Partner: Top Portable Kayaks

There’s no denying that inflatable kayaks are a great solution for people who can't easily transport or store a traditional, hard-shell kayak. The flipside is that this portability and storability usually comes at a cost in performance, comfort, and durability. While this trade-off is usually a given, the Star Rival Inflatable Kayak was designed with the idea that an inflatable can be just as comfortable as a hard-shell kayak. And so, among other things, this is one of the features that I set out to test. Here’s what I can tell you after spending an afternoon putting the Star Rival Inflatable Kayak to the test on the Ottawa River.

Portable kayaks have become very popular over the past five years, because they open the world of paddling to people who can’t easily transport or store full size kayaks. Due to this surge in popularity, the quality of portable kayaks has improved tremendously, along with the variety of portable kayaks that are available on the market.