Inflatable rafts make outdoor trips more convenient with its capacity to let you be in the water in a matter of minutes. This device allows for a more diverse trip from land to water and back, allowing for better adventures.
Saturn easily comes up as one of the most trusted brands in inflatable rafts. The excellent quality and performance of everything they offer assure you of getting the best that will last.
The competition is rough, though, even though Saturn offers consistently high-quality products, other brands pull countless attempts to outshine Saturn. This factor makes us beg for the question of whether or not the shiny specs list outweighs Saturn’s consistency.
Table of Contents
Top 8 Best Saturn Rafts Reviewed
We’ve listed down the highest variants of every type of inflatable raft Saturn has to offer. Let’s find out what sets them apart from the competition.
- 16’ Saturn Rescue Boat
- 16’ Saturn Outfitter KaBoat
- 15’ 6” Saturn Cataraft
- 15’ Saturn KaBoat
- 13’ Saturn Fishing Kayak
- 12” 6’ Saturn Triton Whitewater Raft
- 12’ Saturn Dinghy Tender
- 12’ Saturn Catamaran
#1. 16’ Saturn Rescue Boat
The excellent overall performance of this raft makes it a reliable choice in doing search and rescue operations. Its ability to offer excellent stability, weight capacity, and buoyancy also makes it usable for recreational purposes.
Upgrading this raft from having three to five air chambers assures you of your safety. The increased diameter on the tubes improves on its volume, creating better buoyancy and carrying capacity. Its massive interior deck space makes this raft for suitable for extensive fishing or scuba diving trips.
The raft stays airtight with its safety valve, which also allows for convenient inflation and deflation. This valve also optimizes the raft’s air pressure by expelling the excess to keep it from exploding.
The equal distribution of aluminum benches on the Rescue Boat allows for better weight distribution, optimizing the raft’s stability. These benches are highly rigid, which helps keep the raft fully erect. Paddles installed inside the raft allow for easier re-entry from the water, which improves on its safety.
A heavy-duty DTEX Polyvinyl Chloride material makes this raft weatherproof and extremely resistant to wear and tear. Additional layers of the same material protect the bottom’s surface from immediate damage, making this raft excellently durability.
#2. 16’ Saturn Outfitter KaBoat
The massive diameter of this raft’s tubes and the added chambers make the 16′ Saturn Outfitter KaBoat a step up from the brand’s standard line up. Its extended frame gives you more interior deck space allowing you to pack more gear and let more people join in the adventure.
Having four air chambers lets this hybrid boat stay inflated if one gets punctured, ensuring your safety. A repair kit included in the package enables you to fix and immediately get back on the water. Each chamber will remain airtight with the C7 inflation valves and allows for quick inflation and deflation. Rub Strake Protectors on the tubes’ sides makes it highly resistant against abrasions from impact.
Its 16-inch tubes improve on this raft’s buoyancy, supporting its massive carrying capacity. The multi-layered Polyvinyl Chloride inflatable floor promises superior rigidity that ensures your stability. Its drop-stitched construction assures you of durability that can take a beating.
Four fins strategically positioned on the tubes allows for better tracking, improving the raft’s speed and maneuverability. A transom at the rear makes it possible for you to attach a motor with a drain valve that expels excess water to keep you from capsizing.
#3. 15’ 6” Saturn Cataraft
The largest among Saturn’s Cataraft offerings, its 15′ 6″ variant, is perfect for any fishing or rafting trip. These cataraft tubes do not come with a standard frame, which allows you to customize accordingly.
Having 24-inch tubes gives you an accurate view of what’s ahead, allowing for more time to set up your movements. This feature also lets you tread shallow waters smoothly, improving on the cataraft’s stability. It also offers the most stability regardless of the frame you choose, allowing for better water maneuverability.
Its massive size allows for up to four people with abundant storage space, letting you bring all the necessary gear for the best adventures. The cataraft can carry up to 1800 lbs., making it the perfect companion for your multi-day camping trips.
Adding extra layers of Polyvinyl Chloride and chafe protection on the tubes’ bottoms assures you of this cataraft’s durability, letting you get your money’s worth. The dual-chambers on each tube ensure that you will get back to shore if you get a puncture. Exterior valves make inflation and deflation fast and convenient, promises to keep the tubes airtight. Ten D-rings on each tube allows for easy installation of your chosen frame.
#4. 15’ Saturn KaBoat
This patented combination of a kayak and dinghy boat makes the Saturn KaBoat highly versatile. Its extended frame allows for more interior deck space, making it possible for more people to join the fun. Having a narrower frame reduces its drag, allowing more smoother movement on the water.
