Both of these packrafts are designed to carry bikes and carry loads on their wider and bulbous front ends, this gives the inexperienced paddlers a very stable platform for when the water gets a little bit choppy without the fear of tipping over.
Please note these packrafts are for calm water only, maybe a bit of downstream paddling over grade 1 white water maximum when loaded up, I would always recommend the paddler gets training before taking to the water from professional packraft coaches.
I bought my Alpacka Caribou back in September 2018 and I’ve have many adventures with it, both with and without the bike, with and without camping gear and sometimes carrying everything.
What I like about the Alpacka Caribou?
Small pack size
Light weight for what it can do
Designed to carry bikes with tie downs angled perfectly to hold the bike in place without error
Easy to repair
It’s comfortable seat
Very basic with no whistles and bells, it does a job and it does it almost perfectly
Doesn’t come with a skeg to keep the packraft tracking better on the water, but I bought and added an Anfibio removable skeg to solve this.
What niggles me about the Alpacka Caribou?
I find that the valve doesn’t seal when it’s almost up to pressure, so needs spit in to it to help to seal it and then I need to blow in around 20 lung full’s of air to reach the right pressure. I hate doing this as it always adds moisture which you can never get out.
The short cockpit means when the bike is strapped down correctly the paddle stroke is restricted because of the paddles keep on clipping the strapped down bike.
No back rest.
Only 2 anchor points at the rear restricting what can be carried on the rear end.
Knowing this my friend Sven from Anfibio packrafting-store.de suggested I try a demo Anfibio GP Cargo packraft to compare the 2 together as well as paddling them both on the water with mates who want to try bike pack rafting but for those who can’t justify the spend without trying one out first.
So, after it’s arrival I blew them both up in my back garden to compare the 2 side by side.
*£800 for packraft, shipping and all taxes 7/7/22 Euro/GBP
**£626.83 for packraft, shipping and all taxes 7/7/22 Euro/GBP
*** on my un-calibrated kitchen scales
Packed down - the GP Cargo is on the left and Alpacka Caribou is on the right
It's been very windy here since the packrafts arrival and work means that I haven’t being able to take the GP Cargo out on the water as yet, it looks and feels like it will paddle just as well as my Alpacka Caribou, both with or without the Skeg.
Remembering that neither the Caribou or the Cargo don’t have thigh straps and my feet don’t reach the front of each boat it is only for calm water paddling or gentle rivers up to grade 1 ripples when loaded with a bike on top.
Luggage/camping gear in dry bags will be used as a foot rest/brace when I go on trips.
The extra 12” or so of length to the Cargo will be so much better for bike packrafting, with no chance of the paddles hitting the bike frame or wheels, the larger rear end with more tie down points can be used to strap down gear here too which you can’t do on the Caribou.
The lager rear end will (hopefully) enable the Cargo to lay flat in the water with the paddlers weight more to the rear and won’t lift the front into the air as some packraft’s do.
The extra length of the Cargo could be used for a passenger on a 2nd seat in the front facing backwards which would be impossible on the Caribou.
Neither boat is perfect.
The Cargo has a row of metal D rings down each side, I believe that these are to tie ski’s into place. These are not much for use here the UK, but they may be useful for something.
Personally I don’t like the Caribou’s valve (see above) but others love it, it’s non return valve slows down the filling and emptying of air from this packraft, but it does lay flatter to the boat than the quicker and easier to use Boston valve on the GP Cargo.
The Cargo has slightly better puncture protection underneath the packraft over the Caribou with the (all be it lighter) black base overlapping the air holding tubes more on both the front and rear of underside on the packraft.
The Cargo also has a good grab handle on the front and another really useful one on the rear, whereas the Caribou only has one on the front.
Their packed size is proportionate to both pack rafts size with the smaller Alpacka packing down smaller and the larger GP Cargo only 5cm longer when rolled up.
Now I’m not here to say buy one or the other, I’m just given you my initial side by side thoughts from my experience of bike packrafting.
With a bike on board both of these pack rafts come alive as this is what they are designed for.
I enjoy my trips with my Caribou, apart from some of the niggles mentioned above, but the longer bodied Cargo the will avoid the dreaded paddle stroke striking the bike, give extra comfort with the back rest and with the gear in dry bag used as a foot rest or/and behind on the rear end will help the panorama view up front as any luggage won’t be on the front strapped on top of the bike spoiling the view.
The double handles on the GP Cargo will make getting in and pout of the water with the bike and load on board a lot easier I feel.
Which would I paddle?
Short light weight day trips with or without the gravel bike - Alpacka Caribou
Short light weight day trips on an MTB or Fat bike - GP Cargo
Longer trips both bike and camping – GP Cargo
Trips with Molly (our Border terrier – GP Cargo
No bike on the trip on white water or light weight walking and paddling trips – Anfibio Revo CL
If anyone has any questions please just ask or message me, I am not loyal to either brand, I just want more people pack rafting
Thanks to Stuart for letting me post this comparison to try and help those interested into the hobby.
Web links
https://backcountry.scot/product/alpacka-raft-caribou/
https://www.alpackaraft.com/products/caribou
https://www.packrafting-store.de/New/GP ... anguage=en
Please note for those interested that their is a unique discount code for the GP Cargo lower down in this thread
