Inflatable canoe/boat

[Nathan]

I'm thinking of adding an inflatable boat/canoe to our kit.

Mainly for just those random occasions where you arrive at a nice deserted lake or river and the urge grabs you... An inflatable one seems more practical than lugging around a fiberglass canoe on the roof.

I've never owned anything like this before - or indeed any boat of any sort! Has anyone had any experience or tips they'd like to share?

Thanks,

Nathan

[Michael2]

I got an inflatable boat from Aldi, it carries 4-5 people. It's fun, but it takes a while to inflate and so doesn't get used as much. Then I got a plastic kayak from Anaconda (1/2 price impulse buy) and it's been really good. I just slide it on the rack whenever we go to the beach, or camping. It's pretty light and takes no time to launch. It'll carry one adult and 1-2 kids depending on size. When camping with other families I take both, otherwise the kayak gets preference now. As the family grows, I'd be tempted to get a proper inflatable boat with a small outboard

[DeeJay]

It might be a bit too serious for your needs, but I have wanted to have one of these for a while now..

Flatout Boats (http://www.flatoutboats.com.au/features.php)

[GlenM]

These guys use an inflatable kayak that looks pretty sweet.

2 Gringos in the Caribbean (http://2gringos.blogspot.com/)

[isuzu110]

I owned a Sevylor TX390 2 man inflatable canoe about 10 years ago. Sides were heavy duty Zodiac type material with thinner floor. I owned it from new.

In the end, the floor was holed too easily and the inflatable seats were always going down. It was a heavy sucker (1000mm x 600mm x 250mm) when packed up. Took 7 minutes to inflate. Was not the easiest to paddle as you sat quite low and had to reach over a wide section to get your paddle into the water. Did not glide through flat water. Wind affected it easily. Was fun in the surf, but not a lot of control.

I now have a canadian canoe.

[THE BOOGER]

I have a coleman 4 man inflatable only used it once too long to inflate and deflate to pack up now have on "old town" canoe from amazon just toss it on top of the camper gets used much more often and not worried about hooks if fishing:D
PS its polly so is almost unbreakable

[Jim621]

It might be a bit too serious for your needs, but I have wanted to have one of these for a while now..

Flatout Boats (http://www.flatoutboats.com.au/features.php)

Does anyone know prices for these boats? ive seen them before and am quite interested..

[richard4u2]

was down at the beach one day and saw a bloke put his inflatable into the water he went back to get some gear along came the wind and off went his boat , dont think he got it back

[waynep]

I've often thought about getting one of those inflatables from Anaconda, they have ones with a plinth on back that can take a small outboard.

We currently use an old Canadian canoe with a 2hp outboard.

The canoe, because it is long and narrow, is great for rivers and exploring up small tributaries. With an inflatable it would be trickier because of the width, and I'd be worried about spiking it on snags and overhanging branches.

We normally put the canoe on the roofrack right side up, and pack stuff inside it. If it rains we just put a tarp over top.

I'd love one of these Coleman "scanoes"

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=S16M010&categoryid=66001