We bought an inflatable stand up paddle board
After 15 months on the road travelling on our Big Lap of Australia, its rare that we purchase any new products. We’ve got a 4WD and camping setup that we’re immensely happy with, and we’ve proven that we have what we need. However, we went out and purchased an inflatable stand up paddle board the other day, after talking about it on and off before we left Perth many moons ago.
Why didn’t we get a SUP earlier?
Sarah and I seriously considered getting a stand up paddle board before we left, as we’d used them before and know how much fun they are. There were three primary reasons why I decided to go against it.
Weight
Our Isuzu is basically at maximum weight already, and I didn’t think we’d be able to fit it in anywhere in the camper. In fact, when we left Perth, our Dmax was overweight marginally on the weighbridge.
Space
Despite having a fair bit of storage space, we’re running low on space. With the kids bikes in the canopy, and a whole heap of other gear there’s barely room to fit one.
Setup time and effort
The idea of a stand up paddle board at some camp sites is nothing short of amazing, but you’ve got to unpack it, pump it up, care for it and then pack it away, and we decided that for the effort, it wasn’t likely going to be worth it.
That said, the one we pumped up earlier on had a faulty pump, and certainly gave us a bit of a false representation! It is however, a decent work out, and you’ve got to be pretty fit to pump it up in one go without stopping.
What did we buy?
In the end, I settled on a Tahwahli 10”6 inflatable stand up paddle board, with a manual pump, paddle, backpack and repair kit. This was $249 on special from BCF, down from $550 odd. These sales are very common.
I looked at the Anaconda alternative, and would have preferred this as we’ve got a voucher to spend, but it was shorter and didn’t have the D attachments for putting a seat on (if you want to make it into more of a kayak later on).
I did briefly look at the ones from Kings, which are even cheaper, but they’re less common than BCF, I wasn’t sure what the warranty was and to be honest haven’t had any amazing runs with any Kings gear.
Why did we get one?
In the end, we realised that we could fit one in the Dmax, and at only 13kg it would just require a bit of weight distribution (or chucking out things we don’t need!).
The kids are at the age where they can swim better, and I thought it would add another element of fun to our travels. It’s also something that the entire family can use, and for the adults quite good exercise, and results in some time away from the kids (me time for each of us), and that’s greatly appreciated!
How has it been?
So far, a whole heap of fun. It’s already been used for at least 10 hours, and although it is hard to pump up with the manual pump it’s a lot of fun once its on the water.
You can’t use it if its too windy or rough, but there’s a lot of inland options that we’ve had plenty of fun with.
For $250, I reckon you can’t go wrong. It might not last forever, but it will easily provide $250 worth of value for the whole family.
