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Q: "Is this really a technique article on sleeping with my raft?"  Yup.  As funny as this sounds, it's actually handy if not outright valuable.  In fact, we recently received a report of Jane Goodall, the famous primatologist, taking a nap in an unrigged Explorer.  But we just can't take ourselves too seriously here, so please forgive the outlandish detail and occasional jokes...

The Three Ways To Sleep On Your Alpacka:  Take detailed notes...

The Classic "Mattress Crash" Asana

1. The Barcalounger: Inflated, Right-Side Up.  Best for a quick nap while floating... be sure you're moored!  Not for moving water. 
2. The Mattress Crash: Inflated, Upside Down.  Best for sleeping on the ground.  Tie your boat off if high winds are possible.
3. The Groundsheet: Uninflated.  Best for soft ground in high winds when the boat isn't anchored. 

For the purposes of sleeping with your Alpacka, there are several different attributes that come into play:

LIFT is the primary helpful trait of your inflated Alpacka on rocky ground, snow, or wet & muddy ground.  By physically lifting you away from the cold or rough ground, it provides indirect insulation and comfort by separating you from ground.

Erin does the Grounsheet disco.

COMFORT.  The main comfort an Alpacka provides is cushion.  Note: sleeping on a raft can have a "wobbly" feel if you're not used to it.

INSULATION.  An Alpacka raft provides very little direct insulation because its materials are relatively solid (unlike foams and other fluffy insulations), and when inflated it has only a few, very large air spaces.  Although it can separate you from a heat-sink (like cold ground), for proper insulation you'll need something with loft between you and the boat.  

FLOTATION is straightforward: there's only one vaguely comfortable way to sleep on standing water and that's flotation. 

SHELTER & PROTECTION dovetails into the subject of using your Alpacka for improvised shelter or protection.  In the sleeping context, your boat can provide a windbreak shelter (if you curl up in it, right side up), and it provides some physical protection (armoring) from the environment.  As a minor side note, we have yet to see a tick successfully climb up the tubes but have not conducted a systematic study of what insects can scale it. 

Bacalounging on shore... pretty gutsy.

These factors are different in the three different "configurations" of sleeping with your boat:

• Inflated, Right Side Up.  Provides flotation, partial wind shelter, and a possible anti-tick fortress.  Comfort is variable but highest on water.  Insulation is minimal.
• Inflated, Upside Down.  Provides lift (but not stable flotation - you might fall off if you're on water!), indirect insulation via lift, and protection from rocks and ground irregularities.  Possible tick-fortress.
• Uninflated provides minimal protection and insulation but little else.  However, it does make a waterproof layer under

  Cho pulls a low mattress crash,  Amazonia.

  you, which gets into the "boat as tarp" use.  Better yet, it's low volume, which can sometimes be very helpful in small spaces or when you need to get as low as possible, such as in high winds.

The Logical Questions...

 Q: "How can I improve the insulation?"  By laying a normal sleeping pad on the floor of the boat.  This is where a boat and a sleeping pad compliment each other in a really ugly spot: the boat separates you from the problem (swamp mud, snow, big rocks) and the pad provides decent insulation.

Q: "Where is this a valuable attribute?"  It's most valuable in places where you'd otherwise be in a miserable if not dangerous situation: swamps, wet ground with standing water, consistently rocky ground, and unremitting snow.  

Hugh takes it to the edge in a Scout.

Q: "Will this damage the raft?"  It is possible.  Some boaters report getting "no see um" slow leaks from frequently sleeping on their boats; others do not.  We suspect the nature of the ground (ex: tundra vs. broken rock) affects this, as well as total frequency of use.  Do a thorough seaworthiness check before setting off boating again.

Q: "So... how do I select the optimum sized raft for comfortable sleeping?"  Our unofficial studies have revealed another great irony of the universe: a well-sized Alpacka raft is barely long enough to sleep a user of right "boat sizing" height.  It'll often feel just a trifle short.  The best two boats to sleep on are definitely the Explorer/Dory and the Double Duck.  They're like the Queen Size and King Size packrafts.

Q: "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"  We've done it.  When you've got no sleeping pad, howling winds, and a ditch, it's amazing how quickly you figure this stuff out...

Q: "Can two people snuggle up together on an Alpacka?"  We have not yet attempted this intriguing possibility.

... So a lovely Brit lass wrote us awhile back: "My boyfriend got one of your boats, and he's been totally over the moon with it.  I never thought I'd be competing with a small rubber boat!"