Fri, 05 Jun 2026

Comparision

I can’t remember the last time I was out on the river two days in a row.

I wanted to head back to the same spot in the canoe and see how I think the two watercraft compare. (It was a little warmer today and the level down just a bit to 3.6 but very similar.)

I think I can be confident that the packrafts are unlikely to stand up to 10 years of use as well as the canoe has. I don’t see any issues with them yet but I just don’t believe they will still be river-worthy in ten years — but I’m happy to be proven wrong.

Both are really fun boats to paddle. I will admit to laughing out loud yesterday after surfing in the packraft, it was just FUN.

I feel more stable in the packraft and the benefits of two blades on the paddle make it easier to deal with swirly currents. I feel like I need to think more about what I’m doing in the canoe. I spent a long time looking at Hollywood rapid on the James the last time we visited and thinking about how I might run it in my canoe (I used to run it all the time with little thought in a kayak.) I think I’d just paddle the packraft as I used to paddle my Mirage and later Pro Jet.

And I’m confident (but don’t have experience yet) that a swim in the packraft will be a quicker recovery — it’s so much lighter and being self-bailing, won’t hold much water at all.

And I can walk normally much more quickly after getting out of the packraft than getting off my knees and out of the canoe. Obvious but worth stating: portage and getting from the car to the river and back are much easier with a ˜10 pound packraft.

I had a lot of fun in the canoe today — and ran into two other canoes playing the same spot. I’m not ready to trade one for the other.

I’ll just enjoy having great options for now :)

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