Golden Age Nostalgia

After reading Luc Mehl's guest blog at the Alpacka web site I indulged in some nostalgia from 2009-2010.

If you're reading this, then you really should go read Luc's post. I found it flattering and a bit of a vignette of what I, self-centeredly, consider the Golden Age of packrafting.

Golden in that it was a big leap forward. Golden in that Brad Meiklejohn urged us into Embick's  Class IV and V creeks. Golden in that real boaters Tim Johnson, Paul Schauer, and Thai Verzone led us down and plucked us out. Golden in that I started hitting whitewater centers beyond Alaska with the boat born in Alaska and now ready for the world: NZ, Grand Canyon, Australia's Franklin, Appalachians.

But the world was not ready. Haters were everywhere and even Alpacka wanted nothing to do with thigh straps.

"Why would a packrafter being going down a class 3/4 river like this, ever? Not only that, these guys are wearing drysuits because the water is cold - and I can't imagine a lightweight hiker wanting to bring one along on his trip. 

Seriously, I think you've missed the point of this video completely. It's about paddling in big groups that have sufficient resources to perform a rescue and using the skills that are taught in whitewater rescue classes properly. It's not about boat design.

I've kayaked big water for years and backpack/hike and the combination of packrafts and big water is a bozo no-no in my opinion. It seems like the packraft community is rediscovering everything the ww kayak community has known for years about the dangers of ww kayaking. Please stick to class 1 rivers and ponds for your own safety, and don't paddle in cold water without the proper thermal protection."

And a kayaker's response to thigh straps and packrafts in 2009. 

 ‘In a packraft, at least IMO, they seem like more than is necessary even at the upper end of whitewater. IMHO if you feel you need thigh straps you should probably think about improving your technique or further developing your skills. Weather it be reading the water better and seeing the clean lines and hitting them or simply spending more time in the raft, one needs to have skills. Given their design, there are just certain things that will be difficult no matter what you do. eg big holes on big water. These things are already about as idiot proof as it gets. Don't get me wrong, there are probably a hand full of people that could really push what is possible in a packraft with thigh straps, but for most it will simply be a substitute for skill and ultimately not help them in the long run. In fact I'd be willing to bet that most packrafters would not be able to roll a raft even if they were glued into the thing. It is certainly more difficult than a kayak by a long shot. Not to mention much harder on one's shoulders as well.’

But maybe like bad brush and cold water, some of us just felt that these nasty-grams were challenges to overcome and now that they are overcome, I find myself sitting back, older, and trying to just get out of the way.

1. My Packrafting! book is out of print.
2. Falcon Guidebooks sells a new book about packrafting.
3. Thor and Sarah Tingey have transformed Alpacka with a boat for every kind of water and even a mountain bike boat.
4. There are maybe even a dozen other packraft manufacturers.
5. My testosterone has drained away leaving me somewhat flacid when it comes to whitewater.
6. But it doesn't matter because there are plenty of bad-asses out there, 
• including former kayakers and
• hard-core packrafters-first who now use kayaks to improve their packrafting.

It's been great to watch and even greater to be part of it.

My own history with whitewater in packrafts can be covered in six videos. The first couple of videos are sort of accidental. But starting at the end of  2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 I posted on You Tube the greatest hits I'd been involved with each year. 

2008 was the year of whitewater discovery. 
2009 was the year of whitewater exploration.
2010 was the year of thigh straps that made us feel like real boaters.
2011 was the year of extended sterns that felt like cheating.

(January 2000) Taking a Sherpa Packraft down a stream in Pumalin Park, Chile before I'd actually got my butt in an Alpacka.

(January 2008)  Hermit to Havasu with Gordy and Cody Roman in the Grand Canyon. Up to say 2008, Cody Roman and I going down Ship Creek's canyon repeatedly and sniffing out some other runs elsewhere, was about it for whitewater. Then I started paddling with Brad.

