Took it as a packraft on the colorado river. We avoided all riffles if possible. We were soaked the whole time in the raft partially because of our oar design and partially because it was very windy. If you hit a larger wave, the boat will fill up but not sink. Very easy to fill up completely with bag. Both boats had the cushion leak the first time out (spot seam issue), my boat developed a slow leak later in the trip (not sure why). All in all it is the perfect boat for simple river crossings or warm weather calm river trips. I returned my boat for a replacement, we will see what happens.
Not a death trap, but you want to know what you're getting. It is single chamber, which means that, if it does get a decent rip, it's going down! The material is reasonably durable, but not nearly as thick and hardy as an Alpacka, but, again, it's about 1/8 the cost and less than 1/3 the weight. Water does come over the sides if you don't fully inflate/temper it. It wants to crease where it flares out at the seat. Paying attention to your paddling technique, staying out of choppy water, and properly inflating it will eliminate most water getting in, but that's generally the case with any boat that lacks a spray skirt. As far as stability goes, I don't see falling out of this boat under mountain lake conditions (or really any of the conditions that it was designed for). Hope that answers your questions.
Hello, The main difference is the change in patch kit. The kit now consists of self-adhesive repair tape that is fully waterproof when cured, providing a more reliable patch.
It is designed to use with the included bag, but you can make it work with a pump if you have the right size attachment or you can attach the bag and insert the pump hose into the bag and hold it very tight around the hose. However, I was not personally able to get it to be really full/rigid without using the bag. What we do is attach the bag, insert the pump hose into the bag and hold this tightly closed around the pump hose. You can get it to about 90% full this way. After that we had to use the bag the rest of the way.