[Closed] 3 man inflatable kayaks?

Weirs? You'd need something fairly robust, whereas the ITIWIT is more suitable for canals and placid rivers, and possibly lakes.

(Are you thinking of a particular river? Some weirs can be deceptively dangerous.)

Aye, weirs can be benign or deadly, and it isn't always apparent which. Be careful.

As a ex kayaker if you don't know what your doing stay away from weirs, drops etc. They look harmless but can be the complete opposite. And I wouldn't recommend an inflatable for that type of stuff they are too easily damaged.

It's the Six Mile River in Antrim N.I. There's a couple like the one pictured.

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As a kid we would build our own rafts and made the journey many times without incident - pretending we were Huck Finn 😀 . The only time it was dangerous was a couple of years ago when i had my first go in a proper boat (canoe). Going down the weirs wasn't a problem but i almost died when i got trapped underneath a large fallen branch at a bridge. If transportation wasn't an issue i'd prefer the DIY route as building it together would be cool

By proper boat you probably mean a kayak (double ended paddle) rather than a canoe (single blade) and yes, you were very lucky with the tree and plenty of people have died in strainers (underwater objects that catch boats in flowing water)

Inpossible to see properly in that photo but I reckon it wouldn't take much water going over that to make it dangerous, especially as it has a concrete wall on one side - not sure I would be taking kids over it.

Infltables have a habit of catching on these type of weirs where plastic boats just slide over.

The decathlon boats are OK for the price but Gumotex are much better - check out the Scout

The itiwit has three skegs underneath. Will take 2 adults and a child think 220kg is about the max weight rating. It is handy in terms of transport but does take a while to dry out.

Seyvelor also an option but frankly if you've been stuck in a strainer and don't appreciate still that shooting a weir with kids in an inflatable isn't a great idea then I'd suggest you don't do it.

(Ex WW boater with a few dead friends)

Some general info here:
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/inflatable-kayakscanoes

If you want to try a paddle in ours I'm sure we could arrange it (along the gold coast of North Down

Update...update...update...

Expecting one of these any day now...

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Sevylor Minnesota (Ottawa rebadged for Decathalon)

i almost died when i got trapped underneath a large fallen branch at a bridge.

but frankly if you've been stuck in a strainer and don't appreciate still that shooting a weir with kids in an inflatable isn't a great idea then I'd suggest you don't do it.

Cheers Matt, will do. Been scouting potential danger spots on the bike. I'd have been fine if i'd been in a boat like this instead of one of those wee hole in the top things i got trapped in.

Tow-back works on swimmers just as much as boats. That video above shows that a swimmer could not escape, and that a line down the weir only a foot or so different from his/her pal leading lead to a lethal situation.

Please do speak to some local paddlers - you will have some. Also look on UKRGB.

I've paddled weirs that are just fine on one side of river, lethal on another. I paddled a broken weir on the Goyt that was less than a foot in height - yet sucked my 15' open canoe to the bottom of the river and held it there until we had 7 people and a pulley system to release it. I've also paddled bonkers high looking weirs, that just rocket you off the end and through monster standing waves - but if you fall in on the way down, or twist sideways, you better have a pal with throw line and quick reactions or you are dead.