Here is a piece I wrote about my equipment selection for Backpacking Light, a super website for expedition advice.

Introduction

I am not an equipment expert. I am a relative newcomer to packrafting. But what I do know is how my equipment performs during fairly tough expeditions. The first time I posted a question on the BPL forum I was shot down initially, suspected of being a time-waster, a joker or, worse, a person who was not going to be backpacking light. My “crime” was to ask the incredibly passionate, knowledgeable community about a backpack capable of carrying 40 kilos of gear. Of course a 40-kilo backpack is hardly backpacking light. However, it was backpacking as light as was possible, which I believe is the true essence of this community. My pack was destined to weigh a crippling 40 kilos because I needed to carry all of the food, equipment, and camera gear necessary for carrying out and filming an unsupported coast-to-coast crossing of Iceland by foot and by packraft. In the end, I received lots of very helpful advice.

My purpose with this article is twofold: to provide a skeleton of information for anyone considering a lengthy, unsupported packraft trip, and, hopefully, to spur all those many people in the BPL community who know much, much more than I about equipment details to add suggestions and improvements in the comments section below. I am only rarely going to mention specific brands, as I am aware that each country has different, good quality brands of equipment.

The aim of this expedition was simple: to get from the north coast of Iceland to its south coast. We carried all of our food and equipment. We trekked inland from the coast, climbing high into the cold, windy, inhospitable highlands and across a glacier to the source of Iceland’s longest river. We paddled that river until its course turned west, at which point we continued hiking through a volcanic landscape until we reached our second river, which we paddled all the way to the southern coast. Right, onto the kit.

• For the cheapest option I know try www.sevylor.com.
• For really lightweight boats, perfect for an occasional river crossing or gentle water, turn to www.flyweightdesigns.com.
• More expensive but, in my opinion, money well spent www.alpackaraft.com (we used these rafts).

You can customize the boats as much or as little as you need. My friend Ed Stafford used a tiny, basic model on his Amazon expedition because weight was his chief concern. As I planned to paddle some whitewater, a spraydeck was essential. I was also anticipating cold water (my test trip was across Scotland in winter with icebergs floating down the river beside us!), for which the addition of a seat is a great help in keeping you warm. It also makes the boat more comfortable for long days on the river.

I’mm not going to comment on safety gear in detail because I am not expert enough to do so. All I will say is that I would never paddle a packraft without a buoyancy aid (I use an inflatable one), a throw-rope, and a knife. And, after capsizing and frightening myself silly in some Grade 4 rapids, I will never again paddle whitewater without a helmet.

Small, useful accessories for the raft include a repair kit, Tyvek tape, a bowline, straps for fixing your pack to the raft, and small carabiners for clipping bits and bobs to your boat (though beware of trailing junk that may snag you in a capsize).

Packrafting is a very wet activity: dry bags are your best friends! They come in a range of sizes and durability, so shop around to find just what is quite right for your needs.

I also wore neoprene gloves, which worked very well. They also worked fine as my gloves for the hiking stages of the expedition, even for crossing a glacier.

The equipment for the trekking phase of the journey is not really any different to any other trekking kit list, except that the clothes I wore for walking were also those I paddled in, so I wanted materials that worked well when wet (merino). I do not normally use trekking poles, but our packs were so heavy and the terrain so difficult that we decided they were worth the weight and the hassle. And now I am a definite convert to their benefits: they really did help a lot.

In future trips I would be interested to try a tent or tarp system that uses the paddles and trekking poles for support. On this journey I used my trusty old Hilleberg tent. Bombproof and fantastic as ever, but this did seem to be a good area for making a bit more effort next time to save some weight. Being a soft Englishman, I carried a short-length Therm-a-Rest and this, combined with a GoLite down quilt, ensured a good night’s sleep even as the temperatures dropped close to freezing.

Of more interest, perhaps, will be our choices of photographic equipment. My companion, Chris Herwig, is a professional photographer, and we were both eager to document our trip well, through photographs and video.

With the recent emergence of High Definition (HD) video capability on digital SLR cameras (DSLRs), I have made the switch from merely trying to take good photographs to also telling a good story through video.

We carried, by the standards of a lightweight expedition, a lot of gear.

• 17-40mm f4
• 50mm f1.8
• 75-300 f4-5.6

Somewhat surprisingly, to make a good video you need to capture very good audio. It adds a lot to the story. We used Rode VideoMic and also carried a small MP3 dictaphone to capture audio when we were not videoing (the sounds of rushing water, wind, and so forth that help add atmosphere). Another way of turning an average film into a good one is to carry a tripod and stabilize your filming. Small options, such as the GorillaPods, are OK, but we knew we would use ours a lot, so carried a full size, though lightweight model.

Finally, below, is the full kit list, just to help you get started with your own plans. Packrafting is one of the most exciting ways of exploring wild places that I have ever come across. Bear in mind that every bit of kit is some sort of compromise, and you will be on the right lines. This, of course, is the principle of many lightweight backpacking adventures, so I am sure you will all be fine. Good luck!

Gear List

Packraft/Overland Trekking Kit