AIRE Wave Destroyer 14 Inflatable Cataraft. Price is for tubes only! This price includes free UPS ground shipping to any lower 48 destination. Note AIRE has three other sizes of Wave Destroyers, including fun size 13' and 12' models, listed separately in this section of our site.
These Cats are available in red, yellow, blue, lime, dark green, teal, cranberry, gray, white, and orange. Please specify your first and second color choice; occasionally AIRE runs out of certain colors.
AIRE's concept was to create a tube for high-flow rivers that are fairly continuous, like idaho's North Payette. This means many of you who run rivers that tend to be pool & drop probably should be looking at something with less rocker, rather than the Wave Destroyers. The overwhelming majority of people phoning about these are not using their boats on raging high flow runs, and if they proceed with a purchase may be disappointed when it comes time to keep up with fellow boaters on flat sections. If you decrease a boat's waterline, and increase it's rocker, you will have a slower boat. It doesn't matter if it's a canoe, raft, inflatable kayak, or set of cat tubes. Longer narrower hulls with smooth transitions at the ends will always be faster than something with a shorter, wider, more angled profile, no matter what type of boat we are talking about. We are not trying to talk you out of the Wave Destroyers, just be sure you fall into AIRE's target group for these tubes.
The Wave Destroyer 14 Cataraft is 22" in diameter and is essentially a more rockered AIRE Ocelot. The payload capacity is lower by 10% to 20% than flatter tubes of equal length - about 800 pounds in the case of the WD-14. Still, these would rarely be used to carry heavy loads since that defeats their concept, but there are certainly multi-day class V rivers out there. If you like continuous class IV or V, or if your fave runs often flow high when you are on them, Wave Destroyers are a great way to go.
The high rocker allows Wave Destroyers to deal better with large vertical drops and huge back-curling waves, Bow rise is 33" measured from the floor, and the weight per pair is a low 69 pounds. They have replaceable lift handles and gray frame chafers.
