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  1. #1
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    Default rafting on a neo air

    i'm posting this in the humor column so you can feel free to laugh at me knowing i won't be offended. i'll be hiking the Taconic Crest trail in a week or so, northbound. the terminus is about 8 miles north of Williamstown -- where my wife will be staying at a B and B overlooking the Hoosic river. The trail ends at the Hoosic River. Until thirty seconds ago, when i thought the river flowed in the right direction, I was trying to figure out if i could raft on my neoair with my tiny pack in a garbage bag to get to the B and B. If the river flowed in the right direction, could it work?
    Lazarus

  2. #2

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    your weight+gear would be the biggest factor. will you displace more air than the pad holds? my bet is it wouldn't work. also it wouldn't be rigid enough, you'll just fold yourself up. for craps and giggles go float in a lake or some body of water, see how it works out. you're thinking of trying to float 8 miles? lol

  3. #3
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    You could get some outlandish claim of self-rescue by such method published, and then get Myth Busters to test it for you.

  4. #4
    Registered User Just Bill's Avatar
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    You look like a stout fella there young man. I'm 200 pounds and took my Women's NeoAir to the pool- officially to leak test it- unofficially to float on it. Mildly successful, it's basically a very expensive pool toy. You could probably walk faster- but what is the fun in that! If you were serious about it, you would paddle upstream, or force your wife into staying at a downstream B&B. Tough to sit up on it because of the orientation of the baffles though, try folding into thirds, or inflating it inside your pack to make a log style float. Put your gear in a trash compactor bag and blow it up and float it along on a leash. Sit on the neoair, rest your back on your inflatable gear and you might be able to make a serviceable raft. Bend a sapling into an arc and stuff it in your water bladder or a gallon Ziploc bag to make a paddle. Where there's a will there's a way.

  5. #5
    Registered User Water Rat's Avatar
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    I think this is going to spawn a whole bunch of product testing ideas. What are the rules? Do we just use what we have in our pack, or can we use anything we think might make this project work? What about taking pack straps, two small logs and making a cradle for the Neo Air in the middle? That could be fun... Bring along a copy of Tom Sawyer, or Huck Finn for the ride!

  6. #6

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    bring a camera too, lets see the humor payoff. i'm thinking a whole new trail name would be in order for that stunt.

  7. #7
    Registered User Water Rat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hill Ape View Post
    bring a camera too, lets see the humor payoff. i'm thinking a whole new trail name would be in order for that stunt.
    "Bubbles" might be a good name for after!

  8. #8
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    Colin Fletcher wrote about using his air pad as a flotation device in The Man Who Walked Through Time (and I think described his technique more fully in an early edition of The Complete Walker). He described himself as "at best an intermittent swimmer" but needed to do some stream crossings (either to get around obstacles on the bank of the Colorado in the Grand Canyon, or to cross tributaries). He inflated his pad part way, kind of sprawled across it with his pack on one shoulder, and dog paddled. He had his sleeping bag in a drysack, and watch, matches, and anything else that must stay dry tied in a condom at the center of the sleeping bag.

    It looked pretty sketchy to me.
    I always know where I am. I'm right here.

  9. #9

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    I have a feeling that after you used a NeoAir for a raft you wouldn't have a NeoAir that you could use for hiking.

  10. #10

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    Rafting on a neo air.

    I did it to with a folded in half and held that way with duct taoe full length old style Thernarest ProLite 3 to float across the James River, in a slow moving water area, when on the AT. And on the Tuolmne River in Yosemite with an older model ProLite 3 shortie. Both times I got soaked so if you're trying to avoid that I don't think you'll accomplish that but I did make the crossing which was my objective. .

    Funny thing you mention this because I just picked up my New River Gorge maps. The trail I want to hike dead ends along the river. I don't know the river that well and am prolly not going to be able to do this based on the steep walls on one shoreline and narrowness of the river(suspected HIGH flow) at the end of the trail but I considered floating or swimming across the river where the trail ends.

