In case you can't tell, these IK pages are a bit of a hobby for me and I am not an expert, just an enthusiast. I forget about them for months at a time, then a bit of email feedback reminds me I'd better have a look around, tidy up and see what's new.

Below are a few IKs I've owned, tried, would like to own or try, or that interest me. They mostly fall into the category of serious and durable boats suiting my preferred type of paddling: simple, solid touring- or easy WW boats at least 12-feet long and around 40lbs heavy. This is a niche activity with IKs which generally get used for fun and safe rental day trips for WW beginners and school kids, or in North America, also for fishing. Touring is more often done in hardshell sea kayaks (in the UK) or canoes (in North America) but the great thing with an IK is it's air-portability. I took my whole kit to Australia in 2006, including camping gear, without going over the 25kg limit or taking anyone's eye out in Departures.

Is that a boat in your pocket?
Broadly speaking, IKs are built in two ways and out of pretty much two materials - both with at least three long tubes (floor and two sides). In just about all cases they are either made of thick rubber-coated nylon or polyester fabric such as Du Pont Hypalon or Nitrilon (image left) used by Gumotex, Grabner, NRS), or from a similar PVC-coated fabric, usually with the hull being a shell or 'envelope' with pockets. sleeves or access zips in which fit light, airtight 'sponsons', air bladders or cells made from PVC or urethane (better). Examples include Aire, Advanced Elements and BP Trinity II.
Note by 'PVC', I mean a multi layer fabric similar to the Nitrilon shown on the left, not 'vinyl' which is is a cheap single layer plastic good for beach toys but not durable IKs. There is a bit more on boat fabrics here.

You could say that the Gumotex style is like a tubeless car tyre; the good seal of the tough hull keeps the air in - and Aire-style is like a tyre with an inner tube which pumps up to give rigidity and form to the outer cover. Both are repairable with patches in the same way, but urethane bladders last much longer.
Hypalon is said to last for 20 years or more with a bit of UV protectorant 303 spray and rolls up into a compact bundle with comparative ease. PVC (welded is best, like Aires, not glued like Advanced Elements) is stiffer, less durable, does not abrade so well on grit (out of the water), but is less expensive than hypalon, quicker and so cheaper to glue or weld together and is slipperier and stiffer in the water, so giving better response.

As far as I can tell, the difference between the 'tubeless' or 'tubed' construction style is merely down to the cost of manufacture and materials: bladder boats can use cheaper PVC shells and so save money because air-proof welding of the hull material/shell/envelope is not critical; it can just be easily heat welded, sewn or zipped together and the inexpensive sponsons, or 'cells' as Aire call them (similar to Camelbak bladders), can be slipped in.

Length for length the weight and rigidity seems to be about the same. Repairability: on a hypalon boat it's like an inner tube: rough up, clean, glue and apply a patch which needs to be done very well as it's vulnerable on the outside. Aire-style repairs are actually easier on the rubbery urethane cells. According to their website vids, you unzip the shell, stick on a bit of 'get you home' tape on the split, tape up the inner side of the shell gash too to keep out grit, pump up and off you go. You can glue up the usual way later. I had the feeling the thin urethane sponsons glued to thin ripstop nylon fabric on the Java could not have been so easily or securely repaired; it would be difficult to bond to the fabric nylon than smooth urethane.

