Unsurprisingly, Maravia has become one of the most trusted brands in the industry, one of the longest-running inflatable raft manufacturers in the game. Their high-quality products assure an excellent performance that will let you have the best time in the water every time.
Maravia makes you look no further with the vast selection of rafts fit for every occasion. You need not worry about durability, though, as every raft goes through a standard construction process that ensures it can take a beating.
Top 7 Best Maravia Rafts Reviewed
We have chosen a few of the best rafts Maravia offers to give us a better idea on which raft could be the perfect companion for your next adventure.
#1. New Wave Series
The simplistic design of the New Wave Series lets you get straight to rafting. Maravia makes these rafts in three, in-between sizing options and various colors to choose from, allowing for better customization.
Like all Mararvia rafts, its outer shell comprises of high-quality Polyvinyl Chloride material that promises excellent durability. The Urethane coating, combined with the PVC, assures that these rafts can take a beating and will stay rigid when fully inflated. All rafts have a matte finish that gives you a firmer grip on the boat, improving your stability.
Its flat hull creates a lower waterline, which improves your balance on the water. This feature allows for sufficient tracking and optimizes the energy of every paddle. It also allows you to maximize the interior deck’s space, letting you bring all the necessary gear.
All rafts in this series have a self-bailing floor, which helps improve your buoyancy by expelling excess water from the raft. The drop-stitched core of this 6-inch floor promises excellent rigidity to maintain the raft’s shape and improve your stability. This feature also assures you the despite its thickness, and the base can resist abrasions and punctures.
#2. Scout
Despite Maravia Scout’s smaller size, its ample deck space allows you to pack enough gear for multi-day trips. Installing additional thwarts on the raft lets up to three people join in the fun.
The relatively smaller tubes allow for better maximization of space and weight distribution. This feature also lets you view the water ahead better, helping you plan your next moves appropriately. Traversing through waterfalls will be a breeze given the raft’s increased buoyancy.
Having four separate air chambers ensures that you will safely get back to shore if one section gets punctured. This feature also makes the raft highly rigid, ensuring your stability despite the smaller tubes.
Handles strategically located on both ends of the raft allow for more comfortable transport to and from the water. This feature also allows you to flip the boat over quickly if it capsizes.
The high bow allows you to resurface after diving, ensuring your safety immediately. Fitting in a cargo frame in the middle of the raft will ensure that everything stays in place as you paddle through rivers.
Maximizing the attachments in this raft will allow you to comfortably fit up to seven people, letting this raft be suitable for families and friends.
#3. Zephyr
Like the Maravia Scout, the diminished tubes in the Zephyr allow you to tread shallow rivers better with its increased buoyancy. This feature also lets you maximize deck space, allowing for more gear or additional thwarts to let more people join.
The Class VI welding in the body’s construction ensures you of a raft that will stay together despite constant crashing. Multiple layers of Urethane make up a Seamless Encapsulation process, which makes the raft airtight assuring your safety. This process enables the tubes to resist abrasions and delay the effects of wear and tear. Maravia’s Thermofused technology ensures that the seams are strong yet flexible enough to resist tears.
Maravia improves your grip towards the boat with its matte finish. This coating keeps you locked in place as you paddle and lets you gain more stability as you enter or exit the raft. Its bottom promises to be smooth like glass lets you glide effortlessly on water, allowing you to better maneuver.
This raft’s self-bailing floor immediately expels excess water from the raft, assuring your safety and keeping you afloat. Its lace-in drop-stitch manufacturing ensures that the floor remains airtight yet agile enough to resist punctures.
#4. Williwaw 2
It comes off as no surprise that the Williwaw 2 quickly became one of Maravia’s tops selling rafts. Its versatile construction, combined with excellent performance, makes usable for any adventure, letting you get your money’s worth.
This raft’s increased carrying capacity makes it one of the few rafts capable of carrying massive loads, making it perfect for elaborate fishing or multi-day camping trips. Its diminished tubes increase deck space, allowing for better weight distribution.
The lowered tube dimension increases your buoyancy, allowing you to float better on waterfalls and shallow waters. This feature also lets you plan your movements better as it gives a clearer view of the rapids ahead.
Willy’s high and oversized bow keeps you dry and lets you resurface quickly from steep dives. This feature also enables you to slice through waves smoothly, improving on the raft’s maneuverability. Its drop-stitched, self-bailing floor makes this raft rigid and ensures buoyancy, improving on its safety.
Multiple layers of Urethane protect the outer shell of this raft, assuring that it could withstand the constant beating. Its matte finish lets you have a better grip towards the raft, ensuring your safety. Its smooth bottom deck improves on the raft’s speed as it optimizes every paddle’s energy.
#5. Tempest 2
A stretched-out version of Williwaw 2 lets the Tempest 2 be one of the industry’s best cargo rafts. Its classic design leaves a lot of room for upgrade, making it highly customizable.
Maximizing its thwart capacity lets more people on whitewater rafting while removing them gives you an ample deck space to store all your camping gear. The slightly elevated bow allows for better tracking, letting you resurface quicker from dives.
The massive tubes protect you from hitting boulders upon impact, assuring your safety. This feature also gives you a lower waterline, improving the raft’s stability despite the massive carrying capacity. You get to optimize every paddle with the raft’s closer contact with the water, improving on the raft’s speed.
Four handles on every end allow for more comfortable transfers from land to water, while 12 D-rings let you secure all your gear, letting you focus more on paddling. Urethane’s multiple layers on the raft’s fabric assure its excellent durability that can keep up with adventures. This raft’s sleek bottom allows for smoother glides improving on its maneuverability.
