Alpacka is rolling out a new boat, which is essentially a Scout with a whitewater deck and cargo zip, called the Refuge. It has the same 10 inch tubes (the Classic series uses 12 inch tubes) and hull shape as the Scout. I own both Classic boats and a Scout and find the Classic boats are much faster and more sea worthy. They track better and require less effort to maintain speed. The 2 inch difference in tube diameter is also noticeable in terms of how much water can come over the sides. Some of that is because the Scout lacks a deck so the boarding seas are more noticeable, obviously. The Scout’s almost complete lack of a bow, and one which is barely upswept, makes putting any load on the bow (e.g., backpack) a problem. But the Refuge’s cargo zip seems to address this as now stuff can go inside. Even with no bow load, waves still slop over the front pretty easily on the Scout though.
I have thought for years that there was a hole in the Alpacka lineup in the form of a lighter, smaller-packing, yet expedition-worthy (by way of a deck) boat, and Alpacka seems to have agreed.
