Tandem Inflatable Kayaks

CALL - 925.820.2628 NRS Maverik Bandit 2 New! AIRE Outfitter II 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, Tributary, Innova, and NRS are in this section. If you are looking for a tandem boat for ocean, lake, or "calm water" use, those are on the Touring IK page.
Any of the tandem river I.K's 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 in this section 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, Sea Eagle, Stearns, Sevylor, and even the Trinutary Strike II all suffer to varying degrees from this problem. Even if you spot one at bargain price keep this in mind if you and your paddle partner add up to much over 350 pounds.

And here is a novel idea -
Let's say you have a family of four, and are torn between buying a raft or buying a couple tandem inflatable kayak's. With two small additions to your 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 this sounds like a goofy concept but it does work reasonably well and costs very little to try. 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. Two six foot lengths of pipe (larger schedule 80, aluminum, or emt) spanning the tube tops near the front & rear of your rig can prevent this from happening if you strap the pipes down tight.

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.

New here for 2009 is the ultra-stable AIRE Outfitter II. You might also want to look at the AIRE Traveler & SuperLynx in our Touring section. These are both very capable river boats.

The Tandem River IK section was updated March, 2009.

The Tandem Hyside Padillac II ($1,829) 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 II

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 12-1/2 foot length of the tandem MaverIK allows plenty of room for two tall paddlers and the inflatable backrest pillows can be adjusted or removed as you wish. These are made in Tecate, Mexico and the default color is blue, with red occasionally available. Grey won't be a color choice this year. Leafield valves on all five chambers, with stainless 2" D-rings at each end, and handles too. NRS has increased the warranty period for private boaters to ten years, perhaps in trying to keep up with AIRE, though we have to note that AIRE is still the only company that fixes damage free of charge on their American made products. 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 27.5 pounds on our fairly accurate small scale, which is heavier than they started at a few years ago. The 24 pound figure given in the NRS catalog and website is incorrect. Still, you can pack them in long distances without undue fatigue. The weight increase since their 2005 introduction is due to a beefier underside and a 2 ounce per yard increase overall on the hull fabric.
They will roll up fairly small for hiking 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, somebody somewhere is using a Bandit 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 current 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 20 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. 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 it is still one of the cheaper options considering how expensive the urethane fabric is compared to pvc.
Some of the early 2005 and 2006 Bandits had reliability issues but NRS seems to have solved those a while back, and two different commercial outfitters we've talked with have been very pleased with their durability. One other outfitter we talked with in the Fall of last year was not as impressed, but it sounded like their boats were older vintage.
The reliability issues mostly had to do with the floor I-beams. We would say that if you are a paddler who tends to always want their floor inflated as firm as the side tubes, or you are intent on always pumping until the floor's relief valve blows off, the Bandits may not be your best choice. Leave the floor a tad softer (about 1.5 p.s.i.) than the side tubes and you should have little trouble.
Four small D-rings and one large towing ring on the bow underside are standard, and the two seats can be installed anywhere you wish. The blue color for 2009 with be a medium blue, not the dark ugly blue of the last four years. We still are not sure as of this update how many NRS will have available in that color for 2009.

AIRE Pricing:

All AIRE and Tributary kayaks on our site include a 5% UPS and/or accessory allowance in lieu of the five percent off pricing we used to show. AIRE requested we make this change to, as they say, level the playing field. Sadly there are plenty of non-stocking virtual businesses that still seem to find loopholes around AIRE's policies, but we will work with you as best we can. You can save a bit more by paying with cashier's checks, so if you wish to go that way send us your goodies list and your zip code and we will get you a quote. All shipping on kayaks is UPS ground unless you tell us otherwise, or unless you live in Alaska ot Hawaii.
Please note that Package deals do not include the 5% allowance.

New for 2009 - AIRE Outfitter II

If some of the measurements you see here vary (see bottom; we will add a spec block soon) from what AIRE lists for the two person Outfitter, it's because we are going by the ones we've measured here.
This new model, in short, is not for everyone and it looks far more odd than you can tell from AIRE's photos. As the name clearly implies, it was geared toward the commercial outfitters who provide "duckies" for their clients to use on the rivers they operate from. As a general rule, those clients will be happiest if they do not take unintended swims in the big rapids. The simplest way to do this on tag-along trips is to make sure the inflatable kayak they are paddling is as stable as possible. The way to make a boat stable is with a wide hull and a deep seating position. All of AIRE's other models are either very shallow (the Lynx I, the Force series, the Superlynx) or somewhat shallow (like the Strikes and Lynx II).
The Outiffiter tandem and solo's are geared toward the Hyside Padillac market, perhaps a bit shamelessly, but one thing AIRE really improved over the Hyside is the profile of the Outfitter's underside. Unlike the Padillac, it is nearly pancake-flat. This makes the boat float higher, increases payload, and makes it far less prone to hanging up on rocks or getting messed with by eddy currents. The Outfitter II is also faster than the Padillac, about the same as a Lynx II, and just a tad slower than the Strike II.
The tandem Outfitters we have had measured 40" wide (an inch less than AIRE shows), 12'4" long, 46 pounds, with 12-1/2" tubes, and they hold about 525 pounds This is the highest payload of any tandem whitewater IK under 13'. We know that Sea Eagle shows some very high figures for their 380 and 420 models, but they only hold these weights if the bail plugs are closed. In self-bailing mode they have fairly low capacities.
The Outifitter tandem is the same price as the Lynx II - $1,379 - but it does have nicer lift handles, bigger bras, and a big towing D-ring on the bow not found on the Lynx II. These are available now, in the same five colors as all the other U.S. made AIRE kayaks- red, dark green, yellow, light blue, and violet.

