My Inflatable Kayaks - Part 2 - Jack's Pack-Cat

A friend of mine won a Jack's Pack-Cat as a prize in a raffle. The Pack-Cat was a pair of 10' tubes with a couple of small metal frame pieces. It was paddled like a kayak, and was intended to be a lightweight boat that could be backpacked into remote rivers and creeks. I bought it from my friend because he needed the money, but it also seemed like a fun boat. The maiden voyage in this boat was the only voyage for me. I was running the boat on the Camp Nine run on the Stanislaus River in California, which was runnable in the early 90s when there was a drought. I went over Bailey Falls, felt the boat hit bottom, and fell over backwards into the water. I was picked up by a raft, and we found the boat in an eddy below Windowmaker rapid. I hopped onto the boat and promptly fell through. One of the straps holding the frame had been ripped through when I bottomed out in the falls. I replaced the straps and sold the boat. It just wasn't for me.