high performance Culebra frameless cataraft review

Why the Culebra is a high Performance inflatable Craft.

This web page was made in a response to a question about this boat's ability to run the Lower Youghiogheny River in Pennsylvania above 2860 CFS. Why is Culebra considered a High performance Craft for floating the river .

There are a lot of Shredder like boats on the market. Almost every boat manufacture makes one. DIB, AIRE, Hyside, and JPW just to name a few. However for all the similarities, the JPW Culebra stands out as the most unique, light weight, versatile, and durable in the industry.

Construction:

All seams are welded. All parts are welded on. There is no potential for glue failure. This will mean that with proper care your grandchildren may be using this boat. This year alone I have had 3 phone calls or emails about boats purchased at Estate Sales where our Welded Catarafts have gone past the lifetime of the original owner, and are now on their second owner. We do not use zippers or bladders. We use quality PVC coated fabric manufactured in Israel, or in Germany. Over the years these two companies have proven their engineering capabilities by providing us with the best inflatable PVC coated Inflatable grade polyester base fabric. Polyester does not stretch, it maintains it’s dimensions and does not absorb water, which can lead to delamination of the coating in nylon base fabrics because of mildew. Welded seams are stronger than the parent material. Our seam strength for a 32 inch diameter tube explode at 23 psi. It did not explode on a seam, on near a valve. The recommended high pressure on a Culebra is 3 psi.and If you use it in a nasty environment where there is rebar and rail road iron, consider using lower pressures.

Design is another unique property of the Culebra. Our Cross tube “pillow” is raised above the main tubes. The D rings on the bottom of the pillow, and on the main tube, along with two straps per pillow, turn this air pillow into an inflatable frame, much like a cataraft yoke type frame. The straps D rings Pillow and Grommet strips all tie together and stress each other in a way that makes an incredibly ridged frame. The floor of the Culebra is also laced in. The floor is at mid line on the tubes, and this allows more of the energy of a reversal in the river to slide harmlessly under the boat. When is a reversal too big? More about that in a moment. Other craft of this sort have to have a splash guard on front to keep water out of the inside of the boat. The Culebra slides so effortlessly over the waves that it takes on very little water. Have a look at this shot of the Culebra Grande in Hermit rapid in the Grand Canyon at 18K cfs. Read more about the difference between the Culebra and the Aire sabertooth.

This boat has loads of potential as a rescue craft. It has been used to rescue a Black lab from a frozen pond, (sorry I do not have the video) by Gresham fire district in Gresham Oregon, It has been used to rescue people from at least one car pined on a tree in a flood, By Michael Crosline, and it is commonly used as a rescue boat by Clear Creek Rafting, and Wilderness aware Rafting outfitters in Colorado, on the infamous stretches of Clear Creek, and the Royal George on the Arkansas. See this very small video clip of a self-rescue on the Salt River in AZ. We have also made a motorized variations of the small Culebra for Fremont County in Colorado above Pueblo, where they use it as a dive platform when looking for bodies. We also made one huge motorized unit with a drop stitch panel that can float on top of the water and give victims an opportunity to self-rescue, or be rescued by one of the boat operators. This boat was for King County up near Seattle WA. See more about our other search and rescue products at this web site.

If we have not convinced you yet about the value of this style of boat, here are a couple of Testimonials. This one is from Tom Zimmer the outdoor director of Wyoming Catholic College, and another from Hugh Cannard who lives and uses our Culebra in New Zealand. One of the rangers at Yosemite Nat’l Park used our Culebra on the first official Descent of the Merced River in Yosemite Nat’l Park. It was January.

My personal favorite story about the Culebra is a long one and involves the Grand Canyon. We had our first flip at 18k at Basalt rapid hole. When the reversal at the top of the wave is larger than half of the length of the raft, you are not going to make it. Our second flip was in the right hole at Socdolager. I told Dave and Jake (father and son) not to go there, but that just made it more fun for them. We got past Horne creek, and then the water dropped and dropped. We went from 18k to 5 k in a couple of hours, but when we ran Horn, we left an oar in the eddy on the right side. Some of our crew were bored and hot at Trinity creek camp, and decided to paddle up the Colorado 1.5 miles to get that oar. They made it by eddy hopping all the way. However that was still not the most impressive feat. We had a small cutthroat row cat, and it flipped in Specter rapid at the top, where there is no way to hike back up and retrieve it out of the eddy it was stuck in. There was a new guy, and a new Girl in the boat, and they were just starting their 3^rd hour of boating on the Culebra together. Neither had used the boat before. They saw the Cutthroat stuck in an eddy, and simply paddled over and pulled it into the main current. No big deal. Of course I was beside myself with relief. John and Elise later ended up getting married.

Yes good things can happen with a Culebra.

One more thought. These things ship so easily, and they can be taken apart and taken as luggage on an airplane. Geoff Steves did just that when he went to Brazil to run this rapid. I do not think they made it. Please do not start out like this. Work up to it gradually, and please take river rescue courses before attempting class 5 water. Mountain streams can be super cold, and they can suck the energy right out of the strongest person. The Culebra is light and easy to portage, easy to line, and one should consider this as a viable option under extreme conditions. We have pushed them into the current empty and pulled them ashore at the bottom of Lava Falls, and we have run lava without flipping too. Although one time we did have a swimmer.

This boat comes in 9 different styles so far. Thank you for reading this. I hope that we make your list of High Performance inflatables.

Culebra log:

Hiking into remote rivers in Alaska

Boating the Arkansas in Colorado

Tom Zimmer uses our boat big time in Colorado

Hugh Cannard - and Helicopter fly in trips in New Zealand

Boating is Guatemala a short video clip

On the upper Gauley at Pillow Rock

Culebra Grande at 18k in Hermit - the Grand Canyon

A short self rescue video of the Wilderness aware rescue Culebra

Sincerely

Jack and the crew at JPW

Order inquiries: shop.jpwinc@gmail.com
Custom & Prototype inquiries: pschoser.jpwinc@gmail.com