I have been playing around with a different seat set up that is more like a kayak and I now have a whole new set up, one piece foam seat, inflatable under-seat to protect the floor, molded hip pads that attache directly to the boat, foam bulkhead and two different foam floor set ups. Although not designed for extended hiking (bulky) I feel a lot safer about running big shallow drops on shorter trips with this set up and I have still kept the boat to 10.5 lbs even with all this stuff. All parts attach directly to the boat so no “yard sales”
I still need to try the system out, I have been making and piecing the parts together for a while but headed out tomorrow for some after work creeking with a couple good sizable vertical drops and some good bolder gardens so I`ll post some on our blog on how it works after that, but here are a few pictures of what I made.
Still working on making my rigid thigh braces but at the rate it is going I`m sure I will have mine done before Alpacka releases there new boat with them (how many years has it been now?).
Looks like you know the exact setup you’re after. I’ve come to a similar setup minus the ‘thigh hooks’–I don’t come from a hardshell background so I’ve not yet felt the desire to have my hips locked in place.
You seem to delight in taking potshots at Alpacka for, well, lots of things. Would you be happier if they released the WW boat and it was half-baked? You seem to maybe be under the impression that they owe you something?
I’ve paddled the new WW boat the last few weeks and it is really good. Out of the box it made me immediately demote my current Yak to “loaner” status, and that’s saying a lot given how much time I’ve spent dialing the Yak in. But performance, simplicity, weight, and durability are still being incrementally improved on the WW boat. I’m glad they’re not in a hurry to release the final product until it’s truly ready.
Alpacka makes a superb product, there is no denying that. The only problem most of us running whitewater have had is the sprayskirt.
If you are paddling a whitewater boat that is really" good, why isn’t it available yet?
Your statements make it seem that Alpacka is not releasing the boat because they are still making incremental improvements. You mean like the big butt sterns, whitewater spray deck, or the cargo fly? Like Apple, they have done a great job of improving enough every year to make me want to upgrade.
Why is the whitewater boats business model so drastically different?
I’m not an Alpacka spokesperson, so please take my comments as such.
Alpacka wants the boat to be right more than they want to release it by a set date. “It has been in the works for ~5 years now, why rush the last few months?” is the tagline I’ve heard spoken inside Alpacka.
I work in the bike industry and I see, daily, companies that rush their product to market without adequate testing or development, effectively using the consumer as their testers. I’ve been burned enough by this in the past, as a retailer and as end consumer, that I embrace any company that makes me wait longer and thus costs me less money and frustration.
I’m not going to answer on the specifics of what’s left to be improved because, quite frankly, I don’t know exactly. I’ve seen 4 different versions of the Diva (<-current name for the WW platform) and each of them has been easier and more intuitive to initially rig, as well as had incremental improvements to the hull shape. They’ve also gotten substantially lighter.
Like you, I’m saving my pennies and hoping that Alpacka will liberate them from me sooner than later.