(2008)  was the year I finally found someone other than Cody Roman who wanted to do Ship Creek more than once. The music was Radiohead's National Anthem, a song and band Roman introduced to me and the song captured the hectic feel of the early days of whitewater in packrafts. But YouTube stripped the song....so now it's the canned version of what they offer.

(2009) By the Fall of  2009 the packrafting revolution was getting started with Brad, Thai, Luc, Gordy, Tony, Becky, JT and others hitting it hard in Southcentral AK. It was when Tim Johnson and Paul Schauer and Thai Verzone, Class V kayakers all, joined us.

These guys, as Mike Curiak recently wrote, made me feel as though they were "participating in an entirely different sport -- one filled with grace and control and poise, where by comparison I feel like I just bludgeon and hack my way through while trying to survive."

This one doesn't play on phones, I guess because nobody's made enough money yet off the half-century old Beatles classic, Revolution (although it plays on computers in the US). It's worth watching on a 'puter, by the way, with the sound track.

(2010) Ah yes, the struggle with Alpacka over thigh straps. We were the Devil:  dangerous, reckless, a real pain in the butt-boats of Alpacka, but in the end we were right. Maybe, just maybe, our devilish ways got the "Witchcraft" started, a black boat you might catch a glimpse of in this next video somewhere, and that is the ancestral boat of Alpacka's Lips and Gnarwall boats. Or maybe it was really the handful of "Media Feliz" paddlers down in CO that motivated the development. Still, I like to think it was us, the 20 or 30 people in Alaska packraft-paddling Six Mile and Little Su and Ship Creek and Bird that pushed whitewater boat development at Alpacka. But again, probably just my narcissism playing tricks on my ego!

(2011) With the new long stern boats of 2011 it was almost a new sport. It was like in the 1980s when sticky rubber (particularly the Fires) hit rock or when foot fangs and plastic boots hit ice, or when leashless tools hit both rock and ice, whenever that happened. We had the new longer stern boats that erased bandersnatching as a concept and instead launched us out of sticky holes, leaning forward into the modern boats we've known for years. It also ended my year-end video making recaps, as then Luc Mehl and Mike Curiak were there to pick up my stringy end of the tapestry and weave it with finer artistry.

And there we have it. Six footnotes to "Show up and Blow up: Alaska"!

Ten Pound Packraft

That's been the limit some of us set as a max weight on a packraft. And now I am there.

My 2011 Llama came heavy, with its extra heavy duty spray deck, made from fabric nearly as beefy as the tubes, plus a fat four inches of velcro down its tall waist-wrap. It arrived weighing around 7 pounds.

Then I added a thick poly-pro line to the bow and stern so I don't get separated from my boat like this guy does. In the past, the "chicken line" went right round, but for creeking, just fixing the four front together with poly-pro and the back two seems both necessary and sufficient.

All last season it had beefy metal D-rings for thigh straps fore and aft, anchoring thick, padded Aire Deluxe Thigh Straps. I added sticky-back velcro stabond-glued on the inside tubes to hold an early 2000's style seat as a beefy backrest. This brought it up to over eight pounds

And most recently, in anticipation of creeking on long slides and big drops back East, I added a cut-to fit 1/2 inch closed cell foam lining, a 12" x 12" minicell pad under the stock seat and an 8"x8" foot pad.

The next mod may well be replacing the thigh straps with knee cups, which may take it back down again.

Thigh straps and the locations of D-Rings

Motivated by Ben King who asked about thigh straps and D-rings:

For those outfitting their boats, I put the front metal D-rings pretty low (just below the curve of the tube but maybe a couple inches from the floor) and far forward (in my Yak my feet can push against the tubes while wearing the straps). I think lower is better for forward ones and rear ones are limited by valve placement in my old boats.

The dimensions on deflated boats are as follows:

My Yak: Center of metal D-rings in bow are 8 inches above floor and 3 inches forward of the the second seam from the front. Center of metal D-rings at my hips are 6.5 inches above rear end of front seat seam and 4 inches forward of the the hip seam.

