Swift Canoes Pack 12.6

Lightweight Pack Boat available in the UK

Swift Canoes Pack 12.6, is at it's core a Canadian canoe, however it represents a fantastic option for those who remain uncertain as to canoe vs. kayak. Pack boats are an incredibly popular and growing section of the North American paddlesport community. The hulls are based on canoe designs, yet instead of a traditional webbed seat for kneeling. Pack boats are fitted with a specially designed sit-down kayak seat, and paddled with double-ended kayak style paddles. Why paddle a pack boat as opposed to a traditional canoe or kayak? The Pack boat offers somewhere in between the two. Without a top deck a Pack boat has much less material in the build than a kayak, so reduces the weight considerably. Apart from weight reduction, the pack boats are much easier to entry/exit than a traditional closed cockpit kayak. And the low sit-down seating position, reducing the paddlers centre of gravity making a Pack boat very stable. Some people will also find sitting down with good back support a more comfortable experience than kneeling while on a traditional webbed canoe seat. Using a double ended kayak paddle is also more efficient than a single bladed canoe paddle, more effective in windy conditions and perhaps easier to master for solo paddlers.

The extremely well considered and comfortable seating system begins with an incredibly strong carbon composite seat base. Comfortable padding system with adjustable lumbar support and the tilt adjustment allows the seat to move/flex slightly with the paddlers strokes. Combined with the adjustable pedal-style footrests it provides a comfy, efficient paddling position for paddlers of different sizes and heights.

The Pack 12.6 has been designed to offer a stable, efficient ride and would suit the average to smaller sized person, looking for an extremely lightweight (10.9kg) day paddling boat, or overnight boat with lightweight kit. The standard Swift Pack Boats come with Cherrywood carry-handles and two thwarts (to add rigidity and strength), and come with two built-in buoyancy chambers to aid flotation in the event of a capsize or the boat becoming swamped.

As with all the standard Swift Canoes and Pack Boats we import into the UK, the outfitting on the Pack 12.6 is considered top-end. With strength, lightness and careful thought being put into the components used to outfit the boats. Carbon/Kevlar gunnels are extremely light, yet durable and are infused into the hulls Kevlar Fusion material for superior strength. The Kevlar Fusion hull is popular due to its high strength to weight ratio, providing great abrasion and impact resistance (as far as composite boats go). Available in Swifts two-tone colourway- Emerald or Ruby over Champagne, which provides a smart look, and the Champagne coloured hull makes it harder to see scratches or character marks that the underside may pick up during it’s time on the water.

We import the best-selling Swift Canoes, based on UK paddlers requirements and these are displayed on our website. However, Swift do offer a huge array of material options, outfitting choices and custom builds. If you would like to design you own ‘super canoe’ from Swifts many options, and have a custom-built boat, then we would highly recommend taking a look at the Swift Website. Here you will find a custom boat building tool, and some fantastic videos which clearly explain the many features, outfitting choices and materials available:

SwiftCanoe.com

If you have any questions relating to Swift Canoes or Swift Pack Boats, or would like to discuss a custom boat build and how to pre-order one into the UK, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with of the team here at Manchester Canoes who would be happy to help