Cheap inflatable

A Lilo.super cheap super stable

Coreban are cheaper than Red.

Do your research before buying though, you could be better off with a LiLo than some of the things out there.

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd help out with a little bit of info.

It's quite right to say that there are some major differences between some of the inflatable boards out there.

Ideally you need to look for a board that is uses Double Layer construction. This makes for a much stronger and also stiffer board. Uli also stick external stringers on their boards which may help if you are into high end performance.

Our mission at Red Paddle Co is to produce the toughest and most considered design without it costing the earth. Compare our boards against more expensive versions and you will see no drop in quality. Compare our boards against similar price or cheaper boards and you will see that the all round quality of a Red Air gives great VFM.

We don't copy a hard board design as the way the hull reacts to rider weight on an inflatable board is totally different to that of it's epoxy cousins.

Air pressure also plays a huge part in the performance. We developed a hand pump that allows easy inflation to 15-20psi. Much easier than the kite pumps we and everyone else started with. Our pump has been a great success and has now been adopted by other brands.

I hope that info is of some help. Ideally try before you buy and please ask if you have any questions.

Cheers
John

I agree.. these RedAir boards are about the cheapest inflatables out there.. They're not as good as Uli, C4 or Coreban but still ok.

DJ

On the contrary!! From our extensive experience, Red Airs are the best inflatables on the market. We've been using Red Airs as our school boards for two years now and they're incredibly well made. We've never had to do a single repair on any of ours, and they are being abused daily - dragged over rocks, up shingle beaches, onto reefs, etc. As was said in another post, what really separates the quality from the cheap Chinese imitations is the skin construction, and the multi-layer skin on the Red Airs is second to none. From our experience they're the toughest of all the inflatablables. We've seen several Ulis needing repairs - their skin is nowhere near as robust as the Red Airs. We haven't really seen much of the C4s here in NZ so I can't comment on their robustness but they're made in the same factory as the Red Airs so I'd imagine they're of similar quality. However, the Red Airs are a much better price, as they have less of the 'big brand' infrastructure and premium to support. Plus which, Red Air just make inflatable paddleboards, and are thus uncluttered by design thinking and convention - having worked with them for several years now it's clear to us that inflatables are not like solid boards - it's daft to try and shape them the same way, as many of the other brands claim to do. Red Air are leading the way in this field. Even the Bravo 6 pump that all the quality inflatable brands are now using - as JohnRed says in an earlier posting, that came from Red Air. (They designed it, but couldn't afford to order the 20,000 that the factory wanted, to get the exclusive on it, so now everyone else is using it).

So, long answer to your short question. If you can pick up a Red Air at a good price it will work extremely well and give you many seasons of good service. The 10'6 is the ideal model to go for - it's hugely popular with yachties and boaties over here in NZ as it's a great all round performer, with plenty of width in the right areas to get stuff on. Don't waste your money on one of the super cheap Chinese single skin inflatables - they can't hold much pressure, it'll be dead after a season, and one encounter with a sharp reef or rock will see it full of holes. It's well worth paying the few extra for a quality multilayer board that will last you so much longer.

Check out this pic. This is a Red Air 9'4 being ridden by Armie Armstrong, who's heavily involved in the Red Air R&D process here in New Zealand. You don't get into places like that with an inflatable board unless you're damn sure that it's up to the job!


Bill D
Northland Paddleboarding
northlandpaddleboarding.co.nz/

Great pic!

You're totally right to have those concerns. Our own experience is that there is a HUGE variation in quality out there, and we are regularly encountering people who've had bad experiences with inflatable boards, which is frustrating because the good ones really are very good. I will confess to a commercial interest with Red Air, which has come about because we were so blown away by their performance with our school. So we now supply them, and have got to know the guys behind the brand pretty well. But that has just reinforced our belief in them - it's hugely refreshing to have no 'egos' or dogma getting in the way. They just want to build great inflatables, and are willing to throw the rulebook out of the window to achieve that.

So inflatables are most certainly not all created equal, and as was mentioned in the previous posts, it all comes down to the skin construction. A single skin board is not strong, cannot sustain high pressure, and cannot hold anything other than very basic rocker profiles (essentially flat, with turned up nose and tail). The multilayer skins can hold their pressure pretty much for ever (we have boards here in the school that we haven't touched with a pump for many months, and they're out there baking in the sun every day, and they're still at full pressure), and also allow a much more sophisticated rocker line, which is created by seaming between the layers that make up the skin. (However, it's a fundamental aspect of any inflatable board that their rocker line is always going to be 'dynamic', controlled by where you stand and the weight spread on your feet. The brands who claim that their rocker lines match those of their solid boards are just talking twaddle - that's simply not how inflatables work).