Having multiple air chambers assures the rafts rigidity, letting you keep your balance as you paddle. Its drop-stitched core makes it agile enough to withstand carrying heavy loads, reducing the risk for punctures.
#6. Li’l Wave
We cannot underestimate the Li’l Waves’ ability to compete with larger whitewater rafts. Its compact construction allows you to fly through waves, letting you finish trails regardless of their intensity. The self-bailing floor optimizes your buoyancy by expelling excess water, ensuring your safety as you paddle through challenging rapids.
Its simplistic design allows you to add the necessary accessories for your trip, making this raft highly customizable. Six D-rings will enable you to secure your gear and focus on paddling, while handles on the front and rear let you carry the boat to and from the shore easily. The handles also make turning the raft over easy when it capsizes.
The massive tubes in this raft ensure your safety on impact, growing the distance between you and boulders. This feature also improves on the raft’s buoyancy, increasing the raft’s stability. Its narrower frame locks you in place as you paddle, reducing the risk of falling out of the raft.
Seamless Encapsulation technology strengthens the raft’s fabric by adding multiple layers of Urethane. This combination of materials makes the raft stiff to remain airtight but agile enough to resist punctures. You will have a better grip on the raft with its matte finish, allowing for easier entry and exit.
#7. Maravia Catarafts
All Maravia Cataraft tubes comprise Seamless Encapsulation that adds a seamless layer of liquid Urethane. This material makes the cataraft airtight, assuring its rigidity, but flexible enough to resist abrasion and punctures. Each tube on Maravia Catarafts has dual chambers that guarantee your safety if it gets punctured.
Tapered ends of the fully curved tubes are hydrodynamic, making slicing and chopping easy, making whitewater rafting a breeze. It increased buoyancy also lets you traverse shallower waters and have better maneuverability on waterfalls. The sleek curves of their bows allow for smoother turns, letting you move better on water.
An extensive list of sizing options let you customize the cataraft accordingly. Their smallest variant’s maximum carrying capacity clocks in at 545 pounds, giving you more than enough storage for your gear. It is best to bring only the essentials, though, as heavier loads will decrease the cataraft’s maneuverability. A 10-year warranty assures you of excellent aftersales service, though, making these catarafts possibly the last you will ever buy.
Maravia Raft Construction
What makes Maravia stand out is a combination of various technologies that make every raft perform excellently in any water body, regardless of the season.
Thermofused Seams
Using Thermofusion to seal this raft’s seams improves on the raft’s flexibility, making it more resistant to immediate wear and tear. The process uses heat to combine everything, which is relatively more potent than applying glue or stitching. Its end product makes the fabric into a unique mold, allowing for better tensile strength, air retention, and agility.
Urethane Seamless Encapsulation
Combined with an excellent quality of Polyvinyl Chloride, this technology makes all Maravia rafts excellently durable. Multiple layers of Urethane top off the PVC material, making the frame rigid and assures that the raft will remain airtight. Its seamless quality lessens the risk for rips and punctures and lets the raft remain agile despite the sturdy construction. Maravia takes its fabric quality one step further by letting it have a matte finish, something unique to the brand, which allows you to have a firmer grip on the raft.
About Maravia
Founded in 1972, Maravia takes pride in being one of the industry’s longest-running inflatable raft manufacturers. They have pioneered some of the useful technologies that have made whitewater rafting more accessible to consumers.
Introducing the first drop-stitched, self-bailing inflatable floor back in 1975 was the brand’s turning point. This engineering placed them on the map, having rafters rely on their product’s construction for an improved experience.
Producing all their rafts with Thermofused seams and Urethane Seamless Encapsulation technology since 1989 assured their clients since then of excellent durability. Looking anywhere else for a better raft became more difficult with the stellar quality combined with their superb aftersales services.
Adding Catarafts in their extensive list of inflatable rafts made the brand more versatile, allowing whitewater rafters to have the same quality they’d get from regular rafts. The brand’s production of stealth rafts for the Navy SEALS in 1995 confirms its excellent quality that does not compromise overall performance.
Conclusion
Maravia’s vast array of inflatable rafts lets you choose one for every occasion. The stellar performance of every raft assures you of always having a fantastic experience. Their dedication to making each raft long-lasting lets you get your money’s worth, guaranteeing that you will get from point A to B in one piece.
We hope this review of their products lets you have a better idea of what each raft offers. While the brand offers an extensive list to choose from, it is best to learn how each factor affects one another to maximize its potential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the difference between an elevated and a flat bow?
A: Having an elevated front allows for easier resurfacing on steep dives. This type of bow enables the raft to have higher buoyancy, letting it float better on shallow waters and tread waterfalls. Rafts with a flat front maximize deck space, letting you store more gear or accommodate more people in the raft. The added volume lets have closer contact with the water, allowing for better maneuverability and efficient paddling. Since both types of bow cater to a specific kind of water, it is best to determine where you would be using the raft to maximize its capabilities.
Q: How do Thermofused seams affect the raft?
A: As mentioned above, doing Thermofusion to seal the raft does away from using glues or stitching, which ultimately compromises the material’s quality. The minimal contact required to hold everything in keeps the fabric sturdy and hole-free, assuring you of excellent durability. Having a unique mold also makes the seams rigid yet flexible enough to adapt to pressure.
Q: What does self-bailing mean? How does this affect the raft?
A: Not all inflatable rafts have self-bailing floors, something you need to be on the lookout if you are going whitewater rafting. Self-bailing floors have holes in between the lower decks to expel excess water, maintaining buoyancy as you paddle. Valves usually found at the raft’s rear allows for faster drainage, letting you stay afloat and ensuring your safety as you chop through waves.
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