Tandem Inflatable Kayaks

CALL - 408.295.2628 NRS Maverik Bandit 2 AIRE Lynx II AIRE Tomcat II Tributary Strike 2 Incept K-37 Innova Vagabond & K2

Tandem, or two-person whitewater inflatable kayaks from AIRE, Incept, Hyside, Momentum, Innova, and NRS are in this section. Any boat below can be paddled solo, but some will be easier to manuever than the others depending on the width and waterline of the kayak.
All models below except the Vagabond are self-bailing. We sometimes refer to tandem models as "K2's", as in "kayak-two-person". This might cause some confusion since there is an Innova model actually called the "K2".

You will need to pay more attention to weight capacity, or "payload", with tandem inflatable kayaks than with solo models. Tandems are often expected to hold double the weight, but are typically only 20 to 25% bigger. If the tubes are too small and/or the floor is not thick enough, a two-person self bailer may hold little more than the weight of one average adult, with water coming in the bail holes as you add a second body. Tandems from Sotak, Achilles, Sea Eagle, Riken, Stearns, Sevylor, and a few others including the Momentum Falcon II below all suffer to varying degrees from this problem. Even if you spot one for a bargain price keep this in mind if you and your paddle partner add up to much over 300 pounds.

And here is a novel idea -
Let's say you have a family of four, and are torn between buying a raft and buying a couple tandem inflatable kayak's. With two small additions to your inflatable kayak order, you can essentially have both. Here's how: When you order your new boats, get three extra 6' camlock straps, and two sets of handle adaptors with your Carlisle or Cannon two-piece kayak paddles. Or, just buy some inexpensive 3-1/2' or 4' canoe paddles.
When the river starts looking too intimidating and you want more stability than a single kayak alone provides, strap the two boats together side-by-side by running cam straps down & out the bail holes of one inflatable kayak and back up through the matching bail holes on the other inflatable kayak. Then convert two of your double blade kayak paddles into four single blade canoe paddles with the handle adaptor kits you purchased.
Now, you have a four-person paddle raft! At 6' wide and 12' or more long, two tandem kayaks strapped together have the hole punching ability of an inflatable kayak. matched to the safety of a 13 foot raft's footprint. Because you are sitting very low compared to a raft, the decreased center of gravity actually provides a far more flip-proof rig than even much larger rafts. We know a lot of you may think this is a goofy concept, but we know it works and we know it can solve a difficult decision for a very small amount of money. Just note that on occasion, in certain hydraulics, one boat's left tube can end up sitting partially on top of the other boat's right tube after you come through the rapid.

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.

You might also want to look at the AIRE Traveler & SuperLynx in our Touring section. These are both very capable river boats.

This section was updated April, 2008.

The Tandem Hyside Padillac II ($1,719) is available through us, though we generally don't stock them. Allow two extra days. It is 12' by 40" wide with 13" tubes and weighs 48 pounds.

NRS MaverIK

Note- right now it sounds like it will be Summer before NRS has time to build any more MaverIKs in their Mexico plant, and we have no stock either. We don't want to remove the description from this page, just keep in mind that if you will need a boat this Spring you might want to have a plan "B".
The two-person NRS MaverIK has increased in price to the point where it is probably not the greatest value anymore, but if you are a hypalon fanatic and want something to carry a pretty fair payload the thick inflatable floor ensures you can do so. MaverIK's are built with French Pennell hypalon, in the same weight as the tubes on their regular Otter raft line.
We have never cared much for the single I-beam floor design on MaverIK's. Like the bumpy, deeply ridged undersides found on the Hyside Padillacs, this boat digs hard into cross currents and can be difficult to turn quickly when you really need to. It and the Hysides are also more susceptible to hanging up on sub-surface rocks because of the lower draft. If your river makes a sharp turn, and there are wraps rocks on the outside of this bend, this model will tend to be swept into them moreso than competing models with flatter bottoms.
With a little care the MaverIK should last almost a lifetime though, and that single I-beam in the floor has not been a reliability issue. In terms of rubber boats with glued I-beams, Hyside and NRS both do a great job. I-beam separations (or "hernias" as we coined it years back) are almost unheard of with these two brands.
The generous 12'6" length of the tandem MaverIK allows plenty of room for two tall paddlers. These are made in Tecate and the default color is blue, with red occasionally available. Removable thwart backrests, Leafield valves on all five chambers. Solo MaverIK's ($1,389) are also available by special order.