You may read about 'I-beam' floors and think: 'Nice, what is it and does it matter?' As it is rarely illustrated I've only lately realised what it means, and yes it does matter with regards to over-inflation (or overheating and so high pressures if left out of the water in the sun).
A basic IK like a Sunny has 3 main chambers: two round sides and a flatter floor. Obviously the round sides are easy to construct and take the desired form on inflation; it's just a roll of material glued into a pointy-ended tube. Over inflating this is no great drama as the round shape distributes the pressure equally.
The flatter, wider floor section is another matter. To make it of a series of burst-proof parallel tubes would be heavy and require a valve for each chamber. So instead a flatter rectangular 'airbed-like' section is made for the floor and I-beam sections - like the steel beam pictured above right - are glued to the top and bottom of the floor before it is glued up. It's said this is the most labour-intensive and so expensive part of IK construction and again could explain why bladders are preferred; it saves time and effort and so money. They help constrain a flat, lilo shape once inflated. Without the I-beams the floor would balloon into a useless rounded form, but with the I-beams, it would not be hard for too much pressure to tear away the I-beams and separate the floor with the same ballooning effect. This is why my Sunny Mk1 and maybe other IKs have a pressure relief valve in the I-beam floor, even though this part of the boat is usually in the cooling water than the exposed rounded side tubes which can handle higher pressures, just like a raft or RIB. I-beam, floor is good design but an over-inflated I-beam floor could mean a ruined boat.

As with all inflatables, never leave it out of the water in the hot sun for long. I found this out the hard way with the Java...

Hypalon/Nitrilon construction seems the traditional or European method and if well made will last for many many years, as many rafters know well. Sponsons/bladders seem to be a North American development. You'll see me go on about this because the problem with inner bladders is that water gets in the sleeves and so the boat takes ages to dry. It may not matter in sunny California, but it does in Scotland. Packing a wet boat is as undesirable as packing a wet anything. Mildew may develop and who knows, something may rot and shorten the life of a boat (although Aire say that a little water in the cell chambers will not be bad, even long term). Until I know better, quick-drying non-bladder construction is my preference.

Gumotex Sunny
Mk1: click this
Mk2: 2007-9
Mk3: 2009-onwards
I own and go on about my pre-2007 Mk 1 Sunny which by all accounts happens to be Gumotex /Innova's most popular IK; it's one well made boat that can do a lot pretty well.

Recognising the popularity of IKs and the Sunny model, in 2007 Gumotex made many improvements to what I call the Mk2 Sunny (teal, below). The flatter seats could be lent back on properly; there were nifty handles at each end and an adjustable footrest. All these were changes I made to my older Mk1 model so I considered the Mk2 a big improvement.
They also made it a couple of kilos lighter (14kg) by using a so-called Lite Pack material. The inner surfaces (grey. above) are not coated with shiny, hard-wearing, low friction Nitrilon but are bare fabric which saves weight and cost but takes longer to dry and will be less durable. You'll also notice along the top of the sides where the coloured and grey parts meet there's an edge or flap at the join which is a bit cheap too. On my Mk1 model that was glued down but still had a sharp edge; passing strokes may 'paper cut' your fingers unless you cover the edge with duct tape. It is significant that the entire Gumotex range of IKs did not go Lite Pack and overall, the Mk2 Sunny looked like a cost cutting exercise, but read on...

Feedback:
BTW you mention the new style Solar and say you think it's probably an improvement. Well, design-wise it may be, but be aware that many of the new generation Gumotexes use their new 'lite-pack' material (the grey, non-shiny stuff) for much of their build. Frankly, it's nowhere near as good as the old nitrilon material (still used for the Safari and the larger/more serious boats). They're obviously looking to cut costs, but it's a real shame - the lite pack material is less strong, less rigid, less resilient etc etc. I'd never buy one...
Dom P (old Safari owner)

2008 review excerpt (Gumo' Helios 1):
...But Innova loses points for jacking up the prices just as they "go cheap" on the models by removing the coating that used to cover all of their boats and leave some of the most sensitive parts of the boat open to discoloration and, quite likely, accelerated wear and tear. I'd gladly lug around two or three, or even five more pounds, to have a boat as bomb-proof as the Safari...

NEW - Mk3. Full-coat Sunny is back!
It seems Gumotex heard these 'one-sided' complaints and in mid-2009 they returned to 'full Nitrilon' coating for the Sunny both inner and outer, just like the pre-2007 Mk1s. This is what I now call the 'Mk3' Sunny (left); all the benefits of the 2007 Mk2 design improvements and the durability, easy cleaning and quick drying of full-coat at a slight weight penalty (now ~ 16kg again). One feedbacker Alex from the Black Sea bought a Mk3 from Czecho, VAT free for €350 in May 2009 and in the UK it seems the price is the same at around £400 - not bad at all. With the Mk3 Sunny you can now have your cake and - after a two year hiatus - eat it.

