We didn’t need another boat, we have an even dozen—mostly small boats, kayaks, and canoes—and yet at the Overland Expo Show in Flagstaff, Arizona, right out in front of the booth run by Kokopelli, makers of a range of inflatable paddleboards and packrafts, sat our next kayak. I should explain that my wife and I are small-boat sailors, canoeists, and kayakers; we also travel in a camper van I’ve built out. On our van trips the focus tends to be hiking and cycling, but in the places we explore there are often wonderful opportunities to get out on the water. The mountain lakes of Maine and New Hampshire, the marshes and tidal rivers behind the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia, are all examples of the waters we’ve camped next to but not paddled.

Kokopelli’s Platte-Plus kayak packs into a bag measuring 33″ × 23″ × 12″. Fully loaded (without personal gear) the pack weighs 54 lbs and is well balanced for carrying short distances. Two built-in wheels allow the pack to roll over smoother surfaces.
If the primary goal of a van trip is hiking or cycling, we tend to leave the boats at home. We did experiment with a Klepper Aerius, a folding wood-and-fabric kayak, and while it’s proven to be one of our favorite boats, it’s just too big to store in the van’s “garage”—the rear storage space beneath the berth—and drying it after use but before we disassemble and store it is a little too time consuming. But, we both agreed, a boat tucked out of the way, ready to paddle when the mood strikes and then easily stowed away again… that would be a nice addition to our kit.
The Kokopelli Platte-Plus inflatable kayak looked promising. We stopped to chat with the vendor and to take a closer look. Before long we were writing a check.

While designed to carry the kayak and its specific accessories, which include the seats, a pump, and two paddles, the Platte-Plus backpack has space for personal items such as a couple of inflatable PFDs, a backup pump, and even some 20-liter dry bags. The seat backs have pockets that are useful on the water but can also keep small bits of gear from getting lost in the shuffle.
The boat is a tandem, which was important to us. But more than that, it has versatility: I’m 6′ 3″ and my wife is 5′ 4″, and the system of hook-and-loop tracks that holds the two seats in place allows us to position them so we can both paddle comfortably for hours. It’s also easy to remove one of the seats and reposition the remaining one so the boat can be paddled solo.
The backpack that comes with the boat measures 33″ × 23″ × 12″ and holds the hull and drop-stitched removable floor, seats, foot braces, a pump, repair kit, and two sectional paddles, all of which come as standard equipment with the boat. There’s also room to fit in a second pump, several 20-liter dry bags, bow and stern lines, and two inflatable life vests. The pack’s shoulder straps and hip belt make it practical to carry the boat short distances, and it is also fitted with two small wheels that make it easy to move across smooth ground. The total weight of the full kit without the personal extras is 54 lbs. Once the kayak is fully inflated and rigged, there is space to stuff the empty bag in the stern, should you wish to take it with you.
The 220cm (7′ 3″) unfeathered paddles break down into four pieces and fit neatly in the pack. They’re good paddles, and it’s nice that they are included.

The drop-stitch floor is separate from the side pontoons and is inflated to a higher pressure—6 psi rather than 2 psi. It can be removed from the boat but can also be inflated, deflated, and stored in place.
Kokopelli is a Colorado-based company founded in 2012, although most of their products are made in Asia. The overall quality of the boat, seat design, and fittings is very high. The material of both the hull and floor is a rugged, 1,000-denier reinforced polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which I’m confident will stand up to thoughtful use. Having a removable floor is helpful when drying the boat for storage, makes repairs easier, and effectively doubles the bottom thickness. I seldom feel the need to take the floor section out as the boat can be inflated, deflated, and stored with it in place.
The weight capacity of the Platte-Plus is 430 lbs. Its overall length is just over 12′ 3″ and the maximum beam is 34″; I measured the internal width between the hull chambers to be a minimum of 12″ at the aft end of the cockpit and 16″ at the maximum beam. The hull has enough rocker that the bow rides slightly out of the water. The floor is textured and has deep longitudinal ridges in the main cockpit area. There is real boat shape to the hull and I was pleased to hear that typical kayak chortle sound from the bow on our first paddle. The cockpit is 7′ 9″ long, and the forward paddler has some additional leg room—7″ or 8″—beneath the foredeck, with enough foot room beneath the soft deck for the average paddler. The total weight of the boat with seats and foot braces is 32 lbs.

