Just found my new "next" purchase

[C_Dave45]

Bow river floats are gonna be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://content.costco.ca/Images/Content/ProductLarge/290843cLL.jpg

[R154]

Inflating and deflating that sonofabitch each time you take it out would get old quick. Even with one of those handy foot pumps I can see that being a PITA

Goodluck Dave!!(

[Maybelater]

You could buy a machine pump, that would make it easy. Deflating it would still suck though.

[ALBERTA_IS]

Same Idea I had! Only concern is that both times I was on the Bow last summer I saw people with these types of islands sinking. Seems like the material is too thin. Is this the one at Costco right now? Wonder if a guy could glue a tougher material to the bottom...

[C_Dave45]

pfft...whiners!! lol. Takes maybe 1/2 hour tops to inflate. And it has the quick release valves that are over an inch in diameter. wouldn't take long to deflate at all.
And big deal...so you spend a little bit of time. Well worth it for a long 4 or 5 float. Built-in cupholders, built-in coolers....WIN!!!

The material isn't as strong as your basic Sevelor inflatable boats, but at only $197 and if you're careful with it, it should last quite a few floats. It's much thicker than the Canadian Tire 2 and 3 man boats. We have one of those and it's lasted a couple of years.

[speedog]

I say enjoy and just watch out for the piers - should be a blast through Harvie Passage.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by speedog
I say enjoy and just watch out for the piers - should be a blast through Harvie Passage.

Hmm! I forgot all about the change to the Weir. You can float down that whole area now, cant you? I wonder if we'd scrape bottom over those little "rapids". Man, we could start up higher now. We've never floated above Glenmore boat ramp.

[rob the knob]

i see your link if costco online. they had those in the store last week when i shop so you can pick up local instead of order in mail.

[speedog]

South side passage during lower water conditions might be very tight for that raft above, north side stuff would be no problem. Couple vids from YouTube - kayakers were out playing this weekend...

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Just happened to be here with the kids for this last one (not my vid) - if the guy had slipped, he'd have probably split his noggin wide open on the cement.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Buy two, take a run down the river, leave it at the end of the run locked to something and deflating. The other raft is sitting at the top of the run waiting (locked, secured) for a trip down. Get to the end of the run and you have one inflated and another deflated. Rinse and repeat.

[Kloubek]

For those who can't afford $200 for a "few" floats (such as myself), another option is a large inflatable kiddie pool. The floors are just vinyl and will rip (and repair) easily, but you can generally pick them up for $20-$40 and they generally last "a few" floats as well.

My friends and I would purchase these to float down the canal in Penticton and they worked great. Don't fit quite as many people as this, mind you...

[CompletelyNumb]

I always used queen size air mattresses. Much thicker, lasted at least half a dozen runs.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Is this a good application of some Plasti Dip spray to protect the bottom? Might be too ghetto? Some real ghetto rafts here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-river-raft-frame/

A water bottle raft? Really?

[adidas]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
Built-in cupholders, built-in coolers....WIN!!!


Enjoy your Coca-Cola bro!

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by adidas


Enjoy your Coca-Cola bro!

haha...yeahhhhhh.

I had a dozen "coca-cola" in here each time last year. River cops came by a couple of times and just asked to see our life jackets. Lifted them up, they gave me a "thumbs up" and went on their way.

:thumbsup:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Bow%20River%20Float/P1010010.jpg

[adidas]

Us "younger" folks dont get off so easily.

[phreezee]

I just found out that they closed access to Bearspaw at the train tracks last week :(

Is there any way of getting there now? I was hoping to try fishing the Bearspaw reservoir.

Is Bowness/Baker park the only next best place to launch boats?

[cjab]

We bought this same raft last year and really enjoy it. I think we did about 4-5 floats, there ended up being one hole but that was easily patched.

The first time we tested it out I was able to inflate it on my own in about 5 min using a very oldschool vaccuum on reverse mode. A couple times we went we had to manually inflate it with some small pumps, took about 20-30 min.

We saw about 3 or 4 other ones on the river last summer as well.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[JfuckinC]

Yo! take your shop vac with you and fill it with that, it will take like 5 minutes.... mad volume :thumbsup:

me and my friends have two massive rafts haha

[codetrap]

Dave, I have a little cigarette plug pump you can have if you want. Works great for inflating stuff like this, and deflating too actually. :)