The Bandit II

These tandem's have not sold nearly as well and the one-person Bandits, so we aren't keeping more than a couple in stock at any given time and we do run out occasionally - usually about the same time as NRS does. The Bandits II is the lightest non-toy tandem kayak you can get, hardshell or inflatable. These now weigh about 26.5 pounds on our fairly accurate small scale, which is heavier than they started at a few years ago. Still, you can pack them in long distances without undue fatigue. The weight increase since 2005 is due to a beefier underside and a 2 ounce per yard increase overall on the hull fabric.
They will roll up fairly small as long as you have your partner remove & carry the backrests. A lot of people have wanted to buy the Bandit II for use as a flatwater boat because they like the low weight. And we have a suspicion that if they were talking to someone on the NRS order desk, they would get talked into purchasing one since NRS does not have their own line of touring inflatables. The thing is, this is very much a tubby, stable hull and not one designed for speed or pleasurable paddling on large bodies of flatwater. Sure, someplace somebody is using one for exactly that, but that person didn't do their homework. There are much better choices for a tandem touring boat.
If we go by the new 2008 NRS information, this boat is spec'd at 34", but every one we've measured is 36.5" to 37". This tandem model, like it's ultra-light little brother, is made of 22 ounce per yard urethane coated 840 denier nylon, a material that has excellent abrasion resistance in the water, though so-so friction resistance on dry surfaces. Translated, this means don't drag it over your driveway or move it fast over the carpeted interior of your vehicle. The coating can easily rub down to the base nylon if you do.
The repositionable seats are made of the same material, and include a rear cargo pouch. They can be removed quickly for use as a camp chair. These seats are one detail that makes the Bandits different in design from the MaverIK; the other, and more important one is that the welded floors utilize two I-beams instead of just the single I-beam like the MaverIK above. This makes the surface of the inflatable floor more comfortable to sit on than the MaverIK floor, and it means the underside of the Bandit is not quite so oddly shaped as it's more expensive hypalon brother above. Other than that, the shape, tube size, kick (17"), and length are all the same as the MaverIk II. The Bandit II uses reliable low profile Leafield valves on all three air chambers, and a Carlson pump or military valve-sized hose tip will fit in tight with no adaptor. The Bandit II is not the bargain boat it started out as, but at under a grand it is still one of the cheapest next to AIRE's imports, and the fabric used for the Bandits is quite pricey compared to pvc.

AIRE 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. Please note that Package deals do not include the 5% allowance.
As an example for the Lynx II below, if your UPS fee would be $40, that will be included in the $1,275 price, and you will still get another $24 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 $1,284 (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 ($24) of the 5% credit toward the thighstraps, that would leave you owing $9 for them. That plus $1,275 would equal $1,284.
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.

