dealer who has been helpful and seems the type who will take care of any problems after the sale, it may be best to make your boat purchase through them. As much as we want your business, it is not worth selling out someone who has done their best to work with you for a few dollars. We don't appreciate it when it's done to us after spending considerable amounts of time talking or composing lengthy emails, so if you buy from us we prefer it's because you want to, not due to us beating another dealer by ten or twenty dollars.

The Lynx and Force series below are all built of strong 24 oz. (per square yard) PVC with 1100 denier pre-stretched polyester base fabric on top and 1300 denier below. They come with ten year warranties that even cover damage you do to the boat. The Tomcat and Strikes are a blend of 900 denier (the red or blue portion) and 1200 denier (the grey underside) material with a coating that is really as thick or thicker than any of AIRE's more expensive kayaks. Tomcats come with a more basic one-year warranty. The Strikes have a five year warranty. The Tomcat and Strike warranties, unlike those on the American made boats, do not cover damage you do to the kayak.

There is no glue used in the production of any AIRE product. Tomcats come in red or dark blue, Strikes in light blue, and the Lynx & Force's come in purple, blue, yellow, red, and dark "fisherman's" green. All the American AIRE boats - rafts and inflatable kayaks - use reliable British made Leafield valves and the Strikes & Tomcats use a Summit valve.

AIRE Lynx I

* Pricing includes a $59 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
The Lynx I and its 2-person brother are still some of our best selling inflatable kayaks. This boat has great weight capacity and last year the front end was rockered up about 3" more, and the tube taper now starts further back making for a sleeker nose. Lynx I's are one of the very best class V kayaks due to this front-end design; on huge verticle drops they won't plow into the hole as deeply as many other models, including the Caracal and Tomcat. They also don't take in as much water in wave trains since they tend to ride up over them. There are a number of folks out there who actually do not like the newer incarnations of the Lynx I and Lynx II as much as some of the older models, but there are as many opinions on this as there are inflatable kayakers. It's best to chat about your choice with a paddling buddy that has some experience, or solicit the advice of online paddling groups like Yahoo, boatertalk.com, etc. If most of your boating consists of moderate class III and IV runs, the Strike below is well worth looking into.

The 20 webbing loops sewn in along the inside between the tubes and floor are perfect for gear tie-down and installing thighstraps, or for repositioning the super comfy chair-style seat anywhere you want it. The Lynx weighs 32 pounds and utilizes highly reliable Leafield valves. This model is made to spin quickly between rocks so don't look for great flatwater tracking. A Lynx will surf pretty well compared to most of the boats above, but with the 36" beam, it's also fairly stable.
Note: Pricing on all AIRE and Tributary kayaks includeds a 5% allowance toward UPS, postage, and/or accessories, EXCEPT on package deals.

AIRE Tomcat I

* Pricing includes a $28 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
This imported boat weighs in at 38 pounds with it's thick 1200 denier 24 ounce underside material, a bit heavy for a solo boat. The standard seat is now the same one used for the Lynx, SuperLynx, Force Expedition, and Sea Tiger. The width is over 37", so don't plan on using a short (like 220 or 225cm) paddle with this 'yak because you won't be able to move it effectively.
Tomcats pretty well negate the need to look at the wetter, slower bailing Sevylor RiverX series kayaks, the squishy and wet Stearns self bailers, or the slow, piggy Sea Eagle 340.
These are an excellent choice for folks who want to do self supported multi-day trips because they have a ton of tie-down loops and lots of room behind the seat (and in front, depending on seat position) for gear, and plenty of weight capacity. AIRE's specs actually rate the carrying capacity of this boat at 25 pounds less than the Lynx I, which is absurd. The 350 pound rating on the Lynx I, due to all it's recent design changes, is really optimistic. 300 to 320 is about right. The Tomcat I on the other hand will carry close to 400 pounds without swamping.
Tomcats don't inflate quite as rock-hard as the American models because the 900 denier Chinese fabric on the upper tube is a bit more stretchy. The bottom seams on the Tomcat are stitched rather than welded. If you happen to fall into that 1/10 of 1% of paddlers who run rivers with unusually abrasive or sharp geology, you might consider covering this stitching with either some glued on seam tape or a very fine layer of Aquaseal. So far in two years, these seem to be holding up well so 99.9% of you should never worry about those seams. We've begun to hear from a few Tomcat buyers that have had some trouble with pinholes in their tube bladders recently, and that is an expected shortcoming of the vinyl bladders over the proven and very durable urethane ones used in all the other AIRE models.
All the other info on the Tomcats, including details on the differences between these and the U.S-made kaysk, is available on our Tandem (whitewater) inflatable kayak page. The solo Tomcat is a mere $549, and as always any accessories you may need with your kayak will be priced at 10% off.

Tomcat Package Deal:

The Tomcat package includes the solo tomcat with seat & basic patch kit, a 230cm symetric blade (aluminum shaft, oval grip) Tsunami paddle, a Bravo II foot pump with valve adaptor, and a pair of AIRE's padded thighstraps. The price is $619 plus UPS; please note that package deals do not include the 5% shipping allowance.
For an extra $24 you can add your choice of a heavy duty Kayaker's Throwbag or a medium size AIRE Cargo Hold.

