About this product
The difference between a raft and a kayak is what you do with your arms. In a kayak you sit low with your legs out in front and swing a double-bladed paddle. In a raft you sit up on a bench, face backwards, and row with a pair of oars in oarlocks – which is slower, but far less tiring over a long afternoon, and far easier if you have never done it before.
That is what this boat is. It is a rowed inflatable raft with high side tubes, bench seats, an inflatable floor and oarlocks moulded into the tubes. For fishing it is the better shape by a wide margin: you can face the water, stand up briefly, put a cool box in the middle, and leave rods in the built-in holders without everything sliding into your lap.
The material is Bestway’s three-layer TriTech, which is a step up from the single-layer fabric on their entry boats – a woven core between two layers of PVC, with an Ultra-Fresh antimicrobial treatment that matters when a boat spends its life damp in a hot climate. Three independent air chambers mean a puncture in one leaves the others holding the boat up.
There are eyelets for a motor mount, so a small outboard can be fitted later – the bracket and the motor are not included, and the power limit is specified below. It suits the creeks and bays around Dar es Salaam, the Rufiji delta, Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika, and sheltered water off Bagamoyo and Kigamboni. Wear buoyancy aids and treat offshore wind as the main hazard.
Bestway Hydro-Force Ranger Elite X3 Inflatable Raft (3-Person)