Hello,
First post on the Packrafting Forums.
My brother-in-law and I have been paddling/camping for years. We generally keep to small lakes/rivers in Ontario, with our main focus primarily on camping, hiking, and fishing. We have a large fibreglass canoe that has served us well over the years. We will generally drop off via truck at access points and then paddle around the waterways.
Our most recent trip to Algonquin Provincial Park was what initially drew my attention to the world of packrafting. Our canoe is big and heavy. With a 4km portage dragging, lifting, floating, and lugging this thing along the way, I knew there had to be another way - that’s when I learned about packrafting.
We are looking at purchasing our packrafts in the near future but want to make sure that we don’t buy more than we need, but also have a craft that will handle the terrain we throw at it.
Naturally, we have gravitated to Alpacka rafts, as they seem to be the standard.
We have gravitated toward the Scout model as it seems to fit our interests - no white water rafting in our future. We just want something that will handle some mild rivers, and of course some open lake fishing.
What can you tell me about the capabilities of the Scout model? Does it sound like it would fit our needs? In the event that we want to graduate to some very minimal, lower class rapids in the future, would this boat still hold up?
I essentially don’t want us to purchase a craft that we will ‘grow out of’.
Thanks.