AIRE Force

* Pricing includes a $68 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
The standard Force, (9'6" X 32"), and Force XL (Xtra-Large, see below) are AIRE's high performance models. They are meant to compete with some of the high performance "eastern" models (Renegades, Thrillseekers, Blades, Stillettos, Pythons, etc.) while still offering the benefits of AIRE's killer warranty & service. A Force is more rollable than most of the competitors mentioned above, a tad more rigid and better at surfing and pop-ups, but also more flippy. One of the Thrillseeker's big claims to fame is it's prowess in ultra low flow headwater creeks, but the foam floor Thrillseekers draft deeper than any of the Forces, and the shallower drafting air suspension floor Thrillseeker is longer than the Force series boats (at least in the "standard" length ranges of 10'6" to 13'), and therefore won't be able to pivot through as tight of a gap as the AIREs. Any of the three models of Force will also beat a Thrillseeker in a race even though the Thrillseekers are reasonably fast themslves. High hull speed can get you out of trouble on a river, and this characteristic makes the Force a strong contender for flat water boaters too. Well, if you can make the little sucker go straight.
The standard Force is definitely not a boat for beginners though it is more stable than the Safari (above) or most hardshells. It handles much like a hardshell river kayak which is exactly what it is supposed to emulate, with it's continuous curve and super smooth bottom.
In keeping with "honesty is the best policy", we think it is only right to let prospective Force buyers know that about 50% of the ones we've sold (and we haven't sold all that many) ended up on Ebay or whitewater bulletin boards for sale after a couple months, or a couple years. The reason, invariably, is that the boats were sending their pilots for too many swims. If you don't like swimming, or are not at least at the upper end of the intermediate scale, forget about this boat. Too many paddlers have been talked into buying one by their know-it-all friends only to find out the Force was a long way from suitable.
Both the front inflatable foot rest and rear inflatable backrest can be adjusted in and out to accommodate various sized people up to about 6'2". Thighstraps are standard and there are a few attachments for cargo tie-down, but this is not a boat meant to hold overnight gear.
Unlike any other inflatable kayaks including the larger Force's, the standard Force uses only one air chamber for the entire main tube, because when it was being developed the AIRE people found this was the best way to make it absolutely rigid - with two separate bladders in the main tubes, it could bend a teensy bit in extreme hydraulics, but with one bladder it won't. This single bladder is a pain in the ass if you ever need to change it though.
The standard Force weighs just 26 pounds, making it comparable to most Eastern high-performance inflatables. If you find the Force/Force XL backrest too minimal - and it is almost as bad as a hardshell backrest - you can add a Cheetah/Lynx seat ($40, see Accessories page). Color choices include yellow, red, blue, dark green, and dark purple. Recommended for paddlers under 220 lbs, and anyone over 150 should expect a little water around their butt.

AIRE Force XL

* Pricing includes a $71 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
The longer, wider Force XL (which looks exactly like the red Force shown above) can theoretically be eskimo rolled like the standard Force but few people actually pull it off. The extra 2" of width and 1" tube diameter does make it far more forgiving than it's little brother though. In rentals we found that intermediate and even novice inflatable kayakers had little trouble keeping this model upright because it is harder for the current to suck the larger diameter XL tubes under, and you feel like you are sitting in a deeper boat than with the shallow standard Force. The larger tubes and extra length let this boat handle people up to 300 lbs, though on both Force models some water gathers around your butt at far lower weights. The extra room in the XL model also means you can leave the rear deck deflated and drop in a big drybag for overnight trips (there are tie-down D-rings not visible in the photos).
The XL model comes in the standard five colors- blue, red, yellow, purple, and dark green.
Both kayaks in the Force series do take some getting used to, in that their flat bows (no rocker) get knocked around even by small diagonal waves, and they will not pivot with the same zip that a Lynx will. The benefits of the high hull speed make it worth getting to know these boats, however, and once people become comfortable with the handling of the XL or it's smaller brother they rarely want to trade down to another model.

AIRE Strike

* Pricing includes a $40 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
For 2008, the only color on the Strike series will be the same shade of blue as the U.S. made AIRE's come in, not the red shown.
So far the feednack on the solo model Strike has been almost universally favorable.
This model is imported from China, through the same factory that makes the Tomcats and new Tributary rafts. It falls in between the less expensive Tomcat and the American made Lynx in just about every way. It has a five year warranty that does not cover owner damage like the U.S. boats. This much better than the one year coverage that Tomcats have, only half as long as the Lynx, but the same as most other high end whitewater models. The outer material is the same Chinese pvc used for the Tomcats - 900 denier on the top blue part of the body, and 1200 denier pvc on the grey underside. However, a major difference is that the tube bladders are the same urethane as AIRE's U.S. boats, not the heavier, less stretchy vinyl used on the Tomcats. This improves the long term reliability tremendously.
In hull design, it retains the width and high stability of the Tomcat, but it has rocker on the ends (15") closer to what you find on the Lynx, with a zippy hull shape like a widened out Force XL. All in all, for most middle of the road class III and IV paddlers, this might be the very best choice of all. For an extra $240 it does seem to offer a lot more value than the Tomcat.
It has excellent performance, arguably better than the Lynx, as long as the pilot is under 200 pounds. With paddlers between about 190 and 225 pounds, it has about the same hull speed as the Lynx. For larger paddlers above 230 pounds it will actually get slower, which is why we said "almost universally favorable" up above.
The lower payload capacity is due to a somewhat short waterline, and also because AIRE chose to make the Strike floor bladders only 5" thick like the Force line. This keeps your center of gravity a tad lower and makes the Strike series very stable. Strikes and Lynx's both track very poorly, so you need a bit of patience to get used to them.
This boat uses Summit valves like the Tomcats, which haven't been bad, but the valve cap strings can tear off if you don't turn the cap fully clockwise. This is one valve you must use a valve adaptor with, and it is included in the little patch kit. A Carlson pump hose tip works marginally with no adaptor, but only if you have a second person to sit there & hold the hose in tight.

See our F.A.Q. page for information on Stearns, Sea Eagle, and Sevylor brand inflatable kayaks.