I have two Llamas with thigh straps: (1) My boat has bow D-ring center 4 inches above the floor and 3 inches forward of second seam from the front. Hip D-ring center is 8 inches above rear end of front seat seam and 4 inches forward of the the hip seam. (2) Loaner boat has bow D-ring center 6 inches above the floor and 4 inches forward of second seam from the front. Hip D-ring center is 8 inches above rear end of front seat seam and 4 inches forward of the the hip seam. I use Aire Brand thigh straps and D-rings.

Remember to move your seat forward or you may find yourself getting pulled off the seat and onto hard rocks -- OUCH!

Motivated by Moe Witschard:

"I put thigh straps in my Alpacka and LOVE them. Used them on the middle fork flathead trip. Need to do a little fine tuning on tailbone padding and some sort of foot brace, but I think it's just great."

My response: "What you need to do is move your seat forward. Take a seem splitter and take out the seam that sews the seat to the boat. There are four attachments, two in the front and two in the back. If you attach th rear tabs on the seat to the front tabs on the boat you'l be more centered and protect your tail bone. Then you will want an Explorer seat and velcro that in as a backrest to fill the space you made behind your back. I have done this one three boats and am preparing to do it on two more -- everyone who tries it really likes it."

More from Moe: " Am considering moving the seat forward as I can see how that would be a boon. I have a side opening skirt from two generations ago- much better than the current skirt. Have you seen any mods to this skirt that would accomodate the more forward seat?"

My reply: "Ah yes, the skirt. That may need some additional velcro, both to help from blowing out and to give the additional fabric needed to accommodate the knees pulled up. There is 4 inch wide velcro available. I have someone sew the 4 inch all around the skirt and then glue some 2 inch wide velcro on the boat next to the stock velcro. The additional velcro helps prevent the skirt from opening up, as the knees are going to put more tension on the skirt and so make it come open even easier than it does now. It's especially important to get that side velcro beefed up, the stuff that comes to the top opening."

And....

1) what glue do you use to glue the velcro to the boat.

I use the same glue that I put the patches in for the thigh straps -- Stabond? forget right now....the velcro has a sticky back and if you clean the boat with MEK and then glue, it stays on. I don't use sticky back for sewing as it gooes up the needle.

2) I assume you glue the fuzzy velcro strip on the side away from the
paddler, i.e. toward the side of the boat from the existing strip. Correct?

I use the same hook/pile orientation that is already on the boat when doing skirts. When doing my seat and back rest, I put pile side on boat and hook side on seat and backrest. When I glue velcro on the boat for the seat, I put it up on the tubes at the same elevation that the boats have the seat attachement sewn.

3) who does your velcro sewing? I wonder if I could make an appt. with them to get the extra velcro put on before we go boating. I could show up with the fuzzy velcro strip already glued and with an explorer seat in hand.

Eric Parsons.....bring a meal, a six pack of good bear, and a $50 bill and maybe he'll do it on the spot -- if he can be spotted!

If others would like to measure and comment on their thigh strap locations, that would be useful information that many could use.

More on Mods

D-Ring Placements Thigh straps attach to the boat at D-rings at the foot and the hip. I’d like to move my foot still farther forward in a Super-Llama so that I can push my feet onto the front tube, like I do in a strapless-Yak. But the spraydeck opening for my torso in my stock, center-opening Llama will not allow this. It would be nice if Alpacka would join the revolution and help rectify this, by moving the seat and the spray deck opening maybe six inches or more. If I could move the foot end of the thigh strap, I’d move the hip end forward, too, and get it away from the topping-valve (it’s an old boat) and experiment with high vs. low placement of the hip-end. You see some times when I am upside down, one leg will slip out of the thigh strap and I cannot roll up. I also still do a bit of high-bowing when dropping and so think I need to be even more forward than I am in my Super-Llama.

