Tandem Touring Inflatable Kayaks

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The new Innova tandem for this year is the Rush 2, and it has a little brother on our Solo Touring IK page. What Innova is calling the “Solar 2019” is not really a new boat at all, just the same Solar 410c with slightly different bras and a set of third-seat attachments in the back. This far-rear seat position is not really practical unless the person sitting back there is 2' tall. There has been talk of bringing back the old solo model Solar 300, which was a nice boat, but so far we haven't seen anything. Last, Innova does have a new drop-stitch floor version of the Solar called the “Thaya”, but so far we have not really felt that it offers much value over the standard Solar for the extra $400, and for now we won't be carrying it. If we had seen where changing out an air-mattress style ribbed floor chamber to a flatter drop-stitch pad really helped speed up a touring i.k, then we might be more interested, but this is not the case. Drop-stitch floors definitely can help with certain whitewater rafts & kayals, but not so much where tracking is important.

The following models are discontinued permanently: the Innova Helios II and it's solo version the Helios I; the Innova Sunny; all “Litepack” Innova models; and the AIRE Sea Tiger, which is not even available by special order. The Solar has always been the most popular and versatile tandem touring kayak and we have carried it for 18 years now. We are very familiar with the handling characteristics, having paddled it in water ranging from easier Kauai rivers, Monterey Bay & Santa Cruz surf, and some local lakes. It has more room & weight capacity than the old Sunny model with near identical paddling characteristics.

If you are looking for a three-seater kayak to use with a child, a large pooch, or multi-day camp gear storage, the ones to look at include the 14’9” Innova Seawave, the new Star Paragon, the Sawtooth from Tributary (as long as you keep the total weight to under 450 lbs), the AIRE Superlynx and Traveler canoe, possibly the Innova Vagabond – also an inflatable canoe style craft - and the angler’s raft-kayak hybrid called the Alfonso, which is not here in this section but rather on our Fishing page. The Seawave has optional solo and tandem spray decks, and an optional rudder kit, but there is no trio spray deck.

Some models in our Touring section can be used in whitewater, while others are more specifically designed as open water kayaks. If you plan to run occasional class III, or even fairly continuous class II rivers, it's probably best to look at self bailing models, which leaves out the Star Paragon and all the Innovas below. The Superlynx is by far the best designed multi-purpose tandem, but it's spendy now at $2K.

A good touring inflatable will have as little resistance to the wind and water as possible, but it should not feel like it’s on the verge of tipping over. How fast do these boats go? It depends on the hull design of each model. The Sawtooth is quite fast at about 4.7 m.p.h., and from what we have heard (but not verified) the new Innova Rush 2 is pretty quick also. The slower boats above would be wide models with less streamlined hulls, like the AIRE Traveler and the Vagabond from Innova. The best inflatables are comparable to many plastic bodied sit-in kayaks. Some of the others here will be more akin to a decent folding frame boat, and a bit faster than some sit-on-tops. We will do our best to answer your questions regarding performance, but understand that headwinds and even wind coming at you sideways can slow an inflatable more than a low-freeboard hardshell.

Under certain conditions though, a well designed inflatable has advantages over it's plastic and fibreglass cousins due to additional safety factors. If you leave float bags out out of a rigid ocean kayak, it can sink. Self rescue and reboarding even with a paddle float is tricky. Climbing back into most of the models here on this page is pretty easy by compare. If you flip, just turn the boat upright and crawl back in. Another perk is the ease of air travel with inflatables. A long tandem hard hulled kayak is either not allowed at all, or if it is, the cost of round trip air transport tends to be prohibitive. And some paddlers just want to throw their boat in a trunk or in their fifth wheel and avoid dealing with a roof rack.

There are some brands we don’t carry, but many of these don’t really offer the value of what follows. It seems like the last eight or so years, many Chinese made Johnny-come-lately recreational inflatables have popped up, almost all of them with what could at best be described as mediocre performance. With the recent price drop and improvements on several Innova models, looking at many of these import lines no longer makes sense. There has been a trend for the floors on many imports to be made with high pressure drop stitch material, and for an angler who wants to stand up and cast, this can be a beneficial feature. That said, there are disadvantages as well. For one thing, sitting almost directly on something as hard as a floor pad inflated to 8 or 10 p.s.i. with only a thin camp chair style seat for padding can get uncomfortable very quickly. And in self bailing mode, many of these floors – at only four inches thick – tend to not be quite thick enough for a tandem to avoid swamping with two larger passengers. Also, compared to a traditional Innova or AIRE I-beam air mattress floor, lifespans for these high pressure pads tend to be about half. Finally, the design of many of the imports creates an area between the “sub-floor” and the drop stitch pad where sand and dirt and accumulate. This would also be true of the Star Paragon above.

All kayak accessories are priced at 10% off if purchased with the boat. If you buy multiple boats at the same time, or can pay with a cashier's check or bank wire transfer, we will also work with you on the numbers.