The optional skeg or fin on 2009 Gumos is said to be a less over-sized, quick-fit plastic item (above; a similar size to the ones I got made for my Mk1, but no fiddly screws). Picture left: Mk3 on the Weed River, NL by B&E.

My advice to you if you're buying a new Sunny. Get the new Mk3 2009 fully-coated model which looks almost the same as the preceding Mk2. Just make sure the boat you buy has a shiny grey interior, not a matt fabric grey finish (unless a Mk2 is a real bargain or you're not that bothered). Despite the weight saving, the 2007-09 Mk2 Lite Pack Sunnys proved to be a bad idea and good on Gumotex for recognising this and going 'full coat' in 2009. Now I know if my Mk1 gets torn to shreds by weir wolves I can replace it with something as good, if not better.

Gumotex Safari Mk1 (unchanged)
For me, light and tough though it was, the Safari was a mistake. I pretty much knew that when I bought it in 2004 but it was so cheap it was worth the punt. At my weight I pretty much maxed-out the boat’s payload, and at 6.1” looked like I was sat in a small bath. I also found it impossible to track straight (but had no experience then; see this). It was nice and fast (see the video above left) but way too tippy to inspire confidence in a beginner and too cramped to pack a useful load for a few day’s touring. It's a self-bailer too which is highly desirable when the going gets even a little rough, but only if you're not too heavy to end up sitting in bailing water, as I was.

Anyone with a bit of experience could have realised this before they bought it, but for the price I just wanted to check out a proper IK close up before moving on. I soon got a Sunny and have never looked back; the Safari was passed on to my girlfriend who’s a foot shorter and half my weight.

Lucy used the Safari in Croatia and found she needed about 10kg of rock in either end made the boat much more stable and, as it happened, faster. Therefore the optimum weight for a Safari would be around 70kg. Now you know. We sold the Safari and got a Solar 1 (old model - see below). The Safari is still available and in full-coat Nitrilon too, like other 'hard rec' Gumotexes. For a small WW fiend a Safari may be a great little boat.

Gumotex Junior (dropped)
At only 10kg I thought this would be ideal for Lightweight Lucy and even for me in a packrafting sort of way. However our conclusion was it was merely a boat-shaped paddling pool made out of unusually tough material. With my weight I of course had about 35mm of freeboard but it was a hopeless tracker (not that we were experts back then) and all in all felt a bit of a half-baked design. Gumotex do sure make some turkeys, but they don't make this one anymore.
Then again, in 2009 feedbacker Chris reported: "We opted for 2 Juniors and these are fine for what we need and really light for the motorhome as we are restricted on weight."But he did report one was splitting apart at each end, possibly from overheating?

Gumotex Solar 300 (dropped - now a Solar 1)
I sold the Safari and got a Solar 1, mainly for the v-light g-friend (below). No self-bailing but a bit wider, a lot more stable and all in all a great little boat, even for my size of person. Coming out of the longer Sunny, it feels much more nippy without being tippy; a sort of water scooter compared to the Sunny’s big bike feel. This is Even left, on a river somewhere in a 2009 Solar.

A trip down the Tarn Gorge (right) proved it’s no worse in white water than the Sunny but of course lacks the packing space for longer trips. With no WW experience at all Lucy soon got the hang of it after a couple of early swims and even developed the feel for skeg-free paddling. It can be done. For the longer Solars see below.

Gumotex Solar 405/ Solar 2 (n/a)
The old-style Solar 405 (pictured below) was similar to a Sunny; usefully longer for payload or tandem paddling, but with space-wasting thwarts for seats. I give my reasons why IMO a Sunny was a better solo touring choice here and here is some video of a 4-metre long 405 in action. Note how easy it is to get into from the water (@ 2 mins), but also how easily it swamps (around 3m 10s) in a WW2-ish riffle (both are similar characteristics to a Sunny).