AIRE Lynx II

* Pricing includes a $64 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
The Lynx K2 no longer comes in a foam floor model available, so $1,275 is the price for the air-floor. The AIRE tandem kayaks (this model along with the SuperLynx and Tomcat II) have the most payload capacity of any brand, though the NRS MaverIK is also excellent in this regard. A few years back AIRE totally redesigned the Lynx II. It is no longer symetrical for one thing. The front end rises a full 19", four inches more than the rear. The rear end still looks like the older models but the front end starts tapering further back giving it the appearance of a skinny high-rockered raft. The bigger design change was that AIRE widened the boat almost four inches, and decreased the waterline with the extra kick. Yes, the boat looks more streamlined than ever before but despite AIRE's claims to the contrary most paddlers feel it is a bit slower than the older Lynx II design. It hasn't actually been possible for us to do a side-by-side comparison but physics dictate certain rules about hulls. The shape of the underside, specifically how smooth the curvature is, also effects hull speed. The Lynx was always streamlined on the bottom though and it still is, so the width and length are all that has really changed. The changes were made to accomodate the outfitter industry, which is where a lot of the tandem kayaks are sold. Wider means more stable; more stable means less chasing of clients down the river. Less chasing of clients means happier guide-slaves and bigger tips. The problem for the rest of us is that the super wide interior makes it impossible to lock your hips in the new Lynx II well, unless you are pretty husky. On the positive side, the Lynx II should now easily be an equal to the ultra-stable Hyside Padillac II in big water, and it will still be quicker than the Hyside.

AIRE also says this model punches waves better but it really rides up over them more than the old models. There is a stretched out multi-purpose version of the Lynx II known as the "SuperLynx" under our touring section, and that boat is still a sleek 35" wide and will definitely blow the doors off the Lynx II in a race. The current Lynx series all have nice bow and stern lift handles and bigger, more secure bras as well. The photo above is actually an older model so it looks a bit more flat on the front end than it should. Lynx K2's come in yellow, red, light blue, dark green, and dark purple.
10-year all-inclusive guarantee; 24 loops for gear/seat tie-down.

AIRE Tomcat II

* Pricing includes a $33 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
For those who don't wish to mortgage their house to get into inflatable kayaking., and anyone who would rather not sit in two or three inches of water as a pair of big adults would in a self-bailing Sevylor, Stearns, or Sea Eagle, the Tomcat line is a highly affordable alternative. AIRE decided to get into the import market mid-2003 with the Tomcat kayaks. "Tributary" is now the name AIRE uses for their Chinese line, which now includes the Strike kayaks and the five Tributary rafts.
The Tomcat hull shape is almost identical but 2" wider than AIRE's old U.S.-made Caracal models. These boats differ from the Lynx & Strike models in several ways: 1) the warranty is one year, not five or ten, and it will not cover damage you do to the boat, 2) this boat (and the Strikes) is made in China instead of the States, 3) the underside seams are stitched on a sewing machine instead of being welded, 4) it uses less stretchable vinyl tube bladders instead of urethane ones, 5) it has Halkey Roberts knock-off valves instead of the more expensive Leafields, 6) the color choices are limited to red and blue; no green, purple, or yellow, 7) the pvc hull fabric is different and heavier than what is used for other models of AIRE's kayak lines, and 8) the floor pressure relief valves are generally set a bit lower than they would be on the American made floor bladders, and so they will not inflate quite as stiff as the U.S. floors.
Tomcats are made from a 20 oz. per square yard 900 denier pvc on the upper red or blue portion, and a fairly beefy 24 ounce 1200 denier pvc on the bottom that is a bit thicker (though not higher in rip strength) than other AIRE kayaks. This floor material is a bit more sticky on river rocks than the undersides of a Lynx.

Tomcats have superior valves and weight capacities compared to the Sevylor River-X series or the Sea Eagles. They also have far better performance on both flat and whitewater than the Sea Eagles, and considerably better pricing. No other true tandem whitewater inflatable holds more weight than the Tomcat II. AIRE rates it at 450 pounds but it will handle 500. Before you decide on a Tomcat though you should at least glance at the next boat from AIRE......