Alpacka are you listening? Ideally, we need three more boats with variable placement of thigh-straps and then people to try them out, first during pool-sessions to see what rolls easiest, then in Six-Mile, Canyon and Bird Creeks to see what paddles best. These would, of course, be center-opening Llamas (to make it easier to get back in) with “inner-bladder technology” on the waist of the spraydeck (to keep water from coming in over the top of the skirt), plus mondo Velcro (to keep water from coming in through the skirt opening).

Velcro Another drawback to thigh-straps with stock spraydecks is that your knees will be up, not straight or extended, so that the spraydeck may not be wide enough to close solidly. You need to extend the width of the spraydeck with more Velcro. Sure it adds weight, but it will keep it dryer inside the boat, much drier. I think the stock Velcro comes as narrow as one, single inch on some models of spray-deck, which is being ounce-wise and pound-foolish in my opinion.

So if you plan to add Velcro to your spraydeck, be sure to EXTEND the width of the spray deck with it. This means you have to sew some backing on your Velcro.

Escape Loop I have so much Velcro on the spraydeck waist that I worried the original pull loop wouldn’t free me so I had Eric Parsons sew another loop on. This ripped off ehen I grabbed it on some NZ river when I was upside down and freaking out about being swept over the next Class IV+ rapid. So that needs some more work.

Wear and Tear The thigh-strap generated wear at the feet seems to be easily -- and literally -- patched. I got the biggest hole of the trip not at the feet, but when a small gravel pebble slipped between the tube and the bottom deck and wore a ¼ inch hole in the floor before I found it. A future mod may be to take a strip of fabric and glue it around the tube-floor contact area to prevent accumulation of wear-inducing sand/gravel there.

Another mod I’d really like to do is to urethane the bottom and the sides. However, this requires some aggressive fabric treatment and I need to get fabric to test first. It will add more weight to the boat, but for creeking, this weight will make the boat far more durable. I am willing to go to just under ten pounds with a boat. That’s the ceiling for me.

Drying Gear and Boats On the subject of ounce-wise and pound-foolish, it’s really worth it before carrying your boat after boating to dry it thoroughly. This means all your wet clothes too. NZ and Wyoming and Mexico are awesome for drying gear with their sunshine and dry air. When Forrest McCarthy’s doing multi-day trips, he plans his days to end with a boating session and start with a hike, giving him time to dry out the boat. Gordy Vernon likes to stop early enough that his boat dries so he can sleep on it. By the way, with thigh straps you can get a boat bigger than you’d normally use and so it’s long enough to sleep on. My Yak is uncomfortable but my Super-Llama is SUPER for sleeping – it even fits inside my tent.

Like most boaters, I take my throw rope and wrap it round and round with a no-knot on two trees then hang my clothes, LJ, and other wet stuff to dry. Scott Solle says to turn dry-suits inside out and dry them that way and I like that ‘cause it keeps from getting so stinky. I also remove the thigh straps and hang them from the throw rope to dry. Because my Super-Llama has Velcro seat and backrest, I pull those out and inflate them and babysit them in the sun as they dry, while I take the deflated boat and hang that as follows to drip dry first.

Drying the Boat. First I take the uninflated boat and fold it from bow to stern with the bottom floor inside the fold so the inside of the boat is facing out, to allow the water to drain. The water will pool inside where the tubes meet the floor so I pull on the tubes to make it so that the water drains freely and the seam of tube-floor is visible at the fold in the boat. Then I hang this boat that’s folded inside out from the “chicken lines” at the bow and stern so the inside water drains freely out.

Later, I inflate the boat and dry it in the sun, rotating and baby-sitting the boat so it doesn’t get over-inflated by the sun and being sure to get all the moisture out. I stand it on end and use a sponge to get the inside water that didn’t drain during the initial inside-out, folded, hang-dry described above.

All the money you spent on superlight stuff doesn’t matter if the gear is soaked with water, so take the time to dry your stuff before you travel. Your back, feet, and nose will be thankful you did.