A Leafield C7 Valve assures you that this inflatable raft will stay airtight. The same valve also makes inflation and deflation fast and convenient, letting you go boating immediately.
The Aluminum seats that come with this raft allows for more efficient weight distribution, ensuring your stability. Saturn’s improvement on this raft’s buoyancy lets you pack more gear an include more people without capsizing.
A Polyvinyl Chloride splash guard wraps around this raft to keep your gear dry. The raft comes with a top rope that lets you add attachments like rod holders and allows for more comfortable entry.
Its inflatable floor comprises drop-stitched material that promises to be very rigid, ensuring your stability and keeping the boat’s frame fully erect.
The latest release of the Saturn KaBoat uses a German Heytex PVC material, which promises excellent durability that could take a beating. Its bottom compromises of multiple layers for added protection against abrasion.
#5. 13’ Saturn Fishing Kayak
Saturn’s 13′ Fishing Kayak’s extremely lightweight frame enables you to go on solo fishing trips, perfect for that spur-of-the-moment decision. It’s compact shape when deflated makes it excellently portable, letting you go from hiking to rafting in no time. Inflation also takes a couple of minutes, which allows you to spend more time in the water than assembling the raft.
The Black skin on the bottom layer comprises a thick Polyvinyl Chloride material reducing the chances of getting torn apart easily. Its tubes’ heavy-duty, all-weather Dtex PVC coating makes it resistant to any immediate damage, assuring its excellent durability. Your stability is assured with its highly rigid inflatable floor, with its drop-stitched construction enabling it to withstand a beating.
Its Aluminum benches help keep this raft’s frame’s integrity intact, ensuring your safety as you paddle. This feature also helps in optimizing weight distribution within the deck to improve your balance. Velcro straps on the side allow you to secure your paddles when not in use.
Hugging ropes on the front and rear allow for easier re-entry and exit, while splash guards keep your gear dry. A removable fin reduces the raft’s drag and allows for a smoother glide on water.
#6. 12’ 6” Saturn Triton Whitewater Raft
Whether it be traversing challenging whitewater, camping, or fishing, the 12′ 6″ Saturn Triton Whitewater raft promises to keep up and deliver excellence. The brand’s latest upgrades on this raft make it highly capable of going from calm cruises to extreme rapids.
The heat-welded seams assure the frame’s superior durability, letting you finish the trail in one piece. Multiple attachments on its inflatable floor help secure it in place, keeping this raft’s frame’s integrity. This raft’s deck comprises a five-layer, drop-stitched Outfitter floor that assures you of its rigidity, allowing for better stability.
A Leafield C7 valve keeps its four air chambers airtight, improving on this raft’s buoyancy. The same valve allows for more convenient inflation and deflation, letting you spend more time in the water than the assembly. Pressure relief valves on each side expel excess air reducing the risk of capsizing.
This raft’s multi-layer protective covering on the bottom reaches halfway up to its sidewalls, making it highly resistant against abrasions. Its increased tube diameter also creates a more significant gap between you and boulders, ensuring your safety upon impact.
Its self-bailing deck assures that you will stay afloat, letting you focus on paddling. A layer of chafe protection coating on the top deck makes this whitewater raft highly durable, letting you get your money’s worth.
#7. 12’ Saturn Dinghy Tender
This all-around dinghy is the perfect companion on your weekend boating trips. Its versatility makes the Saturn 12’ Dinghy Tender one of the best recreational boats currently in the market.
Extending the grommet line on the entire boat exterior allows for easier entry access, improving this raft’s safety. The floor promises to be one of the sturdiest in the game, promising excellent stability. Attaching an outboard motor is also possible with its frame, making fishing trips more convenient.
A higher denier of Polyvinyl Chloride mixed with Polyester makes this raft’s highly weatherproof and abrasion-resistant, assuring you of its durability. Multiple layers of the same materials protect the bottom of the raft from getting damaged easily. A layer of rub-strake protector keeps its spine from getting destroyed, extending the raft’s lifespan.
Making this raft entirely inflatable allows it to be compact when deflated, making storage more convenient. Carrying this raft with your other boating gear will be very easy with its lightweight. Assembling and inflating everything only takes a couple of minutes, letting you immediately get to the water with its removable wheels.
This raft’s safety valve expels excess air keeping it airtight at optimal pressure. Having separate air chambers ensures that you can safely get back to shore if you puncture it.
#8. 12’ Saturn Catamaran
Being the largest on the twin-hull series of Saturn, the 12′ Catamaran works perfectly as a fishing platform, or for your weekend cruising trips. This raft maximizes passenger capacity without compromising its stability, making it suitable for big groups and heavier loads.
