We used the Alpacka Rafts, Denali Llama (Large model). They had a cruiser deck option and were specced with the ‘cargo fly’.
Alpacka Llama with cruiser deck / Photo: Damian Stones
These boats are a superb design, fast, stable and easy to paddle. The cruiser deck was a little cumbersome pushing the buoyancy vest up around your neck but kept most of the water out, we also had 2 boats w the self-bailing floor which is superior in white water.
Alpacka Rafts are at the leading edge and were the originals made by the Tingeys' formley of Alaska and recently moved to Colorado, most others are copies especially the boat design. The Tingeys are still very active in boat design and almost all of Alpacas models have had a recent redesign.
Self-bailing packraft
The best feature by far was the Cargo Fly which is a dry zip on the pontoon which comes with ultralight dry bags to put all your gear inside and then zip up before inflating. This keeps your centre of gravity lower and keeps all your valuable kit out of harm's way, inside the boat. Of course, this was essential for this trip because the bow of the boats was occupied by bikes!
“ I had very limited experience in packrafts before commencing training for this expedition but given how stable and manoeuvrable the alpaca boats are, anybody could become proficient with only a limited amount of paddling experience. I was anxious about the ability of the packraft to carry a bike while still being able to negotiate solid grade 3 white water. It only took a couple of swift flowing, boulder choked kilometres to reassure me that these boats are totally capable ”
Photo: Damian Stones
“ Below is my Denali Lama pack raft which I used in the film trip. This is a self-bailing pack raft; it has holes in the floor of the raft, which lets out the water when it comes over the sides. The real benefits of self-bailing pack raft are in higher grade white water (grade 3) where white water is coming over the top of the raft regularly. This raft also has a number of white water accessories, whitewater foot brace, upgraded backband and padded seat, thigh straps kit which definitely helps me feel more secure having a bike frame on board and to assist with navigation through white water river features. ”
Back of the Denali Lama packraft showing the cargo fly / Photo: Damian Stones