by farefam » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 8:25 pm
Yep, go for it Lizzy. I'm a recent convert to packrafting (combining it with bushwalking) and it has opened up a whole new world of opportunities and big adventures.
A PFD is essential at all times on or next to the water. You can never have too much personal buoyancy in my opinion if you go overboard in whitewater or a big swell or surf as it's not always quick or easy to be able to get back into an overturned or flooded raft. A helmet is essential. A PLB worn on your body is essential. 4 piece paddle is very good if you need to walk in to start a trip or have to do big portages. A sleeveless wetsuit and spray jacket are useful in whitewater or coldish sea water as are wool socks and thermals (if you're not going the drysuit route).
Decent safety equipment isn't expensive and sooner or later you'll be very, very glad you were wearing it.
Agree about getting some instruction as well (I learnt on bigger rafts and in a sea kayak before I purchased my Alpacka).
Ideally find a rafting buddy but if you do go out on your own (as I usually do, not by choice I might add, just due to a lack of adventure buddies) tell someone where you are, keep your wits about you at all times and take a very conservative approach to risk taking like I do and you should be alright.
One other thing. If anyone owns a raft with a zipper for storing gear inside the raft tubes, then it is absolutely essentially that you take a supply of zipper lubricant with you on any multi-day trip. Because in my experience, if the zipper becomes dry it may not close properly anymore, making the raft unable to be inflated and thus completely useless. Ti-zip is the usual recommended lubricant but isn't easy to find in stores (can order it on line though), but a tap lubricant such as hydroseal from hardware stores is readily available and works sufficiently well as a substitute for Ti-zip. You can also use a solid lubricant stick such as you can get from auto stores, although the solid lubricant did seem to allow some air to slowly leak through the zip on the one time I tried that product. A roll of Tyvek tape or Gorilla tape is also essential in case you get a tear in your raft. Having said that, on two recent 12 and 17 day trips I did find the Alpcacka Yukon raft incredibly tough and no repairs were needed (just zip lubrication from time to time). But you must always have the repair kit as it would be hellish to try to walk out of some remote destinations!
Last edited by
farefam on Tue 26 Feb, 2019 5:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.