New post on Bikepacking.com about bikepacking and rafting the outer Hebrides
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/machair-coast/

does make me look at the Alpacka raft site a bit more

That looks great, so many adventures, so little time!
Another to add to the bucket list.

Did the west coast of the Uists / Barra and Benbecular a few years ago - well worth a trip.

Don't go.

It's rubbish.

July Bivvy by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

At first I thought you meant this article - http://bikepacker.com/bikerafting-loch-maree/

rando nomad wrote:New post on Bikepacking.com about bikepacking and rafting the outer Hebrides
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/machair-coast/

does make me look at the Alpacka raft site a bit more

Lovely that.

Not saying to stay away from Alpacka's (use one myself) but there are some alternatives to look out for. Here for example:
http://www.packrafting-store.de/index.php?language=en

Di love the hebridees but never bikepacked there ( though did grow up going cycle touring there every year from before i could even ride a bike and wastowed in a trailer) more recent trips i have mostly spent climbing in Lewis etc. top place to go ! and you can basically camp on a beach nd have it to your self if you know the more secluded spots still.

Alpinum wrote:

rando nomad wrote:New post on Bikepacking.com about bikepacking and rafting the outer Hebrides
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/machair-coast/

does make me look at the Alpacka raft site a bit more

Lovely that.

Not saying to stay away from Alpacka's (use one myself) but there are some alternatives to look out for. Here for example:
http://www.packrafting-store.de/index.php?language=en

That lot used to be the sole EU alpaca dealer. They sent one to china to copy it and started undercutting alpaca. Needless to say they are no longer a dealer....

htrider wrote:

Alpinum wrote:

rando nomad wrote:New post on Bikepacking.com about bikepacking and rafting the outer Hebrides
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/machair-coast/

does make me look at the Alpacka raft site a bit more

Lovely that.

Not saying to stay away from Alpacka's (use one myself) but there are some alternatives to look out for. Here for example:
http://www.packrafting-store.de/index.php?language=en

That lot used to be the sole EU alpaca dealer. They sent one to china to copy it and started undercutting alpaca. Needless to say they are no longer a dealer....

At the end of '14, beginning of '15 when I got two Alpacka rafts they had just stopped supplying that lot - the Packrafting store. The store had then already been selling competitor rafts and came up with their own brand roughly two years later. Not so sure about the reasoning for Alpacka to stop working with the packrafting store. Didn't Alpacka just want to take care of the European market them selves as the grew?

In the end we got our boats directly from Alpacka and the correspondance with the packrafting store learned me that they were very disappointed to lose Alpacka as a supplier.

Didn't Alpacka just want to take care of the European market them selves as the grew?

No. Andy at backcountry.scot started selling them.

Well, Europe has a few shops, like backcountry scot, but I thought packrafting store did the distribution. May well be wrong on this.

Only Alpacka and packrafting store will know the truth.

I have an Alpacka Explorer 42 that I bought from packraftingstore.de before they lost the Alpacka franchise. At that time they were a bit cheaper than Andy Toop and held more stock as well. They were fine to deal with, helpful and efficient. It's handy to have a source of Alpacka rafts here in the UK now though.

Jurassic wrote:I have an Alpacka Explorer 42 that I bought from packraftingstore.de before they lost the Alpacka franchise. At that time they were a bit cheaper than Andy Toop and held more stock as well. They were fine to deal with, helpful and efficient. It's handy to have a source of Alpacka rafts here in the UK now though.

That was part of the problem - they were selling the alpaka rafts at cost to undercut backcountry biking. Then they ripped them off hence Alpaca telling them to shove there dealership.

Was in Andy's shop today - what a great little place, with some fab kit I have only ever seen online. He has a great attitude as well and I have gone from pack-rafting cynic to definitely curious now. Still struggling with the idea of my bike in a highly corrosive saline environment, and whether I could be bothered carrying the bulky safety kit I would always take when kayaking...

htrider wrote:

Jurassic wrote:I have an Alpacka Explorer 42 that I bought from packraftingstore.de before they lost the Alpacka franchise. At that time they were a bit cheaper than Andy Toop and held more stock as well. They were fine to deal with, helpful and efficient. It's handy to have a source of Alpacka rafts here in the UK now though.

That was part of the problem - they were selling the alpaka rafts at cost to undercut backcountry biking. Then they ripped them off hence Alpaca telling them to shove there dealership.

Alpacka made me a better price than packrafting store a while back

A couple of my acquaintances, thoroughly lovely pair.