More on Paddles A bunch of us bought Werner Powerhouse Paddles in a 4-piece. It has a really large blade area and a few times in NZ I felt – especially when backpaddling in upper Class IV – that it was almost unwieldy, that it grabbed too much water. On the other hand my old Shuna didn’t grab enough water. As for length, I have said this many times before, but if you are moved forward by thighstraps and repositioned seat, a shorter paddle (mine is 197 cm) is easier to use especially in the narrow confines of low water creeking. If you are paddling flat water and kicked back in your boat without thigh straps a long paddle (I like 215 cm) is better.

Back to Ounce-wisdom and Pound-foolishness I am curious why people carry the big fat NRS straps with the honkin buckles? These straps are made for lashing coolers to big rafts and hardshells to roof-tops, not gear to packrafts. Why not get a lightweight, ladder-buckle strap at REI? Similarly, why are people using 1 inch tubular webbing on bow and/or stern as lines for lining? That stuff is twice as thick as needed and soaks up water like a sponge and takes ages to dry out. Those ladder-buckle straps work best (if it helps convince you, these are what Hig and Erin use). And while I am ranting, I am also baffled by the idea of using carabiners to clip dry bags to the tie downs. Carabiners seem not only heavy, but don’t make the load fast (in that it still slops around and your load is better if it’s super static). More importantly if they are not locking, then they sometimes grab things they shouldn’t (like branches) and could actually grab you by a lose loop on your clothing (think drawstrings, shoelaces).

Anyway, these are some thoughts, observations, and experiences I thought I’d share while I have an audience who’s interested.

(Photos by and/or of Gavin Mulvay -- Thanks Gav!)

My Pimped-out Ride is Sweet!

Before heading south to NZ last month I tricked out my main boat. My main boat is now a big, old Llama, after nearly a decade of mostly middle-sized Yak paddling.

Before you read any farther, I warn you: this post is not about a packraft for running the occasional Class IV. If that's all you are interested in is Class III, maybe the occasional Class IV, then this stuff below likely doesn't really apply. The stock Alpacka boats are pretty much all you need.

But if you've got the adenaline itch......read on! These mods are the best I've used.

Earlier descriptions provide details on my boat mods as motivated by Tim Johnson, with help from Epic Eric Parsons and Tracy Harmon at Alaska Raft and Kayak. Here I'll briefly describe how the mods performed on my trip to New Zealand and Fiji last month.

Besides me in the black-decked Llama, six other people paddled three other packrafts, each with thigh straps. One boat was my old red Yak with its side-opening, '08 deck and another was an orange-deck, center-opening yellow Llama. All three of the boats I brought had thigh-straps and seats moved forward. Five different people, including Erik Tomsen, who might have some pertinent comments (Erik?) paddled these three boats. The last boat, a blue Yak, had its seat in the stock position and thigh straps (one person -- Tim Johnson -- comments Tim?).

My personal stats using these mods from Jan 6 -- Feb 3 in Fiji (briefly) and NZ (longer) are these:

15 runs = 2 class II runs + 6 class III runs + 7 class IV runs

2 first descents (Sabine and Upper S. Fork Mokihinui)

5 roadside runs, 1 helo run, 9 walk-in runs

~70 hours on water packrafting (but not always “pack rafting” -- packrafting is a style of boating; pack rafting is carrying your pack on a raft)

~65 hours raft packing (walking-in)

6 non-motorized boat trips = 5-day hike and raft trip (Landsborough) + 4-day hike and raft trip (Nelson Lakes NP) + 3-day hike and raft trip (Mokihinui) + 2 over-night hike and raft trips (Arahura, Taipo) + 1 day-long hike and raft trip (Oparara)

7 motorized boat trips (1 river boat, 1 helicopter, 5 automobile)

8 You-Tube videos

To begin with, the bigger boat is much more stable in bigger water as well as in radical, low-volume rapids than the smaller Yak is -- but without the mods this Super-Llama has, I'd be slopping around in the boat and/or hitting my bum on rocks, and/or bander-snatching like crazy. A Llama, for me, without something to keep me in place, is stable but harder to control. Thigh straps and the moved seat make the big boat super maneuverable.

