u/Internal_Entry7515

I’m new to packrafts and overall pretty beginner to watercrafts. My girlfriend and I going to be spending 4 months in Alaska traveling and have lots of future travel plans where the portability/packability of a packraft makes a ton of sense. Our main use cases is flat water/chill rivers.

I really like the idea of the stability of the forager. Being able to relax/lounge in it, get camera gear out, and overall “secure” feeling is very appealing.
However, the flat water efficiency of the rendezvous is also appealing. We don’t plan to crush huge miles just cause or trips longer than a few nights, but being able to get to a cool place is important to us without a ton more effort fighting the boat. I also like the non self bailing floor of the rendezvous for staying dry.

At the end of the day I have no experience in either or really at all, so I’m unable to quantify these differences in stability, comfort, cold water ability, efficiency. It’s an expensive purchase for us so want to make sure we’re picking right here!

Thanks!

Looking to buy/make the perfect camp griddle, looking for some feedback. We live on the road full-time so portability is a priority, and I'm pretty particular on things!

I have a campchef Everest propane stove that is an amazing stove, I could get a griddle pan for it. I don't like that it's 2 round burners, no grease drain design, and it wouldn't solidly mount. Maybe with a 4mm thick carbon steel griddle this wouldn't be a huge deal, but having circular hot/cold zones would drive me nuts if it's that bad. any feedback on this kind of setup?

The "adventure ready" Blackstone looks perfect other than the aluminum coated surface. I could pretty fabricate a piece of 4mm carbon steel to replicate it.

The solostove steelfire looks great, and I definitely see some appeal of stainless steel top, but I'd prefer carbon steel, the rounded corners bug me for some reason, and it's just absurdly expensive.

Thoughts? Thanks!