THE HOME-MADE INFLATABLE FLOATING HIDE

I had seen contraptions on the internet of little inflatable boats you can sit behind, hidden under a camouflage tent. Sitting low in the water and getting close to unique creatures seemed like something that could get you unique shots. And with a big move to Tasmania, with all its weird and wonderful creatures, coming up, I wanted one!

I wanted to get low-angle shots like this from the water! Copyright Daniel van Duinkerken 2021   

I wanted something I could take with me on hikes if I wanted to. Something that is lightweight (preferably no more than about 2 kg) and I can disassemble and pack away small. After all, it would have to fit in with all my camping gear, camera gear, food for a couple of days and some clothing. I didn't only want to take this to my local lake or river, I wanted to take it to remote places too. 

I looked online, but all I could find was pretty bulky, often heavy, and expensive. Most commercially available products and DIY hides were really only possible to transport by car, and perhaps something that you could carry a relatively short distance, due to their relatively large size and weight. The lightest I could find was just over 5kg, but pretty bulky when packed away. All DIY ones I could find were pretty much made out of plywood and styrofoam, or pvc tubing. Not exactly something you can tuck away in your backpack. 

I don't always have a lot of extra room in my backpack on hikes.....

Two years ago my girlfriend and I bought two packrafts, or inflatable kayaks. These things are amazing. Only about 5 pounds, easily inflatable with a lightweight inflation bag (instead of a hefty foot pump) and still incredibly sturdy. This was the way to go. I stumbled across the website diypackraft.com. They sell the bare building materials and complete DIY packraft sets. They also have some great tutorials on how to DIY these incredible inflatables.

Many people think packrafts are fragile, but they are incredibly durable. The fabric is coated with thermoplastic polyurethane TPU. This stuff is very abrasion-resistant, and also heat-sealable. This means you can join different pieces with a small heat iron, making it relatively easy to make something inflatable. This was the way to go!

I mulled over a bunch of different designs, but went with the most prevalent one: A larger, flat 'deck' area on the front, with two 'legs' sticking out the back on either side for stability and where you sit in between. This all gets covered by a camouflage tent structure, so you are nice and hidden. The photographer sits up to about his chest in water (in a dry- or wetsuit, or some waders), between the two 'legs'.

The difference with a packraft is that this thing needed to be somewhat flat when inflated. I decided to essentially cut out two mirrored pieces that would be the top and bottom of the inflatable part (with the TPU-layer on the outside to resist abrasion and be able to heat-weld attachments to it for mounting the camera and tent to) . The top and bottom part would get sewn together by various baffles of about 10cm high. Then the entire outside edge would be heat-welded with a small strip to join the top and bottom parts and make the whole thing inflatable. I went with the same inflation valve (Leafield D7) my packraft has, so I could simply use the same inflation bag for the floating hide. 

I ordered the TPU material from diypackraft.com, the heat-welding iron from aliexpress and the lightweight tent material (ripstop nylone) and waterproof thread from a Dutch fabric website. I first made templates out of an old cardboard box for the top and bottom halves and once satisfied, I cut those out of the TPU fabric. I then measured where to put in the baffles (about every 8-10 cm) of varying width and cut those out of the lightweight tent material.   

The cardboard template for the top and bottom

First thing was to put in the valve. I put it in the back on one of the legs so it's easily reachable and not in the way when you are sitting behind the raft. I cut out the hole and glued in an extra piece of TPU fabric for extra reinforcement. Then it was simply a matter of screwing the valve in. Easy!

I had never sewn anything in my life so it was a bit of a learning curve. After some practice on scrap pieces I had sewn the baffles (made out of ripstop nylon), first to the bottom part, and then each baffle to the top part. There was no turning back now! I seam-sealed every sewn bit with Seam-Grip so it would be airtight. 

The top and bottom TPU fabrics and some already sewn in baffles and the hole for the valve

The sewn-in baffles, now onto the heat-sealing of the top and bottom edges!

Once this was done I cut out long joining strips out of the TPU material. Only 25mm wide, I needed about 4.6 meters. I got an aluminium strip of about the same with that I could easily bend into the shape of any corners I would encounter and lined it with double-sided tape. This way I could stick the bottom and top halves of the raft to the aluminium, carefully aligning marks I had put on either side. I had to go full circle with this so if I misaligned anything it would be a disaster: I wouldn't be able to fully close up the inflatable raft, making in non-inflatable.

