well, let me start by saying that i am not a newbie to packrafting. over the past few years myself and friends have packed sevylor caravelle rafts deep into the wind river backcountry for fishing high alpine lakes. most of these trips have been so successful that i lament every time i get to a pristine fishing spot sans raft. the downside to packing the raft is the weight. the 4 person raft we used to carry in sat 3 people, was very reliable, but weighed in at 16 lbs for the raft alone…yeesh. the last couple summers we downgraded to the 3 person caravelle which really seats 2 and weighs in around 8 lbs…still pretty hefty. i'm looking for something even lighter. i have read the numerous "reports" of the downsides to the sevylor trail boat. however, in all of these reports, it seems like the testers were taking these boats and pushing them well past their intended purposes..thus finding limitations. let me say first off that i am not looking to run ANY whitewater in a sevylor trail boat. i am a very seasoned whitewater kayaker (10+ years) who has run plenty of class V in my day, and the idea of taking a 3.5 lb sevylor raft thru even a class II rapid sounds like a dicey proposition to me. what i'm looking for is a boat that can safely float me along the banks of a calm lake, and mabye even make a 1/2 mile lake crossing without trying to drown me. i understand i will need to be leary of rocks and logs, etc. with the light materials used in the trail boat. i just want to know if the trail boat is even worthy enough a vessel to do what i am intending to do with it, which is just to gain better access for fishing in high alpine lakes and mabye make a crossing or two. any owners out there that can comment on this subject?
i realise that getting an alpacka raft would alleveiate all problems, etc. however, spending over $800 on a raft to float flatwater seems a a bit overkill to me. i understand that an alpacka does have the added benefit of being able to run some moderate whitewater (class III), however as i said before this is not of much interest to me. most of the rivers/whitewater along the way of where i will be hiking are so gnarly that i would need a full on creek boat to survive safely, so anything outside of flatwater floating ability is overkill. so what do you guys think? will a sevylor trail boat work for what i am looking for? should me and my buddy just suck it up and carry the 8lb caravelle and redistribute the other gear to even out pack weights?