AIRE Strike 2

* Pricing includes a $45 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. See above AIRE information in italics.
Though it came out in the early Spring of 2005 this is still the newest AIRE / Tributary kayak model. Like the Tomcat line above, the Strikes and other Tributary's have not increased in price this year. Although this boat comes from the same factory that makes the Tomcats, there are many upgrades on the Strike. These are detailed below.
The Strike 2 is not an identical copy of the Strike I that is merely stretched out, because the ends are less rockered. It is intended more as a multi-use kayak than the Tomcat II, falling in between it and the SuperLynx. Even so a number of our customers have been using them in some high flow desert rivers with good results. Some of AIRE's employees we've talked to have also said they liked paddling it at least as much as the Lynx II, and the consensus is that it's a bit faster too. As long as your whitewater does not include large verticle drops, the Strike will do fine up to moderate, lower-flow class IV .
Even though the Strike II was designed as a multiple purpose craft, it is not intended to track too well. If it did, the Strike would have problems in rapids. This is a flat bottomed boat, and reasonably fast. The faster an inflatable kayak paddles, the more abruptly it will make unpredictable moves. We have paddled many Lynx II's on long flat sections between rapids and never had a problem, but if you intend to use a Strike, Tomcat, SuperLynx, or Lynx tandem mainly on flat water you should probably fork over a few dollars for AIRE's skeg kit. All of the models on this page tend to do a U-turn if one or both occupants suddenly stops paddling, and almost any whitewater raft, kayak, or inflatable kayak takes considerable practice to move in a straight line. The skeg will help, but you should not use it in rapids because the fin will break, and it may make quick pivots difficult.
Strike II's are 12'6" long, so unlike with the SuperLynx, there is not enough space to run overnighters (or to take a child or large dog along for the ride) out of this model with two paddlers on board. The 2007 version was 38" wide, but AIRE is supposed to narrow it up to 36.5" this year. This should increase the hull speed a bit, and it will also decrease the far-too-wide interior down to 15". AIRE lists the weight capacity at 450 pounds in their brochures, but the Strike inflatable floors are not as thick as they are on a Lynx or Tomcat. Even with two paddlers weighing close to 200 pounds, there will be water around your butts a bit. With one paddler weighing 150, and the other 250, the bigger person will have quite a bit of water near their posterior. We would suggest keeping the payload to 360 pounds with neither paddler over 200 pounds.
The details that differentiate the Strike II from the Tomcat II above are as follows:
1) The warranty is 5 years instead of one year.
2) It uses urethane side tube bladders like a Lynx instead of the cheaper, less stretchable vinyl bladders found in the Tomcats.
3) It has welded seams on the underside instead of the stitched seams found on Tomcats.
4) The floor bladder used to be a heavier fabric than the Tomcat floor bladders, but it appears AIRE is using all the same floor material now. That could change again though.
5) The tube bladders aren't left side-right side. Instead, they pass through the front & back ends of the boat, like they do on the SuperLynx and Force series. This makes for a very rigid bow and stern with great wave-punching ability.
6) The floor bladder is 5" thick instead of 6". This drops the payload capacity as discussed above, but also lowers your center of gravity, keeping the Strike very stable in big rapids.
The price is $899. The Strikes and Tributary rafts will only be available in medium blue for 2008 (not the same color as the dark Tomcat blue). As with all AIRE kayaks, the seats are infinitely adjustable and/or removable.

Strike II Package Deal:

Our tandem Strike Package includes the boat with valve wrench & basic patch kit, two fiberglass shaft 230cm CBH Makaha paddles (or CBH Tour paddles if you prefer), a Dyna 12 volt inflator, a high pressure Bravo 5 foot pump, valve adaptor, and your choice of a medium size AIRE Cargo Hold or an AIRE Skeg Kit. The package price is $1,049 plus UPS.
Please note that we do not have a flat rate for shipping fees as some companies do. We charge only what UPS bills us, no more. The box with the boat, Cargo hold, and foot pump is roughly 60 pounds so UPS on that might vary from a low of $28 to a local CA business address, to as much as $59 for a "remote zone" residential address in Maine or the Florida Keyes. The paddle box & electric pump would be another 7 or 8 pounds and might vary from $7.50 to $13.50.
UPS rates, like everything that involves diesel or gas, have been steadily increasing for quite a while.