    As crazy and dangerous as this sounds, and could be, I've know hikers who floated across the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon with just stuff they found along the shorelines and by choosing the least dangerous place to cross. I asked some of them about this. They found plastic screw cap bottles like water and anti-freeze bottles that held air and a few pieces of polystyrene foam. They put that extra buoancy stuff into their packs and into their clothing pockets and under their clothing. Placed their shoes in their packs. Double garbage bagged their packs. Taped their inflated air mattresses around their torso under their shirts, Found a spot on the river where the flow was minimal and they could wade out a ways. And, with no obvious dangerous whitewater rapids downstream of where they went across floated across on their packs through the deep water to get to the other side.

  11. #11
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    I would only bring the Neo air because I own one. I don't actually use it anymore. maybe Walmart water wings would be a better idea. or something pink with a clear plastic window.

    Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
    Lazarus

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    Since it's the summer, why don't you just buy a cheap pool float-raft and sleep on it during the hike. Then, use it for it's real intended purpose: a floatation device to take you back to the wife. Think of the adventures you would have!

  13. #13
    Registered User kayak karl's Avatar
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    my son was paddling around on my Exped SynMat 7 Air Pad. i would fashion keel of duct tape
    or fill it with backing soda and water and pull the plug.
    I'm so confused, I'm not sure if I lost my horse or found a rope.

  14. #14
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    So a Neoair trekker is 72" x 2.5" x 20" or 183 cm x 8.85 cm x 90.8 cm

    That is 59,000 cubic cm so the mat would displace an equal volume of water which assuming 1 g per cm^3 would give a buoyant force to support 59 kg or 130 lbs.

    Good luck.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Odd Man Out View Post
    So a Neoair trekker is 72" x 2.5" x 20" or 183 cm x 8.85 cm x 90.8 cm

    That is 59,000 cubic cm so the mat would displace an equal volume of water which assuming 1 g per cm^3 would give a buoyant force to support 59 kg or 130 lbs.

    Good luck.
    I ran similar numbers yesterday and came to about the same answer. I was going to post the results, then realized I wasn't accounting for the buoyancy of a person.

    Basically, the calculation means that an average adult with gear is not going be able to use the neoair as a raft and stay dry trying to cross a river. But rigged as a make-shift PDF, it has more than enough buoyancy to keep you afloat (assuming you can keep it stable enough to not flip over or get away from you by other means.

  16. #16
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    so, a few things to make this slightly more real. i spoke to the B and B owner, and they confirm that people raft past them all the time. I also found a trail from the Taconic Crest Trail to the Hoosic river just 3/10ths of a mile upriver of the Inn... so I could finish the Taconic Crest trail at the northern terminus, back track south to the Hoosic river connector trail, and float an adventurous but not idiotic distance to the adventure's end.

    oh. and it is only a torso length neo air... I weigh 145 pounds. my pack will be around 6 pounds when i enter the water. i will get very wet, apparently.
    Lazarus

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    I ran similar numbers yesterday and came to about the same answer. I was going to post the results, then realized I wasn't accounting for the buoyancy of a person.

    Basically, the calculation means that an average adult with gear is not going be able to use the neoair as a raft and stay dry trying to cross a river. But rigged as a make-shift PDF, it has more than enough buoyancy to keep you afloat (assuming you can keep it stable enough to not flip over or get away from you by other means.
    Good point. I guess it depends on your expectation. If you want to keep high and dry, you will have no buoyancy and the numbers are against you. But if you're willing to get wet, you have a chance. Or bring two and rig up a catamaran!

  18. #18
    Registered User moytoy's Avatar
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    Find out how fast the river flows and if you don't have to cross any rapids you can support your dry cloths, shoes, pack and a bit of your upper body. Use your legs to kick a bit and you probably can make the 8 miles in a couple of hours.
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  19. #19
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  20. #20

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    Think of the Neo Air as just one of several things that can help you stay afloat and cross a river, lake, etc. You can also use water bladders, stuff sacks, those water bottles attached to your straps, etc filled with air. It's not just about gaining buoancy with the air mattress.

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