A PL Peak Inside the Inflatable Grabner Outside Canoe (By Mike Nash)
My wife Irene and I are both kayakers and we have two awesome rescue dogs that love adventures. Wanting to include them in our multiday river adventures in a way that would still allow Irene to kayak we first borrowed a friend’s oar frame raft. But I found the whole raft experience a lot of work. It was difficult to transport, time consuming to rig and de-rig, and impossible to portage.
We then tried a hardshell canoe, which was better but difficult to maneuver. You need a big canoe to carry one person, two 50-pound dogs and overnight gear. Swamping was a constant issue and the thought of pinning and having the canoe destroyed and losing all our gear on a remote river trip wasn’t too appealing.
Then, this spring while laying around recovering from a bad case of the flu and thinking about making a cover for our hardshell canoe to keep water out, I stumbled across an inflatable canoe, the OUTSIDE by Grabner. My immediate thought was, “Damn, this thing looks capable! 14 feet long, huge bow and stern rocker, and self draining.” It didn’t take us long to decide we were going to purchase this bad boy. Red Beard Sailing, their US agent, had it shipped direct from Austria to our door in around a month—with no additional shipping or import charges.
Quality of build and attention to detail were obvious once we had it inflated. Its claimed weight is 50 pounds but it feels lighter and is easily carried by one person. And despite its size I was able load it on the racks on our old Subaru and still have room for a couple of kayaks. Great if you’re boating close to home or wanting to do multiple laps. When we’re traveling it rolls up and stows under our bed in the van, taking up only a 4x1x1 feet of space.
So, we headed down to our local Class III run on Washington’s Skykomish River. Curious as to whether I could get back in it after a capsize, I played around in an eddy. Using a short flip line it was easy to right but climbing in required a kayaker to stabilize it on the opposite side. If you were paddling it with two people you can both climb in on opposite sides at the same time.
It is designed to be paddled sitting or kneeling and both positions are very comfortable. The cleverly designed seats are attached with two wing nuts and can be positioned anywhere. Two pieces of webbing hold the seat horizontal for seated paddling and when released allow it to tilt down to become a back support that you rest your ass against. D-rings in the floor, fore and aft, enable a quick-release thigh strap to be used for extreme two-person operation. Paddling it solo I haven’t felt the need for this, although I always have a drybag stowed in front of me to brace my knees against.
Ferrying out across the Skykomish I was amazed at the control I had. With just me it floated high and was easy to drive. It edged like a hardshell and actually felt a little tippy, but right away I noted its amazing secondary stability. The dogs jumped in which improved the initial stability but no huge dulling down of performance. We made the ferry to the right bank easily. The river was running at 6,000 cfs so it wasn’t a creek. In fact, Neeka got thrown out in the first rapid and I was easily able to haul her back in mid-stream. The rest of the run went without incident. I was impressed! We did another run at 10,000 cfs the following week.
A month or so later we upped our game and headed to Idaho. We did a 1 night shake down trip on the lower Selway to get things figured out. Then headed to the north fork clearwater for 3 nights of class 2 to 4-. Had a great trip, No capsizes and we taught the dogs to portage so that I could run the harder rapids solo. Less weight and no chance of them being thrown out.
Next I did the south fork salmon at 3 ft with a huge group of friends. Just me in the canoe ( no dogs) I ran everything without problem and no flips. One person and overnight gear in this thing is probably the ideal weight to run the hardest whitewater you are capable of.
Irene met me after this and we headed to the South Fork Payette. We put in a few miles below grand jean to avoid wood and took out near banks. 3 nights on the river a couple of portages, one flip and a lot of Class III-IV whitewater, I was confident enough to take on the South fork salmon. Irene was nervous but game.
Red Beard Sailing is the US Agent for Grabner. You order through them and the canoe gets shipped directly to you from Austria. Grabner has been making inflatables for years and know their stuff. They make their own fabric which is incredibly tough. All seams are heat sealed/welded (not glued) This allows for a higher inflation pressure which results in a stiffer boat. Which equals better performance. They supply a Regulator which easily allows you to inflate to the correct maximum pressure without over inflation.
There are a selection of accessories. We got the Stow bags which fit perfectly in the bow and stern. I put clips on the attachment points so it is very simple to load and unload for making camp or portaging. A full length Tzip makes access a breeze.
You can paddle this canoe with a single blade or a double blade. I am a kayaker and don’t have the C1 skills necessary. So I went with a double blade. A length of around 220cm seems about right. Our family is loving this canoe and look forward to many more adventures in it.
Price: $3,750
USA importer purchasing options and more information at https://redbeardsailing.com/collections/grabner-canoes/products/outside-whitewater-canoe
I live in Florida would you paddle a inflatable in alligator waters?
I have paddled SOAR Inflatable canoes in the Everglades and in Costa Rica. Seen lots of gators, never had a worry.