Once I had a section stuck on the aluminium, I would go in with the heat-welding iron and start heating it up so the TPU would melt and stick together. Also a bit of a learning curve here but thanks to the excellent instructions on DIYpackraft.com it was very manageable. Straight bits were fairly easy, but the curves, especially those on the backend (with the tightest and longest radiuses) were painstakingly slow, doing only about 3 -5 cm at a time. 

But in the end, I got there!  I managed to keep everything aligned and sealed it the whole way around. I was super nervous to inflate it the first time to see if it would hold any air. And, well, it didn't do very well! I still had some pretty mayor leaks around the heat-sealed strip, but after resealing a couple of spots it was holding air much better. I decided to go all the way around with seam-sealer as well, to seal up the last small leaks and have some extra reassurance the whole thing wouldn't implode on me whilst out on the water. 

After some seam-sealing, the raft was holding air and nice and sturdy!

My biggest fear was that the whole thing was going to be a bit floppy when inflated, but it turned out to be really stiff and rigid. Dimensions are approximately 120cm (4ft) long and 85cm (almost 3ft) wide, and about 14cm high.The next question was, how am I going to attach my tripod head, and more importantly my camera with a big, heavy and expensive telephoto lens?

I wanted a system that was somewhat adjustable. Able to slide the position of the camera a bit forwards and backwards, as well as sideways. I put in two carbon rods (from left to right) on the big plateau. They simply slide in under two tabs (of TPU material I heat-welded on) when the raft is deflated. I attached these in such a way that when I inflate the raft, they get stuck in and cannot move at all. I still had parts of an old camera shoulder rig lying around, which slides in between the the two carbon tubes. This way I can slide the camera about 30 cm sideways and 35 cm for/backwards. I can also easily remove all the tubes to pack it away in my backpack. 

The raft is now inflatable, and I can mount my camera on to it. Next step is the hide! I ordered some carbon rods to make something to drape the tent material over. I bended smaller diameter aluminium rods to connect them. I heat welded four little tabs of TPU material to the sides in which these rods can sit. Once inflated, they sit in there pretty sturdy. I can easily remove all the carbon rods to pack it all away and they are super lightweight, yet strong.

An adjustable and sturdy system to mount the camera to and some lightweight poles to drape tent material over.

I first made a shape of the tent material out of paper to have a template, and carefully made adjustments along the way while sewing it all together. It is in no way perfect, but it works. The tent material tucks under the raft and over the carbon rods. Only thing that is need to tension it is to tightened two guidelines on the back end. It has a large opening in the front for my lens to stick out of. 

Prototyping the tent with some packing paper.

It took a lot of planning, learning designing and effort, but I now have my very own custom inflatable floating hide. It ended up weighing (including the tent, tent pole, camera attachment system and inflation bag, but excluding tripod head) only 1.5 kg, or just over 3 pounds. It packs away pretty small and only takes a couple of minutes to set up!

First outing on the Don River

I only got to test it once in The Netherlands, but that already was promising. After our big move to Tasmania, I couldn't wait to get out on the water. And boy did the raft deliver! First time out on Don River, I had a Pied cormorant and several Platypus foraging meters in front of me. The second time I went out I even had a Platypus digging around my feet underwater, looking for food!

Out on the water, with some extra camouflage material

I am in the process of changing a couple of things, mostly having to do with the tent. The tent works, but it limits my view quite a bit. When I am out on the water, I want to move around as little as possible. How the tent is made now I can mostly only look in a forward direction, but not very easily to the sides (which is most likely up and downstream). I am going to cut away a bit of material on the side and cover these open bits that with some mesh-like camouflage material so that I will still be hidden, but have a more 180 degree field of view. Another thing I am looking to change is the old part I had lying around from a shoulder rig. It is fairly heavy for what it is and I reckon I can make it quite a bit lighter. I will likely also change out the gimbal head for something smaller and lighter, as I am not very happy with my current one.

My 2021 Finalist image for the Australian Geographic Australian Nature Photographer of the Year Competition, shot from the hide. Copyright Daniel van Duinkerken 2021

In the meantime, I have been out on the raft many times, on the Don River and Mersey River. I have had amazing encounters with wildlife up close. One of the photos I took from the raft is now even a finalist image in the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Competition!