The post 2007 'Solar 2s' (right, click for bigger) were even less flexible: fixed seats may give great support but with fixed footrests it all means it can't be set up optimally for solo paddling. No doubt it is possible from one position or the other. As on all post-2007 Solars, the only the outer surfaces were coated (see Sunny above) and the Solar 2 was dropped in favour of the broadly similar but more popular Sunny, the semi-decked 3.8-metre Helios II (also with fixed seats and looks a pain to dry) or even the shorter Twist II which looks too 'rec' and has not caught on. The Solar 2 is no longer made but in 2009 was listed as available on some some UK and German websites.

NRS MaverIK II and Bandit II
A day in a MaverIK was the day I discovered IKs (click the red ones below for an enlargement). The tech details I'm a bit rusty on but I had a fantastic time, attacking my first ever rapids, amazingly staying with it. I rode it forwards, backwards, jumped out and hopped back in. I recall it didn't track too well in the pools between the rapids but no one minded; it was a hot day. The symmetrical upturned ends (18" of rocker we are told) may contribute to this but help it ride over the pile. When it was all over I nearly bought it on the spot.

Since then I've never come across any owner reviews of a MaverIK, which makes me think they're almost exclusively worked hard as rentals by outfitters. The user-friendly width plus tough, simple build and 45lb of weight attests to this. You even get chunky Leafield raft valves on the thwarts (backrests).

I don't recall sitting in water (apart from when it came over my head) so I suspect the self-bailing floor is indeed thick enough for my weight. And in a Mav you sit right on the floor, not in a seat. As you can see in Mods - self bailing can always be sealed off with duct tape should you categorically not want it (for possibly faster flat water touring without the drag of the drain holes?). There's no skeg kit for a Mav but I imagine you could glue on a Gumotex jobby. Those thwarts waste a lot of space of course but could be whipped out and replaced with a proper seat. The three boat profiles (above left) are a later NRS Bandit which has the same shape but is made of much lighter and less tough material (27lbs and $1150). Seats instead of thwarts but you can see the wide, flat hull (presumably the same on a MaverIK) won't win any speed records and will track like a pallet.

At 12' 5" on 36" (34" on a Bandit 2) I wonder if a Mav II is the long sought after 'self-bailing Sunny'? Shame about the 'raft' hull profile then, and that it costs $1500 as is only sold in the US.

Feathercraft Java
Full story here.

Aire Super Lynx
For a long time I was eyeing up the Aire Super Lynx as my next boat, mostly because theboatpeople rated it. A heavy-payload self-bailer, it looks just the job and only weighs 45lbs (20.5kg). What few reviews I've read rated it but complained about drying times. I know all about that; I probably would have got a Super Lynx until folding chum alerted me to the similarly bladdered Feathercraft Java which had managed to slip below my inflatable radar all those years. Never again. Aire lately brought out a skeg kit for the SL but the design and fitting looks looks rather fussy.

Aire Sawtooth
New for 2009 so what do I know other than again, the Boat People rate it. The numbers are 13' 3" long, 32" wide, 43lbs and about 380 lbs payload (4.04m, 79cm, 19.5kg, 175kg) and only $750 so not bad at all. The speedy new Sawtooth is said to be faster than a Sunny (with which it shares a similar 'fast' hull profile, see small image here) and runs one or two seats, but it bails (good) and is bladdered - not so good for quick drying. Plus it is Aire's lighter-duty 'Tributary' brand, but what would you expect for that money? They've finally surrendered to a removable skeg too.

Gumotex K2
The K2 is one Gumotex boat I’m curious about but have never read about about it anywhere. It could be considered a fat-tubed, self-bailing Sunny, the same length at 3.9m and costing at least €900. Maybe that’s the problem; along with the fact that at one metre wide it’s really a twin thigh-braced whitewater kayaraft with only the Sunny's 200kg payload. It would be fun though to throw a K2 into some gnarly rapids or surf knowing that it floated like a cork, sat as flat as a beer mat and drained fast. But if it's like the Padillac I recently tried (below) or the new Aire Outfitter II, it may well need two paddlers to get up any speed.

