Pakboat Fire

[Erica]

I finally decided to buy a pakboat and called them today. Their warehouse burned down in March and they lost everything. You could hear it in his voice. They may even be considering giving up. Their spring order did not arrive until after the fire, so they have some 16 and 17 foot boats, but they did not order any 15 ft boats because they had too many in stock. So those burned. All their boats, all their accessories. I was hoping for a 140, but apparently they are not making them anymore. And there will be no 150s until next spring.

I have been unable to find any outlets that still have a 140 or 150 (not a 150T) and I am disappointed.

But the real gut wrencher is another canoe maker suffering a tragedy and maybe going out of or at least curtailing business.

 

[Pringles]

Wow, that’s really sad. I have two of their boats, a 16 and a Puffin II. I admit, I haven’t used them much... the canoe has only been out once, but they are durable boats. I did a three week trip in the Arctic where the outfitter used 17 footers. They aren’t the most nimble boats, but they were really durable. And, you could put one in a big bag and take it anywhere. The owner was very proud of his boats. :-(

 

[Mason]

I just did a search and got this dated 14 June from http://www.foldingkayaks.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8152. I'm a proponent of their canoes myself.

"Hi all.
I have not posted anything about the fire because everything is still unsettled. I do not know what the future will bring, but I can tell you a bit about the current situation:

It is true that the fire burned our warehouse along with our inventory of a bit over 100 boats - a lot of Sacos and Quests. We sold out of the Saranac last year, so we had to make more. That is why the Saranac is now available.

The situation for the PakCanoes is mixed. We were sitting on quite a few 15 ft and green 16 ft canoes, so those were not made. The result is that we have red 16 ft and 16.5 ft. And we have a good supply of both colors of the 17 ft PakCanoe - good news for the expedition canoers out there.

To get us through this season, we have rented a large container to put where the warehouse was. That is a viable solution for the summer, but I am not sure what we will do about space in the future."

 

[Erica]

I just found what appears to be a mint pakboat 150.

https://paddling.com/classifieds/packboat-canoe-150-510663/?lat=45.9019&lng=-112.6570&zoom=10

I have started making arrangements to purchase it.

The seller states he is 77 years old and has only put the boat into his car twice for paddling around some mountain lakes in Montana. Apparently he lives south of Butte. I know I will have to get it shipped. The boat is all put away in its duffel bag. He is sure it is all in there. I could ask him to take it out and assemble it, but I am not sure that would give me any more verification of the boat's condition. He said that is the only picture he has taken of it. He is selling it because it is taking too long to put it together.

Thoughts?

Thanks, Erica

 

[recped]

Almost every Pakboat (canoes) I've seen for sale has been advertised as "used once". a lot of them are bought for a trip where there they pay for themselves with a single flight but even at that it's a trip that is costing big money and is never repeated.

 

[Erica]

I think he bought this because it was getting too hard for him to put the canoe up on the car, rather than a big wilderness trip. Apparently he paddles mountain lakes, but not trips. He said it just took too long to get it set up once he got where he was going.

I've always been leery of pakboats, just the concept was daunting. But they have been around now long enough and there are enough good trip reports where they were used, that I want to use them for arctic trips because that seems to be the only place on this continent with roadless wilderness. And I want to paddle my own boat and not a rental. I can't imagine spending that much time and effort on a trip and then have a canoe I can't get along with.

My goal is one big trip per season, for however many seaons I last.

 

[Paddlinhal]

Heading out in 2 days for a big trip. We test-assembled the one I will be in, it's a bit of work, but you do it once per trip. Day trip? Probably too much work. 32 days? Piece of cake. Funny, when I was looking on craigslist, I could only find 15 footers. 17 footers were not to be found. I would be leery of buying it based on the one photo - that looks too much like a stock photo. Things can get bent, scuffed, ripped, mildewed. But if it's the only game in town, you just might have to take that chance.

 

[Dan Cooke]

I know of Pakboats that have more than 5 years of far north trips of 2-6 weeks of duration. They are far more durable than you would think. I have done 26 days down the Kasan from Kasba Lake to Bake Lake in a 170 Pak Canoe. Having put covers on many other Pak Canoes I have assembled quite a few of them. Follow the instructions, it just takes a bit of time. It takes as long to zip tie the joints as it does to assemble it. I would recommend them for wilderness travel. Sorry to hear about the fire destroying his inventory. I wish Alv all the best.

 

[Pringles]

I have a 14 foot Puffin II, which takes me 30 minutes to put together. It is fun to use to play in, but when I saw (and bought) an Advanced Elements inflatable, I figured it would take less time and effort to put it in the water. I was right. 10 minutes from bag to water. I haven’t had the Puffin out since. The canoe takes about 2 hours to put together by myself, and then requires (!!!) a nap afterwards. There are people on Songofthepaddle forum that say it takes about 45 minutes to put their canoes together. That may be with two people. The web site says that you can put the already put together boat on top of the car. That would mean that you could put the boat together once, and then just load it like you would a hard shell. You’d still have that money saving ability to fly it in somewhere if you wanted! It handles a little differently than a hard boat. I think people talk about how it goes up over waves instead of cutting through them. It is a little more, hmm, mushy? They’re well designed boats. I wouldn’t fault the man for having only the one picture.

 

[Richard1726]

I have a seaworthy Klepper, German Folding Tandem Kayak, that my Dad and I bought in 1969. $s/year=lowcost