Just scored a lightly used Yukon Yak after lusting after one for years! Sitting in it on my living room floor, I’ve got 2-3 inches of space between my heels and the front of the boat. Have done a moderate amount of kayaking and always wanted my feet jammed tight against the footpegs to get more feel and control. Shouldn’t the packraft fit the same? Thus I need to sell this and find an Alpaca? Say it ain’t so!
I’m 5’8", but my legs are kinda short, 32 inch pants are usually long on me. Any advice? I did read the Alpacka official sizing info carefully, but still not sure.
Sounds like it’s too big. You don’t want extra room in the boat.
What kind of water are you planning on running? Many people have found that moving the seat forward is beneficial for whitewater. Doing this and adding more cushion behind could be an option for you.
don’t one get more leverage by having the knees bent a little bit as opposed to having the legs flat against the raft bottom? Or should the proper fit have the foot against the bow tube and the legs slightly bent? Is this only useful in whitewater conditions? What about calm water?
What kind of boating are you doing with it? If it’s for bikerafting, you want some extra room up front to accommodate the bike, so the Yak may be the ticket. On flatwater the Yak tracks better than the Alpaca. If you still want to brace your feet against something then you can put a pack (if your boat doesn’t have a spraydeck) or something up front to take up the extra space. I often brace my feet against my pack which is clipped - using carabiners - to the four grab loops on the bow. The pack hangs down enough to plant my feet on it.