Hyside Padillac
While in Colorado recently collecting my FC Java I did the 7-mile 'Durango Town Run' down the Animas River in a Hyside Padillac (left and below) - a boat I'd heard of but never considered owning as no way dos it fit into the air-portable touring category which I am into. It's a bomb-proof outfitter's WW mule.

A week of storms had the river running red with mud at 2000cfs, three times more than normal for August I was told. Great for rafts but a bit marginal for beginners in IKs they thought. I walked the bits in town and saw locals going down in inner tubes and even floating along without pfds so it could not be that bad (though a guy drowned a fortnight earlier taking a midnight run while probably pissed).

The Padillac is basic: a thwart to lean against, feet jam in between the floor and side tubes and it's very short at just 9' 8" (2.5 m) which makes it nice and spinny for rock dodging or looking upriver. And at no less than 40 inches wide (like the Gum' K2, above) it's also as stable as a sofa; you could probably set up a step ladder and paint the ceiling while floating in a Padillac. The high flows that day did not make tracking an issue but on a lake I imagine it would be hopeless. Big drain holes speed up self-bailing which turned out to be just as well.

The guide (in a raft full of people) warned me to attack the rapids (something I knew well from my first ever IK run in a MaverIK, above) but even that did not help me through the only Class III on the run: the three-wave 'Smelter' hiding out of town and which had slipped through my recce. Result? A lowside out of the Hyside (left) and a stomach full of Animas; the fate of most renters hitting the Smelter that week. Apparently I wandered too far to the left. Click the mpeg4 right to see a raft hitting the middle and last rapids on the Smelter.

I have a phobia about tippy boats but my impression was of stability beyond the call of duty on the Padillac which nullified any effort put into acceleration; you spin the stick coming into a rapid but nothing really happens. I've read it's the slowest IK around and I can believe it.

Still, it's clear that the Padillac is made for the day tripping whitewater rental market: very tough, simple Hypalon construction and stable enough to stage a wedding. Great to rent if you've never run whitewater before but not to own, IMO.

Grabner Amigo and Holiday 2 & 3
Grabner have been around a while and I have a feeling they may well have been the European benchmark before the much less expensive Czech Gumotexs came on the scene and quite possible copied them. Indeed they claim: "GRABNER inflatable boats are absolutely the world’s first". OK then!

Made in Austria for €1500, the Holiday 2 (right (and you thought 'Sunny' was a crap name!) is the classic touring boat in Grabner's wide range of IKs with a traditional 'bladder nein danke' construction and twin-sidebeams (see below) which translates to expensive construction but simple set up and quick drying. There's also the chummy €1100 3-chamber Amigo (above left, click for bigger, and below left) which is near identical to a Sunny in size but with a lot more rocker (pointy end upsweep - good for turning, not good for tracking or head winds). The H2 (click above right for bigger) stats are nice: 16kg/35lbs on 3.95 x .75m (13 feet at 30") with a 190kg payload. An Amigo works out at 14kg/190kg/3.75m/80cm - a tad shorter, wider, lighter and higher payload than an old coated Sunny (17kg/ 180kg/ 3.9m/77cm). Both the Amigo and H2 come with seat and footrest bars only. It looks a bit basic but could be all you need while keeping the weight down and the profile spread out.

Bit out of my depth speculating much more on pictures of either an Amigo or an H2, but solo IK legend Audrey Sutherland used one for many years in Alaska, and former FC folderite Marge N wrote this nice account of paddling around some Swiss lakes in a 10-year-old H2.

