Small Raft for Float Hunt. Recommendations?

[repins05]

Want to do a float hunt locally. Conditions - Low water and will be getting out (frequently) to pull raft in shallow water over rocks etc. Mostly class 1-2. CFS could be as low as 200.

I have only been on a raft on a river once which was last year. I lived on a lake so am familiar with oaring and controlling canoes, kayaks, aluminum boat, and calm water. I did a 4 day float last year in a 14' raft and did ok. Got stuck in a few places (as in the water being to deep to get out and push) with one being a little bit sketch. It is the same river that I plan to float this year. Anyway, I think I would be able to pick different lines and avoid a few of those spots.

Recommendation for a raft? Biggest concern is putting a hole in it and having to deal with patching it up. Would really like to avoid that scenario or at least reduce greatly reduce the odds of that happening.

Looking at alpacaraft forager and the pr-49. I can drive down to the river and launch where I am going to float. It would be nice to keep the weight down incase I wanted to pack it in the back country etc. However, I want to avoid tearing up the raft and patching it up. I have also been eyeing the Kork.

Summary - Raft that is durable (1000 denier?). Can pack an elk or muley out. Maybe fit two people if need be. Also like quick set up and take down of the raft itself.

 

[sniper61]

Look at pristine ventures. I'm looking at the larger one pioneer x stream. It looks nice for 2 guys ,camp and what we harvest.

 

[ColeyG]

I think the main question to answer is how important is it that the raft be packable, and/or how packable do you want it to be. The more lightweight and packable it is, the less durable it will be. The Alpaca rafts are incredibly durable for what they are, but I would not recommend dragging one over rocks/gravel with any weight in it. They won't hold up to that. Bouncing off the occasional boulder on your way down the river is no big deal. They do drag just fine over snow though. The floors aren't inflatable, so getting holes in the floor just means more water in the boat and patching them up is easy.

I've had two moose quarters and me in my Llamas which is fine on flat water, but far too much for anything technical or boney.

If the priority is more on durability and load carrying capacity and less on packability, the Pristine Ventures rafts are probably the way to go. They will tolerate a lot more abuse and you won't have to worry as much about sharp stuff when loading/unloading, etc.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My PR49 has hauled some moose, it’s been a solid raft.