10-Lb. Canoe Carries 800 Lbs., Fits in Your Pack: Alpacka Raft Rendezvous Review

After struggling against a headwind for the better part of an hour, I had some flagging confidence in our inflatable canoe. The concept was good — great, even — but facing a persistent wind in your larger-than-average rubber duck will make anyone question whether the trade was worth it. My doubt was short-lived, however.

Later that day, we met another group along a portage trail. They were suffering under their 12-foot wooden shell, and the new Alpacka Raft Rendezvous suddenly seemed like the ideal solution for canoeists tired of lugging traditional vessels.

Not every trip can be so luxuriously ferried. If the overland carry is too far, the bush plane too cramped, or the pack animal saddled too low, it’s time to trade paddle power for pack size.

Fashioned as a tandem raft with enough internal storage to outfit a week-long voyage, the full TPU-construction Rendezvous weighs just 10 pounds and packs down small enough to fit in your backpack. Try that with your family canoe.

In short: The Alpacka Raft Rendezvous ($1,700) is a premium inflatable canoe that I tested over a month of paddling in North Cascades National Park this spring. Its 800-pound capacity makes it a load-hauler, and its ability to stand in and scout proves it a true voyageur vessel. For people who don’t have the funds, storage space, or transport ability for a standard hardshell canoe, this is a solid, inflatable option. It’s easily transportable, durable, and floats with the best.

For a full rundown on the Alpacka Rafts lineup and more, check out GearJunkie’s full guide to The Best Packrafts.

Alpacka Raft Rendezvous: Review

The Rendezvous wasn’t the only new tandem offering from Alpacka Raft this past year. The new Tango is offered as an ideal touring-kayak packraft, and the existing Forager raft covers your whitewater leanings. The Rendezvous is the brand’s approach to a canoe.

A 210D hull and 840D floor are held together with RF welding. It’s also sewn and double-seam taped, and it uses a TPU construction. Well-placed lash tabs stud the exterior and allow for rigging up a bow bag for essentials, while internal loops allow you to secure dry bags inside.

It’s clear that Alpacka Rafts aren’t thrown together at 5 p.m. on a Friday. With a full weekend and an open expanse of teal water before us, we set out to shake the real deal out of this raft.

First Paddle Strokes

You learn a lot about the Rendezvous before you even inflate the thing. While rolling out the raft for the first time inside a floating boathouse on Diablo Lake, the entire 11 feet of the craft unfurled with a snap. The big deal lies front and center, which is the integrated thwart that replaces the removable seat of previous designs.

I don’t say big deal flippantly, either. This feature makes the raft lighter and more compact than the brand’s other tandem craft. It also significantly stiffens up the rig. I had to double-check when I was told you could stand on the single-ply floor. You sure about that?

The answer, I’d find out later, was an enthusiastic yes. During the loading of gear came the second thought: This thing has ROOM. Our simple overnight kit practically rattled around inside the boat, and while I haven’t tried it myself, the whispers of carrying your skis inside a packraft seem entirely feasible with the Rendezvous. 

A Flatwater Battleship

Paddling the dam-bound reservoirs of the North Cascades is a curious thing. Beholden to the almighty megawatt, the lake level swings wildly here. Sometimes, the water is so high you might paddle the nearshore and look down at submerged gardens of kinnikinnick and wild strawberry.

Seeing this requires a certain vantage. The elevated perch the Rendezvous provides saddled us in the prime position. We could see the subsurface topography laid out plainly below us. We bent to our paddles and began dispatching the miles, connecting shore prominences and island clusters. 

A packraft is a craft of inherent compromise, and the Rendezvous is no exception. But while most all single paddler rafts have some degree of tracking slop, the Rendezvous counters with two paddlers.

By divining some of the magic of canoe strokes, we easily got this craft to keep to the straight and narrow(ish). 

Propelling the Rendezvous solo, however, is a game of balance. Paddling from the rear, I found, affords a great waggle to contend with and only less so from the bow. Ultimately, I found that rowing à la voyageur was the best compromise while kneeling on the thwart.

Loyal pack rafters will need to source a different paddle to motor this vessel (again, we borrowed ours from canoe friends). If you lack such friends, the Aqua-Bound Shred Carbon Paddle is nigh essential. This collaboration between the brand and Alpacka Raft functions as both a kayak paddle and two canoe paddles when broken down. Very nice.