The €1750 H3 (right, click for bigger) could be a seriously long touring IK. We're talking 5m x 75 on 21kg with 240kg payload (16' 5" x 30", 46lbs and 530lbs). Grabner proudly claim high IK pressures which could translate to stiffness over length due to quality material and construction; those twin side beams adding 'non-sagging' longitudinal rigidity (do I know what I am talking about? Not sure).

The twin-chamber sides are high on the H2/3 rather than fat and low singles a la Sunny/Amigo, etc. Not so good in a side wind or getting back in out of the water, but it limits side swill and splash. And the ends are quite pointy which is always a good thing for a boat. I suspect the floor is dead flat and so the chines are hard - not so good on the edge? but maybe you don't do edge on an H2 or especially an H3 which would surely benefit from a rudder kit (€120). But then again the sides of the Holidays are individually thinner in diameter than a one-chamber Amigo or Sunny which one would hope adds up to more inner volume which could be the key. Who needs the longer H3 barge if the usefully-sized, non-rudder-requiring H2 has the volume to pack a solo touring load? Lets face it, on a WW2 which we can all manage the 5-metre-long H3 would be a bit of a handful. You do wonder though whether the lack of a fat, raft-like side chamber means the Holidays are more tippy. Only a paddle will tell but it does not bode well that they offer €300 stablilising safety floats for beginners to attach to the hull.

All this is a bit academic as Grabner prices are high and you have to pay extra for many 'accessories' that come as standard with a Gumboat, like seats (you get a backrest bar as standard) or a tracking fin (left), but these do include outriggers and sails and and even outboards, so they've really gone into it. Click the tech pic on the right to enlarge or download pdfs on all the above boats here.

I may well try and take an H2 for a spin this summer. In the meantime check out a youtube clip.

The Boat People Trinity II
Our friends the people of the boat have finally released a tandem, bailing tourer, the Trinity 2, basically Aire's sexy new Sawtooth but with 2 extra feet end to end. (Their original T1 of several years ago was not a hit). The T2 is similar to Aire's SuperLynx above. Length is 15' 3", a slim 'n' fast 32" wide (like a Sunny) and 50lbs weight with a 400lb+ payload (4.64m, 81cm, 23kg, 180kg+). Alas it's a bladder boat so a pain to dry if you don't live in sunny CA. Full details on the BP webpage.

People may ask, why no Sea Eagle Explorer 380 or 420; after all the reviews are good on Pad Net. Basically their website doth shout too much and a 380 is nearly a metre wide. I suspect they are more for fishing out of than touring.

Why not a folder?

I've led such a sad, sheltered life that I never knew there was such a thing as a folding kayak when I discovered there was such a thing as an inflatable kayak. Since that time I've done a couple of trips with Steve in his ancient Klepper (below, frame) and a no less young Feathercraft K-Light (pictured right).

For me part of the IK appeal is getting in and out without difficultly. With a hardshell's cockpit it's still the same tricky procedure and clammy existence. Without hatches set up and packing time is longer and requires some dexterity (newer models may be easier). Furthermore the easy whitewatering I've done in France might be a bit harsh on a folding frame; short of an attack by blow darts, an IK is relatively immune. I had a quick spin in Steve's K'light and recall being about as impressed as he was with my Gumboat. We are each to his own, though I must give the FC another go next time we're out. Looking a whole lot less like a lilo, his folder sidesteps the inherent 'numpty' image factor that burdens IKs so heavily.

The extra time it takes to set up a folder (30 mins+ ?) can put you off going out for short paddles but is soon gained on the water; no doubt about it I can't keep up with Steve's folders, and with the wind in my face the other day up the Thames (left) he was effortlessly gliding away while I was attacking the water like someone digging up a road with a pickaxe - and still losing ground.

While I was talking myself into buying a Feathercraft's Java IK I also admired their Big Kahuna (below); a great looking boat even though (for a bloat) the Java is no dog itself. But then I came to my senses: spray skirts, falling out while getting in and falling in while getting out, complex yet critical assemblies long enough to draw a crowd. Maybe one day I'll surrender my footpump for an elasticated neoprene skirt, but not yet.