Whether you need to reach the shore, or fulfill a restless urge to explore, sometimes you just need to leave your boat at anchor and set off in a smaller craft. On a large boat, there’s room for a dinghy, but some small craft fall in that zone where the boat is a bit big to land on the beach all the time, yet too small to carry or tow a rigid tender.Such is the case with TERRAPIN, my 18′ 6″, double-ended pocket cruiser. She has a beam of just 5′ and with so little space aboard, I at first thought that it would be impossible to carry a dinghy of any kind.Then I discovered packrafts. While they may be sized like pool toys and when first pulled out of the box there’s not much there—typically under 10 pounds and quite compact—once they’re inflated, they become very useful little boats and are far, far tougher than the cheap vinyl offerings at the big-box store.
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Timely article for me as I will be looking for one of these myself in the next 6 months.
Thanks
What is it like to transfer in and out of the Hornet-Lite when you are using it as a tender? Does it have an inflatable floor that allows you to stand up and step in or out of your TERRAPIN? Thanks.
It does not have an inflatable floor, but you can stand on it as you ease yourself down from the boat. The bigger issue, as with any very light boat, is keeping one’s weight centered so that the boat doesn’t slide away.
There’s a lot more about these on YouTube under “pak raft.” Some even use them to combine boating with bicycle travel.
I used a similar one this summer and found it tracks like a dream once you add a bunch of ballast up front. Such as a large number of crabs.