Grabner Inflatable Sailing Catamarans & Boats.

Grabner Inflatable Sailing Catamarans & Boats joins the fleet.

7/14/2018

This past year we added a new sailboat manufacturer to our line up of great boats; Grabner. Grabner is a company from Austria that has been in business making great boats since 1979. Today they make some very high quality Inflatable Catamaran sailboats and kayaks. While the sailboats are lesser known in North America they are very well known in Germany, but their inflatable kayaks are known all over the world and often written about in paddling magazines.

We carry the full line of Grabner products but are still in the process of listing everything to the web site so if there is a particular product or accessory you are interested in but do not see, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can shop for Grabner products in our online store by clicking HERE.

So now in addition to the ever popular MiniCat inflatable Catamarans we also offer SmartKat and Grabner Happy Cat's. We are your Canadian source for high quality portable sailboats and watersports gear.

Our contract with Grabner also allows us to supply boats to other countries including America where you can shop in Canadian dollars and take advantage of favorable exchange rates and be sales tax exempt.

2 Comments

Mike

11/26/2019 10:33:02 pm

Grabner makes some serious stuff. People think inflatable boats are cheapo-ho department store toys; the truth is that many are but Grabner is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum. They are the Cadillac, or should I say "Paddillac" of inflatables. Light, convenient, fast and responsive, the high cost goes to an intelligently engineered, high quality rubber that is both durable and capable of taking on high pressure. What that means is on the water the stiffness of the boat rivals rotomolded, but doesn't quire reach composite.

What's neat is the weight of their kayaks and canoes is also very low, in many cases even less than a carbon fiber composite! The stability from the inflatable is also outstanding with plenty of both primary and secondary. It almost feels like you're flying over the water not floating. It's like the boat has its own special rules of physics that Grabner alone invented for themselves.

High end composites are definitely better, faster and more efficient, but cost way more and are a bit more fragile too. If you are in the market for a new plastic boat but don't want to deal with the weight and the cost of a composite makes you balk, Grabner has a nice in between. They are very satisfying.

Only drawbacks are you cannot store them rolled up long term or you will compromise their longevity and it will fail prematurely. The other is that these boats ride very high off the water, so the same qualities that make them such a delight to handle from their responsiveness also make them very susceptible to wind. You can attack oceans with some of them but for the most part I would consider them mostly stillwater craft. Other than that though I can think of nothing better to stick in your BMW or Audi wagon's trunk as you drive off on some alpine mountain roads to your Chalet on the Lake weekend. That's what they were made for. But I could see paddling one in places like the Everglades, Bayous or inland bodies of water where you'd find canoes. Did I mention how light and easy to portage they are?

Ivano link

11/27/2019 12:25:03 pm

Hi Mike

Thank you for taking the time to write this and leave some feedback. We definitely love Grabner and inflatable technology and think its a revolution in sailing and empowers people to own a boat ... I myself live in a condo and would never have been able to own a boat had it not been for portable/inflatable sailboats!

Grabner certainly is a market/industry leader especially with regards to their hull materials but they are a little pricey compared to some other brands ... so I would say it depends what you are looking for in a boat and what your budget can accommodate.

In terms of storage here's what Grabners web site says:

"Best is to store the boat slightly inflated.
If there is insufficient space available, the boat may loosely be rolled up – under no circumstances shall the boat be bundled and laced tightly, or something heavy to be loaded on top.

The boat shall be cleaned thoroughly and dry. The place of storage shall be protected against direct sunshine, extreme fluctuations of temperature and moisture."

I think they worry about creasing of the material since it seems to be a little lighter and more flexible than other boats with similar material (hypalon/PVC) ... but basically they advise not to leave the boat tightly rolled up or compressed using a strap. but loosely rolled up should be fine.

Also in terms of longevity I have yet to see any hull degradation on either a Grabner or any of the other brands ... I think they will outlast any other rigid material and if you ever have a need to replace it is comparatively cheap and easy to do so compared to a rigid boat ... but when i say replace I mean if you lost the hull because I don't think it will be destroyed or compromised just from standard storage ... if you have a link showing otherwise id love to see it.

I have yet to try their kayaks and I have heard lots of good things about them but I agree ... these PVC/Hypalon boats are more like Zodiacs not cheapo department store Vinyl ... they are built super tough and the material is used in lots of emergency craft etc.

But aside form the toughness the portability is a definite plus! I agree... being able to store them in your BMW or Audi Trunk for a post work paddle or sail certainly is an amazing thing ... making it easy to enjoy any body of water and not just the one where your boat or kayak is stored!

Thanks again for your comments!

Ivano :)

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Grabner Inflatable Sailing Catamarans & Boats joins the fleet.

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