Incept K37

Incept K37 (photos below) is a New Zealand-made model that is intended for rental and livery use. In other words it falls into the "stable" and "mid-performance" category. It will outhandle Hyside, Riken, Momentum, Grabner, Achilles, and NRS tandem models though, if not the nimble Caracal II. As with Incept's self bailing rafts, the K37 has a very smoothly curved bottom from both the end and side view, so the current slides past the hull easily without moving the boat around. There is no longer a one-person Incept kayak being produced. Incepts are welded PVC inflatables made with fabric from a very hard-finish, high air retention grade of material. The K37 is a forgiving tandem boat that still makes reasonable time on the flat sections. The backrests are are small-ish fixed position thwarts that are not comfortable on multiday jaunts, but our backsavers or any Crazy Creek type camp chair will rest against them. You can face the opposite direction with your back against what would normally be "front" thwart for solo paddling. The boat features four pairs of stainless D-rings for thighstrap attachment, hard urethane nose cones, Halkey-Roberts valves, lifelines (which may get in the way when you're paddling, but they are removable), and two big stainless D-rings/handles front & rear. $1449

What happened to the K38 Incept? This was a narrower higher performance version of the K37, and it was all Incept made for about ten years. There were ongoing problems with both it and the solo (and no longer made) K34 though. These two kayaks were built like rafts, where the main hull held it's form even with the floor cut away. In other words, the air chamber extended all around the circumference of the boat through both ends like AIRE's Force and new SuperLynx inflatable kayaks, instead of the left and right tubes being two completely separate entities like most inflatable kayak's. This design made for a nice rigid front end on the old models but Incept also had the bad habit of locating the bulkheads (the internal walls which separate the left and right air chambers) directly underneath the front and rear seams. There was simply too much going on in one small area of the boat, so the old K34's and 38's often blew the front and rear ends out. This is not a problem with the AIRE models mentioned since a) they use bladders, and b) the bulkheads on the SuperLynx are offset away from the ends of the boat. So.... a decision was made by Incept to discontinue the hideously labor intensive and oft-problematic K34 & K38.
Note: UPS on the Incept kayak and any accessories we can get in the same box (which will not include two-piece paddles) will be free through July of this year.

Innova Vagabond

The non-selfbailing Vagabond is not a new boat, but rather one that Innova has had for a while. We just didn't have it on this page until last year. Since the hull speed is a lot slower than most of Innova's touring models (though not any slower than Momentum boats on this page), it was never a big seller so we don't stock it. Allow an extra day or two for delivery. The Vagabond is another European style whitewater boat and unless you get the optional spray cover ($189) it will be a wet ride if you are running high volume or very continuous rivers. On the other hand the similiarly styled Soar 12' with the bail holes punched is a wet ride with two people as well. If you have looked at Soar's 12' model as a paddling option, the Vagabond might be one to consider. It is lighter and a bit narrower than the Soar, and better lends itself to being paddled with double blade kayak paddles (though most Vagabond users paddle kneeling with single blade canoe paddles), but it still qualifies as a "big cargo carrier". The Vagabond also retails for about 10% less than the Soar, and about 60% less than the XR Treking model from Grabner inflatables, another competing boat that we don't sell. Vagabond's have lace-down wood seats and can be paddled kneeling or seated, solo with a kayak paddle or tandem with either type of paddle.

Innova K2 and Innova Orinoco: These are two relatively obscure models from Innova. Why don't they appear on this page? There is a severe weight restriction with both models due to the inflatable floors being barely 4" thick, and with the Eurodollar exchange rate still unfavorable, the pricing has climbed dramatically on these two inflatables. Both now cost way more than anything comparable, and neither are really high performance boats. The K2 is sort of a low rider that resembles a two-person Hyside Padillac with a thinner floor, but this probably makes it about the most stable tandem inflatable kayak you can buy. Our price is $1,799, and the Orinoco is $1,899, making these two the poorest values of any tandem inflatable kayak. If you want one, give us an extra day or two.