AIRE Lynx II

* Pricing includes a $69 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories.
Like most AIRE tandems the Lynx II has a great payload capacity, handling over 450 pounds.
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 has never been possible for us to do a direct side-by-side comparison but physics dictate certain rules about hulls, and we have a ton of field time in the older pre-2003 Lynx II's. 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 post-2003 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. Perhaps with the Outfitter II model now available we can hope for some skinnier Lynx II's in the future.

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 is actually of 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 $39 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories. The $39 allowance does not apply to the Package Deal down below however. AIRE's import Tributary kayaks and rafts have unfortunately gone up a full 18% for 2009, but the Tomcats still represent a very good value.
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 the name AIRE uses for their Chinese line, which now includes the Strike kayaks and the six 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, but not much.

Tomcats do definitely 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 slightly better pricing. The only other tandem whitewater inflatable that holds holds more weight than a Tomcat II is AIRE's Outfitter II. AIRE rates the Tomcat II at 450 pounds but it will handle 30 or 40 pounds more.

Tomcat Tandem Package Deal:

The Tomcat II Package includes the boat with valve adaptor & wrench, and basic patch kit; two take-apart Tsunami aluminum shaft (oval grip) whitewater paddles, a Bravo II footpump, and your choice of a XS See-thru Drybag or a 12 volt electric pump to get the boat started. The Package price is $869. The price does not include the UPS allowance of the basic boat. The Tomcat and foot pump are shipped in one box, and the 2-piece paddles & electric pump (or drybag) will be sent in a second long, skinny box.

AIRE Strike 2

* Pricing includes a $50 allowance toward UPS and/or accessories.
Although this boat comes from the same factory that makes the Tomcats, there are several 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, if a bit wetter. As long as your whitewater does not include large verticle drops, the Strike will do okay up to moderate, lower-flow class IV, and it works well in most class III rivers.
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. This can be found under the IK Accessory section. All of the models on this page tend to do a U-turn if one or both occupants suddenly stop 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.
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 adult paddlers on board. The 2008 version was supposed to be narrowed to 36.5" this year, but even this year they still measure a full 37" wide. 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 and the side tubes are smaller. With two paddlers weighing around 200 pounds, there may be a tiny bit of water around your butts. With one paddler weighing 150, and the other 250, the bigger person will have about half an inch of water near their posterior. We would suggest keeping the payload to 370 pounds with neither paddler over 200 pounds.
Both this model and the Tomcats are made in AIRE's mainland China factory, but the details that differentiate the Strike II from the Tomcat II are as follows:
1) The warranty is 5 years on the Strike 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 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.
5) The floor bladder is 5" thick instead of 6", and the tubes are 10.5" on the Strike II instead of 12". This drops the payload capacity as discussed above, but also lowers your center of gravity, keeping the Strike II very stable in big rapids.
As with all AIRE kayaks, the seats are infinitely adjustable and/or removable. Please note that the yelow color shown is no longer available.

Incept K37

Incept K37 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, but not more nimble tandems like the Tributary Strike 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 two air chambers met with a bulkhead at the bow and stern, right under the bow & stern seams. This design made for a nice rigid front end on the old models but it also meant there was 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 no longer since the K-38 is made with two separate tubes that do not connect internally.
This boat is a possible contender for those considering the new AIRE Outfitter II, and it's four punds lighter for those long carry-in's.
UPS on the K38, and any accessories we can get in the same box (Which would not include paddles or liquids), will be included in the price if you pay with Visa, Mastercard, or Discover - but not for Amex, sorry.

Innova Vagabond

*As of March '09, Innova has yet to change the price on this model but we do expect it to go up in the next few months. In other words, the $1,189 figure is still the 2008 price.
The non-selfbailing Vagabond is a model we sell occasionally, but rarely to river runners. If you look on our Customer Page, where folks can send in their pics and stories, you will see that several of these ended up in places like Mongolia. Those Vagabond owners were using the boats as research platforms or for some other purpose that had little to do with whitewater. Still, many people in Europe do use them for exactly that, assumedly with the optional spray deck ($199) to keep water out. With or without this optional cover, the prefered paddling mode is from a kneeling position. The Vagabond does not have conventional backrests like the other tandem and solo whitewater models we carry, so the only other option is to sit on the bench seats. This doesn't work well because they are angled forward for kneeling support, so sitting chair style on them isn't really possible or comfortable. So.... if you aren't into kneeling, it might be better to either take a pass on this one or to plan on making two of your own seats that lace to the top seam.
The hull speed is fairly slow on the Vagabond, but not much worse than a tandem Tomcat or Lynx. 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 many Vagabond owners use single blade canoe paddles), but it still qualifies as a "big cargo carrier". The Vagabond also retails for about 30% less than the Soar, and about 60% less than the XR Treking model from Grabner inflatables, another competing boat that we don't carry. .

Innova K2 and Innova Orinoco: These are two relatively obscure models from Innova. Why don't they appear in this section? There is a fairly low weight restriction with both models due to the inflatable floors being barely 4" thick, and with the Eurodollar exchange rate still unfavorable, their pricing has climbed dramatically. 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, though it and the new AIRE Outfitter II are the most stable tandems you can buy. It takes an extra day or two for us to get these to you since we don't stock them. If you want pricing shoot an email, and include your zip code so we can quote the UPS fees.