i.e. KEEP YOUR GEAR WEIGHT TO A MINIMUM BUT ALSO POSITION ANY WEIGHT LOW WITHIN YOUR PACKRAFT
-Low weight improves handling
-Low weight makes portaging easier and quicker
-Low weight reduces likelihood of punctures
-Low weight makes rolling easier (although a small amount of weight inside your tubes can actually aid in rolling)
Internal cargo bags make a massive difference! Get rid of the pack off your bow!
-Weight packed lower in the boat such as within cargo bags in the tubes actually increases stability
-Whereas weight packed high on your boat, such as a pack on your bow, decreases stability
-Having weight centred reduces ‘diving’ and ‘burying’ on drops
-Flipping and re-entering the boat is easier with gear inside the tubes rather than on your bow
-Rolling is certainly possible with cargo bags whilst with a large pack on your bow it is extremely difficult
One of our first overnight packrafting trips involved 20+ kg of weight on the bow of my red boat. Needless to say it made handing and paddling extremely difficult. This packraft would flip over unless I was sitting in it or unless it was sitting on land. However, modern boats with internal cargo bags can now easily handle such loads. Alpacka and others have even produced a number of specialist boats that are designed to handle much bigger loads including fatbikes and animal carcasses.