Anybody buy an inflatable raft? Do they use it?

[edwardr132]

I am thinking about enhancing the camping experience by concentrating on campgrounds with lakes and am thinking about buying an inflatable raft.  Anybody use them and have any experience with them?


Will campgrounds let you use your own inflatable raft?   Do they tear easily?
I like the idea of inflating them with a tire inflater and then deflating them into a compact size, but have never tried one out.

Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.   I really, really love this forum.

[NadMat]

Hi edward,

In summer here in Texas, camping near swimmable water is almost a necessity. I camp in the state parks and the corp of engineers campgrounds mostly, plus a lot of county parks.

I have a double wide float I got at Academy for about 12 bucks, added a couple of D ring attachment point patches to bottom to allow me to anchor it off shore and not worry about wind or current carrying it away. My campin' buddy has a huge 'pirate island' float he got at costco or somewhere and he brings it along and we anchor them together.

You will want to use an 'high volume' type inflator rather than a tire inflator type compressor as the later will take forever to fill large float, and the former usually have a power deflate function as well, saving you time at both ends, making it much less of a hassle to deal with.

Have never had any problems using floats anywhere, except once at a koa who said double size to big for pool, but ok for nearby small lake.

I am thinking about enhancing the camping experience by concentrating on campgrounds with lakes and am thinking about buying an inflatable raft.  Anybody use them and have any experience with them?


Will campgrounds let you use your own inflatable raft?   Do they tear easily?
I like the idea of inflating them with a tire inflater and then deflating them into a compact size, but have never tried one out.

Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.   I really, really love this forum.

[NadMat]

One last comment, be sure and get one made of a rubberized canvas type material, like an inflatable boat would be made out of and not just the all plastic ones. The former last 5-10 yrs, and the later usually a season.