AIRE Tributary Sixteen HD River Raft

The AIRE Sixteen HD is the largest Tributary river raft. It measures 16'4" long by 7'2" wide. This is one of two full size AIRE sixteen footers, along with the American made 160DD (the "Double D"). Both have almost identical measurements, except that the 160DD has 2" more interior width, because it's main hull is one inch smaller in diameter than the Trib 16. The Trib Sixteen has 22" tubes like the U.S. made 156 series. Now in solid blue or solid green side tubes, with gray floor & thwarts.

The Trib Sixteen HD is roughly 178 pounds with both thwarts, and the thwarts are repositionable lace-in style like the American AIRE rafts. A third thwart, should you want it, is $279. If you remove both thwarts, the Sixteen HD drops to 168 pounds.

Another obvious difference is in the colors. Rather than being a solid medium-blue on the side tubes and floor bottom, the new Tributary line is done with alternating colors. These are either dark blue for most of the side section and thwarts, and dark gray for the floor top, bow, and stern sections, or vice versa depending on size. The base fabric of this new material is beefy 2000 denier polyester, so as with the older Trib’s, nearly impossible to tear. It also has more abrasion resistance because of the thicker outside coating. There have been some minor changes to the taper and floors, but you would have to look close to notice these. The welded seams and replaceable bladders mean a Tributary should last decades, and though these new ones are a bit heavier than prior Trib models, they still roll up much smaller than almost any other Asian pvc raft. They are one of the very few that we can get back into the factory box in fact!

All Tributary raft floors are laced in at the factory for fast draining, and can be removed for warranty service should the need arise, rather than forcing you to ship an entire raft as most other manufacturer's would.

Easy to Roll Up - AIRE Tributary Sixteen HD Raft

One thing that stands out with the new Tributary rafts is how easy they are to roll up. The new material inflates very stiff, much like the older Ferrari pvc (Ferrari is a brand name unrelated to the car company), yet the suppleness of it when deflated is amazing. It is actually softer and easier to roll than many of the hypalon boats. We had no problem getting a 14' Tributary back in it's box. So if you are not using a trailer with one of the bigger sizes of Trib rafts, getting one into the back of an SUV, truck, or even a mid size hatch back wagon is very do-able.

AIRE Tributary Sixteen HD River Raft Shipping Notice

Please note that due to the high weight of this AIRE Tributary raft, the rate module that works with our shopping cart will not calculate the shipping properly for the Sixteen HD because it cannot go by UPS. Motor freight rates will vary greatly depending whether you are east or west of the Rockies, and whether or not it goes to a business address. This is one of only three rafts from AIRE (along with the huge 176R and 183R, which we really never sell) that is not UPS-able, which is why there is no free shipping offered on this one. It must be drop-shipped from AIRE and dealer discounts are reduced a lot when drop-ships occur. You can definitely phone us at 925-820-BOAT with your specifics so we can give you an accurate freight quote. We are generally around Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 6:30pm pacific time.

Specs for AIRE Tributary Sixteen River Raft

The rocker on the ends of the Sixteen HD is 15", so this should be a good raft for big water. We have not rowed one ourselves. The load capacity is given as 1,800 pounds, and that seems pretty realistic. Like the Fourteen and Thirteen HD, it has four main chambers. The inside width with thwarts (or at least one thwart) fully inflated is 42", or about 40.5" without either thwart.