Each seat has four adjustable straps that can be anchored to a choice of D-rings, giving plenty of variability to accommodate crews of different sizes. The unfeathered paddles break down into four pieces for storing in the bag and come as standard equipment.
We have found the seats to be comfortable—high enough to offer good back support and with plenty of options to customize the fit—and with the 12 D-rings on the hull and four adjustable straps on each seat there seems to be infinite adjustability. It took a few outings to dial in the best seat arrangement for both solo and tandem paddling. I did add short loops of line to the carabiners that clip the foot braces in place, which effectively lengthens the spacing.
In addition to the 12 D-rings for the seats and foot braces, there are 14 D-rings for attaching gear to the deck, as well as both bow and stern bungee cords. The inflated and rigged boat is easy to move thanks to the four carrying handles—one at each end and a pair amidships. There are also hook-and-loop paddle keepers and four fittings in the floor that can be opened to act as scuppers in rough water—we have not yet needed them.

The Platte-Plus performs well as a tandem or solo kayak. With only one paddler there is ample space in which to carry gear for solo overnight trips.
The boat comes with two skegs that attach using the same keyed system common to most stand-up paddleboards. The aft skeg is necessary for tracking and adds about 8″ to the boat’s draft. The forward skeg is optional and not needed for tandem paddling. When solo paddling, strong strokes do tend to swing the bow from side to side and the front skeg mostly prevents this, but I don’t feel the added draft and inconvenience justify the small improvement in performance—in a boat that’s only 12′ long, it’s expected that some adjustments in paddle strokes will need to be made.
Our boat shipped with a hand pump that has a pressure gauge, and we also bought an optional small rechargeable-battery pump. We use the battery pump to do most of the inflating, but once the chambers are almost full, we switch to the more powerful hand pump. With this pump we finish inflating the chambers and dial in the pressure—6.0 psi for the floor and 2.0 psi for the side tubes.

For tandem paddling the seat positions can be adjusted to accommodate paddlers of quite different sizes and leg length. The unfeathered paddles are of good quality and stiff, despite coming apart into four pieces for storing in the bag.
Throughout the boat, the fittings are well designed and intuitive to use. Working at a relaxed pace a solo paddler can assemble the Platte-Plus, from bag to rigged boat, in less than 10 minutes. It takes a similar length of time to derig and store the boat—once you learn how to fold the hull, everything fits easily back into the pack. The hand pump has two outlets: one for inflating the hull and one for pulling air out of the hull to ensure it folds nice and flat. Importantly—especially if the boat is to be used for short outings and then stored away—the Platte-Plus hull can be dried quickly, and even if stored wet for a few days the PVC material will not be harmed.
When we bought the Platte-Plus, and knowing that I would be reviewing it, my working title for an article was “The Worst Boat We Own,” since I honestly did not have very high expectations for an inflatable kayak. But our first paddle in DUCKY (as we affectionately now call our Platte-Plus) was a sunset outing on Moosehead Lake in Maine and with our very first paddle strokes I knew there was nothing “worst” about this boat. It’s proven to be a fine tandem kayak and an even better solo kayak. For our van trips and short outings, it’s the ideal boat, and I believe we’ll log many miles paddling it together and solo on day trips and even overnight solo outings.
Bill Thomas has been a custom woodworker, designer, boatbuilder, and teacher for more than 40 years. He’s also a Maine Guide and has taught sea kayaking in Maine and other locations. He lives and works in South Berwick, Maine.
Kokopelli Platte-Plus Particulars
LOA: 12′ 3″
Length (internal): 11′ 2″
Max beam (outer): 2′ 10″
Max beam (inner: 1′ 4″
Weight (boat plus all accessories): 54 lbs
Weight Capacity: 430 lbs
Inflation pressure (pontoons): 2.0 psi
Inflation pressure (floor): 6.0 psi
Folded size: 22″ × 16″ × 13″
Bagged size with accessories: 33″ × 23″ × 12″
The Kokopelli Platte-Plus is available from Kokopelli for $1,099 including accessories as described here, with free shipping to the lower 48 states.
For more from Kokopelli, see our review of the Hornet-Lite packraft.
Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats readers would enjoy? Please email us your suggestions.
Have you used the boat yet when it’s windy? That’s when that forward skeg might prove its worth. I see that Kokopelli also use the inflated side tubes themselves for cargo storage. Do you have that feature, and have you tried it?
No storage in the side tubes on this model but it’s big enough to store a fair amount of gear inside and also lash some stuff on the fore and aft decks. We’ve only paddled in a gentle breeze so far, maybe 10 knots, and it tracked nicely without the forward skeg in that kind of wind. The challenge with the forward skeg is that it brings the draft to 8″ at each end of the boat and you can’t pull the bow up on shore. It works fine but you do need to wade into a foot of water to get into the boat. You make a good point though and I’ll be sure to carry the forward skeg on trips in case it pipes up and the skeg is needed.
Nice to see a review of an inflatable, it being after all a small boat. I was most surprised by ‘writing a check’. Did the reseller look at it in confusion?
Thanks Dylan. We’ve got plans to review more of these “portable” boats, when we can. I’m pretty hooked on the concept.
And the check part was a bit of literary license. It sounds so much better then “we took out the plastic.”