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I spend so much of my time thinking about boats these days I need a place to get my thoughts out and I suspect I'm not the only one so welcome to the River Rat Thread!
I was thinking about getting a small one so I could do nose/tail butters down the river this summer. Ive never done real river kayaking but it looks fun. Im not too intrested in doing the stressful bits though. More so just buttering along a nice calm shady river, having a bit of weed and maybe a spot of plunder. They want an arm for a little boat though.
I was about a hour from making this thread. Put money down a sweet old 16’ Maravia raft and picking er up after school in May, having a hell of a time waiting for this shit.
**This post was edited on Apr 7th 2025 at 8:40:05pm
realassboatI was about a hour from making this thread. Put money down a sweet old 16’ Maravia raft and picking er up after school in May, having a hell of a time waiting for this shit.
**This post was edited on Apr 7th 2025 at 8:40:05pm
Lenny-I was thinking about getting a small one so I could do nose/tail butters down the river this summer. Ive never done real river kayaking but it looks fun. Im not too intrested in doing the stressful bits though. More so just buttering along a nice calm shady river, having a bit of weed and maybe a spot of plunder. They want an arm for a little boat though.
Possibly donkey brained. Is it that dangerous to butter a little boat around Colorado? I would get a proper kit for it and Ive kayaked in the ocean a lot. Always thought it would be way more fun to be able to flip around more freely and butter.
river kayaking is genuinely the scariest i have ever done i hated it so much lol and i didnt even do any rapids or anything. they are so tippy and i could not figure out how to flip and mega panicked whenever i slowly tipped over. im pretty sure the boat was trying to drown me. 10/10 the worst extreme sport i have tried. but i can see why people like it
Lenny-Possibly donkey brained. Is it that dangerous to butter a little boat around Colorado? I would get a proper kit for it and Ive kayaked in the ocean a lot. Always thought it would be way more fun to be able to flip around more freely and butter.
If you ask a hundred different people you will get a hundred different answers but I would say that playboats are not necessarily the most forgiving and if you just want calm fun maybe a little bigger boat would be advisable. In my experience play boats have a steep learning curve. I'm not saying go get a giant creeker but just like something with a little more in the stern might be nice
some riv stoke from last spring; the crew and I are officially booked for a paddle trip to the NW Territories this summer, 12 days on water, should be pretty rad
je_t.aime_canard"platinum blondes with lip filler"
how can i get into this river ratting thing asap, can i just take an inflatable donut down the whitewater?
yea dude those $1.29 discount tubes from Walmart absolutely rip, just read and run!
related: drinking white wine on a river can be fun, we sometimes bring the big bags of wine and toss 'em between boats like we're slingin' salmon at the seattle fish market
If you’re just getting started, make sure you can roll with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back. It’ll save your ass once you start doing a lot of class lll+. Going with buddies who’ve taken rescue classes is great but at the end of the day it can take minutes to reach you and if you can’t hold your breath that long, you’re cooked.
I'm still trying to figure it out myself bc my brain automatically starts associating that term with a former AHL hockey team that I heard about constantly growing up.
Brule.I'm still trying to figure it out myself bc my brain automatically starts associating that term with a former AHL hockey team that I heard about constantly growing up.
Uhm sir, those are now the Charlotte Checkers and official AHL affiliate for the Carolina Hurricanes
I decided against river kayaking probably for the next 5 years. River surfing tho... I've a couple decent waves within 15 minutes from my house, nice foam surf boards are cheap, its a lot less dangerous, I have more experience surfing than kayaking, I can surf alone if no one is down to go, and I can progress on my goal of one day surfing Skeleton Bay in Namibia. I feel stupid for sleeping on Colorado surfing for so long.
It's been a rough season around here in Colorado. Parts of the lower San Juan and Animas Headwaters are running but that's about it. Anyone having better flows in other parts of the state?
SivvyIt's been a rough season around here in Colorado. Parts of the lower San Juan and Animas Headwaters are running but that's about it. Anyone having better flows in other parts of the state?
Durango mentioned
**This post was edited on Jul 9th 2025 at 12:40:34pm
SivvyIt's been a rough season around here in Colorado. Parts of the lower San Juan and Animas Headwaters are running but that's about it. Anyone having better flows in other parts of the state?
Roaring Fork was running good about a month ago when I started planning to surf but every week its dropped about 7in around Basalt. Went for my first surf today and struggled on what was left, still had fun though. Im hoping the Colorado around Glenwood will be better but Im not holding my breath. The stuff on the Arkansas unsurprisingly looks a lot better, Ill probably be there next weekend.
I surfed Salida this weekend, it was fun. I saw a good amount of rafters going down the Arkansas, seems like its flowing good. My favorite part was the tubers, some of them look so tranquil floating down then they get to wave , get tossed, their loot gets scattered and they emerge from the chilly water with a rather less tranquil expression.
I'm more of a lake guy -- planning on building a small 12ft-ish sailing canoe to do boat accessed camping. Oregon has some dope rivers, but I live near the Deschutes where it's either a lazy river or falls where people die every year with no in between.
My grandparents were big white water canoers 20+ years ago so I did get to do some of that with them. Water is awesome.
