Multiday family paddle setup

So, here's the thing.
You didn't mention how much gear you need to haul.
If you're a minimalist, you know, a jar of Peanut butter and a sack of bread does your family for 3 days, then yes, a paddle boat is one way to go.
If you're like most families, you'll need a HUGE tent, air mattresses, a shower enclosure, lanterns, stoves, music, a generator, and so on. In this case, no, a paddle rig would probably not work.

Plus, you gotta consider your skills when it hits the fan; will you be OK repairing your only ride if someone somehow pokes a hole in it? If you have a major flip, that you know, leaves you standing on shore wondering; What? will you be prepared to hike out?

On the whole, I would want two or more boats on anything but a Gore or Glenwood run, just to be, you know, safe. And besides, you got a couple of boats, someone gets out of line, you can chuck them on the Mini Max or the IK and tell em to chill. Plus, you can haul more stuff, to you know, please the group with some comforts when it starts snowing on your June Deso trip.

Or, they can tell you to chill and make you row upstream. Or sumpin.

Daryl, I've been in a raft rigged like that before in Nepal, since you're interested I'll describe how we were rigged on the Tamur. The raft was a self bailing Avon Pro. There were four paddlers plus the guide. Getting quality gear over to Asia and into the access points over there makes simple set ups valuable. The other raft on the trip had a slant board frame that was quite the POS; the oars were like tree trunks and rowing was a nightmare. The paddle raft had four thwarts installed and a long nylon mesh platform strapped lengthwise along top of them. The platform was probably two feet wide with nylon webbing sewed along the edge and d-rings sewed in every foot or two along the side. There was a bit of extra material, maybe a foot, that hung over the into the bow and stern. There were buckles on one end and straps on the other. Bills Bags and other large drybags were layed sideways on top of the mesh. There was probably room for seven bags but I think we had five most days. The ends were pulled up and cinched tight and then rope was woven back and forth over the top through the side d-rings.

I'm sure Jan over at Stitches n' Stuff would be happy to sew you one and it would be kind of a nice thing to have in the bag of tricks. The bags formed a nice tight bundle that could flex and move and provide ballast. The weight was off the floor so the boat could flex and move. There was plenty of room for paddlers' feet and there was stuff to grab too. It was harder to get down and almost impossible to highside. As I said in my earlier post, a bunch of paying wads that don't paddle (or annoying teenagers and girly girls) can benefit from having ballast in their paddle raft. Amazingly, my wife and I, along with the very skilled guide, were still able to move this raft around in the rapids. We didn't have much for flat paddling stretches thankfully.