Here are the mods:

First are the thigh straps.

These pull me forward off the stock placement of the seat, so I fixed that seat problem with Epic Eric's sewing and solved some other problems.

Tim Johnson, too, gets pulled off his seat, but hasn't fixed the problem. Consequently, Tim hit his butt so hard that he walked a bunch of rapids on the Arahura, rapids that wonky ole' me RAN, not 'cause I was more skilled, but just 'cause I was un-bruised.

It's probable that putting in thigh straps is going to be a big point of inertia for most Alpacka users and a still smaller subset will actually cut their seat out and move it forward -- which is really too bad.

Fat thigh straps and a more centered seat pretty much end bandersnatching dismounts. Watch some of the NZ videos on YouTube (Arahura where Tim has thighstraps but has not moved seat and Landsborough, Taipo, Oparara, Nelson Lakes, and Mokinihui where seats are moved in all boats and all boats have thigh straps) and see how many flip over backwards. Very rare now, with sideways upsets now being more common. That's because of thighstraps.

BTW, the thigh straps in three boats I used as demos in NZ (used by five people on many different rivers and trips of hours to days) all wound up with substantial wear in the FEET AREA. Holes developed there because the hard hiking-shoe soles hit rocks and the feet wearing the shoes are forced more downward onto the floor of the boat by the thigh straps. I got more wear there at the feet in each of the three boats in a month of paddling than in the butt sections over the multi-year life of the three boats.

Second most important mod was the seat cut free and now velcroed in. Yes I glued 2-inch wide velcro to the seat and to the boat and now the seat moves and comes out. Makes it better for drying when it comes out and for repairs.

Third, I have a big, beefy back rest, also with velcro holding it in place. I reckon that my backrest is the same size and dimensions as an Explorer seat. The boat is now supremely comfy. No numb legs, super back support, and super control and stability. Sometimes when I look at it it looks as inviting as a sofa-lounge chair.

Fourth, I glued some "strap plates" onto the bottom of the boat about between my knees and strap the BEST SIZED DRY BAG (15 L) right there with a strap. Oh my, does that make the boat feel like a dreamy, fantasy rock shoe (snug and fitting with control and no pain)! With thigh straps and that drybag full of overnight gear I am set for backcountry Class IV. The boat is much more nimble than with weight on the bow. The weight is centered by the center of gravity. SWEET!

Fifth is for FIVE INCHES of VELCRO on a center opening spray deck. I get out fine (thank you) when upside down underwater with thigh straps, the mondo-velcro and the drybag. This is the second secret to a dry boat (the first is be smart about where and how you paddle in whitewater); the third secret is listed below.

Sixth is the bi-modal "fun-rail". More experienced boaters than I had commented/warned on the danger of foot entrapment on the full fun-rail. So, even though I had glued on a total of ten tie downs, I cut two off (the ones where my hands paddle) and now just use the four in front and the four in the back for 1/4 inch polypro line that doesn't go around the mid section of the boat (just the bow and stern -- four patches in both places -- check the photos). I find this really useful to grab onto so I don't get flushed away from my boat and have now, in real combat situations, towed swimmers with the rear rail. I thought I'd miss the mid-line rail, but do not miss it at all; however, having chicken line on bow and stern seems necessary to me now.

Seventh is the third secret to a really dry boat: two sleeves/pockets with velcro closures on either side of the center closing velcro at the top of the skirt. Each pocket holds a partially inflated 2 L Platypus bag, although any plastic stiffener would likely work. This is simply awesome. Oh what's that I hear? the water dam on your spray deck is dependent on the PFD you use? Yes, that's true, so...