Stand, Scout, and Cast

Nearing an archipelago of seasonally liminal islands, we peeled off from our course and landed to explore. Sliding into a small cove, I kneeled to gain some vantage to keep us from kissing the granite. Even disembarking while the other paddler stays put is a well-balanced act. The Rendezvous performs like it’s got lead in the keel.

Then, making a dash across the span of the lake, we honed in on the fjord-like choke of Hidden Cove — an old-growth hallway with the door left ajar. Here, too, the ability to hand the stick to the rear paddler is a boon. That way, I could keep myself busy rigging up my fly rod. 

It turned out the rumors were true, after all. Standing at the bow of the Rendezvous, I was able to swing cast after cast to the nearshore, easily clearing my co-paddler on the back cast. You’ll need a good measure of balance, of course. But the 43-inch width of the raft makes it far better balanced than most canoes. 

All this upright positioning does come at a bit of a trade when it comes to windage. After lobbing flies until my arm went numb, we returned to the expanse of the lake. The afternoon gap winds were right on schedule and blew a healthy chop across our path. While we were catching just the initial blow, it was still a bit daunting.

The Rendezvous certainly doesn’t sport a small radar cross-section, and those 13-inch hull tubes catch a lot of breeze when perpendicular to you. We faced these perfect storm conditions for the final few miles of the day. Lacking any type of keel also doesn’t help. Like most packrafts, you’ll fight for forward motion in the wind.

Still, the dual-motor ability of this boat again comes in clutch. Paddling at odds with one another and angling our bow upwind, we settled into a sustainable groove and put our heads down. The long water line undoubtedly aided in keeping our momentum up. Stroke by stroke, we pulled across the lake.

On-Board Storage

Landing at the dock at Buster Brown flats was well-earned, and we set about offloading our overnight kit. When I previously paddled the Alpacka Raft Refuge — a juiced-up craft meant to squeeze performance while limiting weight — the stowage was just enough to accommodate a curated kit. Not so with the Rendezvous.

The TiZip cargo fly at the stern of this raft is significantly more generous. Its placement in the middle of the tubes allows you to “split” the opening wider to accommodate bulkier kits, such as backpacks with complicated frames. With so much space, we could have been a bit more luxurious in our overnight gear choices.

An 800-pound max capacity (note: this includes paddlers) also means you shouldn’t be hamstrung by hauling weight. While I could only see coming close to that when packing out game animals, it does allow for the full tackle box when fishing or a cheeky cast iron pan.

Storing your kit on the interior of the raft also makes it act like ballast. We didn’t notice any appreciable difference in speed when paddling loaded down or not.

Portage Abilities & Packability

Like any good voyageur, I also had to judge the Rendezvous on its portage abilities. A brief bash through the devil’s club and slide alder to make camp sorted that quickly. Notes: It carries well, but securing your kit inside seems essential. Tip too far one way, and it all goes sliding!

Here, I did want an integrated grab handle at the stern of the raft (though a few loops are present to rig your own).

Packed down, this raft will compress to a 20 x 9″ cylinder, which, while not mind-bogglingly small, is still more compact than it seems like it should be. This is notably smaller than the similar tandem Forager raft and a full 4 pounds lighter. If you don’t need added muscle for bigger water, it’s tough not to suggest snagging the Rendezvous instead.

A final (hard-earned) piece of advice: Remember to pack everything you’ll need throughout the day outside of the tubes when you inflate the boat. A particularly fat jumping trout sent me scrambling for my fly rod the next day, which I found, to some despair, was stashed beneath me inside the raft.

Alpacka Raft Rendezvous: Conclusion

The Alpacka Raft Rendezvous ain’t your daddy’s canoe. Nor is it a legendary Grumman, but it doesn’t claim it, either. Much the same way that those aluminum shells have become near-archetypal for the style, the Rendezvous is the way to do a packraft canoe.

The new integrated thwart is a smart addition and improvement over the older Oryx design. It stiffens up the raft to the point that it doesn’t need the inflatable floor that the brand’s Forager raft sports. It won’t be as wicked of a whitewater craft. But for flatwater transits, the tradeoff in weight and packed size makes it a winner.

Standing up in the Rendezvous, surprisingly, is the highlight of this packraft. From here, you can scout braided rivers or make solid casts while fishing. Being a tandem packraft also cracks the adventure menu open a bit wider. It even makes piloting the vessel while whipping up a mid-river snack easy.

For those who aim to go deep, travel light, and catch a few trout along the way, it’s tough to argue this isn’t the canoe you want.