There’s another discussion of the article in this thread.
The rafts we’re using are Curtis Rafts. They are 20 oz rafts that my dad and I used to make. We retired about a year and a half ago after 26 years. The best current alternative is the Alpacka Raft out of Alaska. They are designed for river running so they are heavier and more expensive, but they make excellent products.
Brian, your fishing raft reminds me of the yellow WWII Airmans survival raft my dad passed down to me.
He hiked it in to a number of lakes in the 40’s & 50’s & then I did in the 70 & 80’s. We used ping pong paddles for little oars, drilled the handles & ran a 4′ cord from one to the other. That way when we hooked a fish pulling a spinner along, we could just let them go & grab the rod…… 😀
Those Air Force surplus rafts were our inspiration. We used them, too. But they would wear out and then they stopped being available. It was in the mid-seventies that my uncle started coming up with his own ultra-light versions and in the late seventies that we came up with our rafts. We started selling them in 1980.