....while not boat mods, if you are wanting to stay dry in whitewater consider a "two piece" whitewater LJ (i.e. life jacket), the kind with front and back foam but connected without side foam. Then wear it so the front foam is high and you will have an amazingly dry boat. Also, if you want to paddle white water Class IV, then get a stiff kayak paddle. People I have paddled with who have a 4-piece "packraft paddle" (like Aqua-bound) and a ONE-PIECE Werner (or other glass/carbon fiber) kayak paddle find that the "real" kayak paddle so much better that they are willing to carry in the one piece instead. Let me reiterate that: they have the choice of paddles and even for a multi-day trip of walking they bring the real paddle after using the Aqubound paddle in whitewater.

Again, if you are just paddling Class III and the occasional IV and are a basher and a smasher, stick with the Aqua-bound; if you are easy on stuff and paddling Class II/III, go with the Sawyer. But if you want to get hooked on the white stuff get a real paddle (4 piece, short one), a real whitewater helmet (not a bike or adventure racing helmet), some elbow pads, some swiftwater rescue training, then paddle with tolerant kayakers and get after it.

Be careful. The addiction is hard to kick.

Thigh straps and rolling continued.

First off, they are rolling their packrafts in Europe!

Secondly, Alpacka's Sheri Tingey says in the Alpacka Forum to make sure you use Urethane-based D-ring patches.

Third, Luc Mehl has now got his roll at about 90-95%. His friend Dmitry was near 100% last week. I lag at a solid 50%, but managed several easily with 10 pounds in my boat: 5 pounds between my knees and lashed to the floor and 5 pounds behind my back in place of a backrest, again using the 15 L WXTex dry bags and accessory lash straps.

Also over at Backpackinglight.com in the packrafting forum is a good post by Richard Nisley on lightweight dry bottoms and top for cold weather packrafting instead of a full-on dry suit.

Pimping my ride.

This packrafting thing is eating me alive.

I'm paddling when I should be skiing -- and in a pool, no less, -- buying expensive, new stuff, like a 3 oz Tenkara fly-fishing rod to fit inside a 2 lb Sawyer packrafting paddle, and an airplane ticket to New Zealand. But most importantly I am modifying my boat, working on a Llama to make it the best wilderness whitewater boat in the world.

Now that I have rolled a packraft multiple times (more than a dozen!), and at about 50% success (albeit in a pool,) I wanna do it again and again. It's a fantastic feeling to be upside down and then roll on up, and "plop"! Super satisfying. It's like I have fallen in love with my boat all over again.

Last night four of us rolled over and over again in the APU pool.

Dmitry even rolled on his off-side, Luc rolled six times in a row, I rolled with a 5 pound load strapped between my knees, which, of course, Dmitry was able to do with strapped on his bow. Awesome!

By the way, Luc used Alpacka tie-downs for his thigh straps to save weight (1/4 oz vs. 1 0z) and money ($5 vs $15), but one ripped in half and off the boat last week! Word is they are only good to 300 lbs of force. He's back to the heavy D-ring wide diameter patches the rest of us have.

The Llama I am setting up for a month in New Zealand is a center opening, mid-oughts model (2006? My red boat is a 2005), pre-zipper, pre-backrest, pre-codpiece. Of course, it has thigh straps in the locations proven to work with a roll. The foot end of the thigh strap is near the floor, nine inches from the center bow seam, and the rear attachment is just above the valve, 33 inches away, remarkably similar to the inseam length of the Levi's I wear as I write this, which, as I am 49 years old, do not sag.

These thigh straps weigh a pound stock, so I took a tool to them and clipped off the big plastic buckles and trimmed off the 2-inch webbing, but left the loops that once held the plastic buckles and sliders. To attach the thigh straps I used shortish (like 12 inch) friction buckle accessory straps, 3/4 inch wide. Much lighter, and much more versatile than sewn on 2-inch. The thigh straps now weigh 11 oz. But they lack the quick release mechanism.