A test would be great but it would be hard to really get a handle on the longevity of these boards, which definitely is what separates the good from the bad. We've supplied many Red Airs to people who already had single-skin inflatables, and couldn't believe the difference. Indeed, some of these boards were less than 6 months old and already looked ready for the dustbin. Including several Ulis I have to say (one had had 8 punctures, in 4 months!), but they were definitely single skin construction so I suspect that Uli may have different constructions at different price points or something, because I thought that Uli were supposed to be pretty good. Don't know much about the brand as nobody's bringing them into NZ.

As said, we have Red Airs here in our school that have been THRASHED. Cooked in the sun, bounced off rocks and sharp stony beaches daily for 2 years. Other than the deck grip lifting a bit in places (easily fixed with a dab of glue), they still look good as new.

You're dead right though, if we can get the message over that good inflatables are high quality bits of kit then every SUPr should have one in their quiver because they're such a blast! When the surf is small we all go out on our Red Airs rather than any solid board because it's so much fun - it changes the whole game when you know you're not going to get hurt by your board (or anyone elses), we're all taking off on each other, jumping onto each other's boards, playing dodgems, there's just a lot of laughing going on. You can't have a scowly face and attitude when you're on an inflatable, there's just something naturally fun about them - they let you get away with murder, everyone's pirouetting, switching stance, going for crazy unmakeable stuff because it doesn't matter - it won't hurt.

And that is surely the way it should be!

Bill D
Northland Paddleboarding
northlandpaddleboarding.co.nz/

Hey this is great reading guys.I never thought an inflatable would be much more than a novelty.I am now a little bit interested not that I'm going to run out and buy one tomorrow but I'd like to know more like--What are they like deflated?Do you roll them up or fold them?How small can you make them for storage and transport?And also no one's mentioned a price either so what are they worth for say a 10'6"top of the range?

Yeah, they roll up really small. Red Airs also differ from pretty much all the other inflatable brands in that they can be rolled up with the fins to the outside, resulting in a very small bundle really no bigger than a camping mat, easily carried under the arm. They come with a rucksack to carry them in, and you can pack board, pump, 3 piece paddle, towel, wettie, legrope, boardies and a bit more - checking in at the airport with just the one small bag is seriously awesome.

Basically, they pack away small enough so that you can always have one with you. Check out this pic of well-known NZ muso Pete Trickett (aka Capn Tricko), who travelled all over New Zealand with his Red Air on the back of his scooter, scoring waves (and jam sessions) wherever he went.


We use them as tenders for our boats, because it's so easy, even on our little 4.5m launch. Deflate the board, roll it up, stick it up forward somewhere out of the way, and when you get to the beach, pump it up and cruise ashore in style. Paddleboards (if they're big and wide enough) are actually really good for this, you can load up a whole bunch of stuff onto the board's deck to get it ashore. (Obviously on a bigger boat you wouldn't even need to deflate it, you could just stash it on the deck somewhere.) And inflatables are great to have around boats because you can so easily drag them on or off, and tie them up alongside without any risk of them banging the paintwork etc.



Bill D
Northland Paddleboarding
northlandpaddleboarding.co.nz/

Arrr, bad luck mate sounds like you had a bum deal there all right. There really is only one pump out there that can usefully inflate a board above 15psi, and that's the Bravo Ezee from Scoprega. Your Aussie importer is these guys

www.m8kite.com/?a=78

and this pump truly is the dogs bollox. As said, we can pump our Red Airs up to 20psi easy with these, and 25psi with a bit of grunt. As for using an electric pump or compressor, Uli are sort of right in what they say but it's actually very easy to get around, you simply connect the compressor to the other end of the pump hose, rather than directly to the board. Having said that, there are very few pumps out there that have the power to inflate these boards, we've done a shedload of research on it but only found one 12v pump that's up to the job (the Projecta Typhoon). Happy to advise further on pumps, and connecting them to your inflatable board (yes, they do pretty much all have exactly the same valve fixing, whatever the brand), if anyone needs help.

Re fixing a sail to an inflatable - it's not as easy as it might seem. There's too much twisting force for an inflatable board to cope with if you simply mount the mastfoot on the deck. However, we got around that by building a sort of 'collar' that goes right round the board, to absorb the twist. It wasn't super satisfactory though, the board really needs some sort of centre fin to give a bit more lateral resistance. We're still working on it - watch this space!

Happy Days

BillyD