One of the cooler outdoor innovations to really take off into its own sport over the past two decades or so, the packraft opens up new adventure opportunities, packing down to backpack size so it can easily carry to and from the water’s edge. Denver’s Kokopelli Packraft is one of the specialists in packraft design, and it’s currently launching a super-light, compact new raft. The all-new Rogue series raft packs down to paper towel roll size, bikes to the water on your handlebars, and inflates into a functional vessel for navigating lakes and rivers.
Packrafts aren’t a new idea, with roots that extend back centuries, but they have quickly exploded in popularity and become more of a recognizable mainstay of outdoor recreation. They can travel farther and easier than other water vessels, allowing users to access waterways that would be difficult, or even impossible, to navigate otherwise. They’re also popular in creating all kinds of hybrid adventures, like bikepack-rafting, canyoneer packrafting and ski tour packrafting. Packraft paddlers can string together land and water miles to create multi-discipline trips that might have been unthinkable before.
With the Rogue, Kokopelli is seeking to expand that type of barrier-breaking adventure planning even further. The Denver-based company has been at the packraft game for just over five years now and is attempting to combine lightweight construction and durability like it’s never done before. It describes the Rogue series raft as an “ultra-lightweight, one-person inflatable raft that is exceptionally durable, packs small, and opens doors that were once locked by terrain and the limitations of gear,” adding, “when your path seems to dead-end into water, the Rogue is the way.” The new packraft is designed to take on both calm water and flowing rivers.
At first we zeroed in on the “ultra-lightweight” part of the Rogue series’ description, believing it to be Kokopelli’s lightest raft. However, the company already has a raft that’s every bit as light – the 4.9-lb (2.2-kg) Hornet-lite. Kokopelli explains that while the weight and inflated size are the same for the Hornet-lite and Rogue-lite, the Rogue packs significantly smaller, has enhanced durability, and includes improved features, such as four D-ring attachment points (versus two on the Hornet) and a Leafield D7 inflation valve.
Key to the Rogue’s combination of low weight, packability and durability is its Kevlar-reinforced floor. As with applications from bulletproof vests to supercar construction, Kevlar is prized here for its superior strength-to-weight ratio, and Kokopelli also says it makes the floor easier to pack than the 210-denier, double-coated nylon floor on models like the Hornet-lite.
The Rogue’s sidewalls are built from 210-denier TPU-coated nylon, and double-tape seam reinforcements add to the vessel’s integrity. A single air chamber keeps the raft light and simple, providing for fast fill-ups with the included inflation bag.
Kokopelli’s small, tough packraft opens up a world of water and multi-sport adventure [NewAtlas]