Next I set the seat free by cutting the stitches, then sewed the rear tab on the seat to the forward tab on the boat, conveniently moving the seat forward to just below the rear thigh strap attachment.

So what benefits does this give me? First it centers me in the boat making the bandersnatch less likely and allowing me to use a shorter paddle (197 cm, Werner Powerhouse, 37.8 oz, 4 piece), as I now sit forward and paddle over the narrowest part of the boat. The old placement of my seat put me paddling over the WIDEST part of the boat. This way I lighten the rear end of the boat, balancing the boat better, allowing use of a shorter paddle, and opening up gear storage space in back. It should reduce bandersnatching -- I checked this on Six Mile's 2nd and 3rd Canyons a month or so ago with my red boat and it's certainly true -- a centered seat equals a more balanced boat.

Ask anyone about Alpacka design issues and most mention that the Alpacka is too "back-heavy".

There are three typical responses to this design flaw:

(1) "Put weight on/in the bow." I think this is a a sub-optimal solution in whitewater. I need a light boat that responds quickly to my paddle strokes, so I eschew weight in general.

(2) "Make a bigger butt, or better yet, just make an inflatable kayak." I, for one, like the design of rounded bow and stern as the boat spins and turns more quickly and makes for a more novel craft. Besides, I can't afford a new boat.

(3) "Sit forward." Now, that's a solution I can agree with. Check out most other single-person boats and vehicles and see where the driver is located -- in the center.

The problem with the current Alpacka design is that the seat is so far back and glued in, that scooting forward sets up the bum for a bang on the bottom -- OUCH!

But in a standard, stock boat, sliding the seat forward means nothing to push against for the back, so there is no means of wedging yourself into the boat. Wedging into the boat is why Alpacka insists that you get the smallest boat that'll fit. But I find smaller boats are less stable than bigger boats. Still, "swimming" around inside a big boat gives poor control. That's where thigh straps come in.

So now that I am anchored in a big boat and don't need to shove my feet against the bow and my butt against the stern I can center the seat. To extend my legs, I slide off the thigh straps by extending my legs and let my feet go to the bow. Sweet!

So "What about a backrest?" you ask, loving that second toilet seat of your late-oughts model boat. You could either buy a "Fjord Explorer" seat, glue some 2 inch velcro on the boat and seat to keep it behind you as a new, removable backrest, and/or purchase one or two 15 liter P.O.E. WxTex dry bags and fill them with something soft, like your sleeping bag and sleep clothes, then glue in a single "strap plate" to secure the vertically oriented dry bag (glue the plate on the inside center of the rear-most seam).

Two strap plates on the floor of the boat, between the now bent knees held in position by thigh straps also allows a second 15 L POE WXTex dry bag that holding a tent and other camping gear/food to be secured near the center of gravity. The idea is that I am moving my gear off the bow and into the boat. There's still the opportunity for a bow load, but it is a bit smaller and by getting all the gear situated closer to the center of gravity, I can roll a loaded packraft. In the pool I tested this with five pounds and rolled it easily.

I doubt many are still reading such technical esoterica, but very soon I'll sew an additional two inches of velcro on the center opening of the deck making it more water tight. I will also have fixed the chronic Alpacka design flaw of sewing a draw string end to the outside edge of the waist velcro by using a second stitch. More importantly, abstracting the important design feature of the Meiklejohn commerbund, there'll soon be a bigger velcro closure on the top of the deck waist/belly-opening.

Finally, I will install a pair of pockets, one to either side of the waist/belly-opening at the top of the spray skirt. These will hold an air-filled 2 Liter Platypus. These Platypusses act as a water dam, obviating the need for a codpiece and keeping the easier wet (and dry for that matter) entry of a center opening boat.

Alpacka Rafts are now in a new stage of aftermarket design: aftermarket modifications now taking place with groups of individuals experimenting and learning from each other, as Thai Verzone, Hig Higman, Tracey Harmon, and I did last Saturday at Alaska Raft and Kayak (pic above).