Itinerant Air-Cooled

I've seen the photos; I know some folks are brave (tall) enough to hoist canoes onto the top of their bus, but there are just too many potential drawbacks for my liking. I kept my eyes peeled and found a good deal on a folding/inflatable one earlier this year and we gave it a run this past trip. Worked pretty well. Obviously it wouldn't be good for any serious paddling (or gear hauling) but it was great for just tooling around and exploring.



The whole unit packs down into a large duffel style bag. There's one segmented bladder in the floor and one on each "side" - the seat bottoms also inflate. The whole thing is covered in a heavy-duty canvas and the bottom has yet another thick rubber layer and some mini-keels.

I'm happy with it for the $150 I spent. I think we'll bring it on trips where we'll be at waterfront sites. Anyone else have any experience with these things? It's a weird sensation for someone used to a "rigid" vessel, it does tend to undulate a bit but it never felt unstable.

That is sweet! I didn't know they made such a thing!
We go canoeing or kayaking a few times a year. Love it!
I never tried putting a hard side canoe on the Bus but did hang one out the back once (with the Z-bed folded)...that was a mistake because we got exhaust fumes sucked into the cabin. Could have been bad.

It seems...flaccid...

hambone wrote:It seems...flaccid...

blow on it.

You guys are a riot. The canvas covering does look a bit poked in at the front but the inner sections are full. Here's a video I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgrEecVG3P8

We have a knockaround fiberglass canoe for fishing but this thing seems like a pretty good compromise for traveling.

We go on regular canoeing/float trips on the Spring river in Ar. Very mild class 1 at most. A friend of mines wife is from NY city and is terrified of this float, but went with the help of prescription tranquilizers. They choose to use a inflatable boat much like yours, and both years they dumped primarily due to the inflatable boat, and now the NY city wife refuses to go at all. I'm convinced if they had been in a regular canoe that they would not have dumped and she would still be floating today and even enjoying it.

We actually just got back from fishing in the fiberglass one and I have to say, honestly the inflatable one feels much more stable. I think it's because you sit down in the bottom more like a kayak instead of perched up high where you raise the center of gravity... That being said, any boat is liable to tip if you're not familiar enough with handling and maneuvering it. We've had enough practice that it's pretty well second nature but even so, sometimes on river trips when you hit a snag or a rock the current can move you in unexpected ways and you have to be ready to compensate.

I've flipped every type. Typically by underestimating the speed that I'm traveling toward where I don't want to go and not back paddeling soon enough.
What a great idea for traveling...much prefer this to a rubber raft.
I've got to look into these...we usually take smooth floats anyway.

My mom has an 18' cedar canoe that a guy made for her back in the 70's, we used to strap it on the bus and the old Volvo wagon with nary a problem - it even looks pretty cool traveling down the road (it has a Haida salmon painted on the bow). Our family took many camping trips in it when we were little kids on the Willamette. With our Thule rack (mine) or the Yakima rack (my parents), it never wobbled, you just don't drive fast.

Especially after a certain... Ehemm, "accident" involving the inflatable canoe known as Rubber Ducky, with Box Car, going in at full swing, I have a lot of honor in my heart for little rubber canoes.
Also, if you flip for some arbitrary reason - like me - they don't float away as fast either. :)