Its elevated floor creates the smallest drags, allowing for smoother tracking and improved speed. Saturn boasts of its inflatable floor’s extreme rigidity, assuring excellent stability. Its drop-stitch construction ensures its resistance to abrasion and the capacity to remain airtight. Two fins on the tubes allow for better maneuverability and control of the raft.
The Catamaran tubes each have two air chambers, letting them remain inflated in case a portion gets punctured. Each compartment has a valve that allows for easy inflation and deflation and keeps each section airtight. Relief valves keep these tubes air pressure at optimal levels, letting you stay afloat without the risk of explosion.
Rub strakes cover the tubes of this Catamaran’s bottom, making it highly durable. The tubes’ increased diameter improves on its buoyancy, while the lowered bow on both of them makes getting in and out convenient. A drain valve on the rear expels excess water to help keep you afloat.
Types of Saturn Rafts
To give you a better picture, we’ve differentiated the different rafts they offer. Hopefully, this guide helps you choose a more appropriate raft for your needs.
Dinghies and Inflatable Boats
Dinghies are you small rafts that, when equipped sufficiently, can be used as sports boats. Its narrow construction prioritizes optimizing speed, and they usually have dedicated slots on its rear for a motor attachment.
Its lightweight frame makes rafts of this type highly portable, making it possible for solo travelers to use it. Oar storages are usually found on its tubes to keep them secured. Having a concrete floor also makes storing gear and distributing weight for optimal balance and stability relatively more straightforward.
Catamarans and Catarafts
These two types of Saturn rafts have two hulls connected by either a close inflatable floor or a steel frame. Their high connectors reduce drag that optimizes speed and lets you glide smoothly on the water.
Usually, these types of boats have fins on their tubes to improve their maneuverability. The massive tubes on these rafts reduce the need for drain valves and make them positively buoyant.
Whitewater Rafts
As the name suggests, this type of raft lets you traverse varying whitewater classes with reduced risk for injury. These rafts usually have protective covers starting from their sidewalls to the bottom’s surface to keep it from getting torn from hitting rocks.
Its massive tubes create a wider gap between you and boulders, ensuring your safety upon impact. More often than not, their decks are self-bailing so that water does not stay on the raft and help keep you afloat.
About Saturn Rafts
Based in Boise, Idaho Saturn Rafts is currently the lone distributor of Saturn Whitewater products in the US. It is quite fitting, though, for their home base boasts of having whitewater rafting locations in every corner, letting you get your fill of adventure anytime.
All the products are tested by the manufacturers, countless times in varying classes of whitewater and weather conditions. This dedication enables them to provide excellent accuracy and precision in assisting you as you choose the right. The rigorous quality testing also assures the unquestionable performance and durability of their products, letting you get your money’s worth.
The abundance of patented designs produced over 30 years of being in the industry proves their determination to provide consumers with the best quality and technology. Offering a vast array of accessories makes them a one-stop-shop, letting you look no further for your trip’s appropriate gear.
Conclusion
Saturn’s keen attention to details effortlessly lets them be one of the most reliable boating equipment brands. Their determination to provide us with the best of everything we could needs manifests in their products’ excellent quality and performance.
Inflatable rafts allow us to go from our backyard to the water with less effort. Choosing the right one requires that we be as specific as Saturn to maximize the raft’s potential and ultimately have the best time.
We hope that giving you a rundown of every inflatable raft they have to offer helps you choose the perfect raft for your next adventure. While we have provided you an extensive list, though, it is best to know how each factor affects one another to let you choose accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Aren’t inflatable floors more dangerous that hardwood floors?
A: The high-pressure upon inflation makes inflatable floors as sturdy as hardwood floors. Multiple layers of PVC makes this type of deck resistant to abrasions and weatherproof, ensuring its durability. It also allows for easier assembly and storage, for it ends up with a compact shape once deflated. Hardwood floors, on the other hand, pose a struggle during assembly and could cause damage if incorrectly attached. You need to have more space for storing rafts with these floors since they do not fold up.
Q: Can I repair my boat in the middle of the water?
A: Saturn’s inflatable rafts all have multiple air chambers that ensure your safety if one segment gets punctured. You may not be as balanced compared to when all sections are working, but you will have enough buoyancy to attempt a temporary fix. Purchasing their inflatable rafts usually includes repair kits with all the necessary tools to let you get back to your adventure. If you opted out of getting these kits, duct or gorilla tape usually does the trick as long as the puncture does not reach below the waterline.
Q: How do I pick the appropriate Saturn Raft for me?
A: Determining the location, purpose, and the number of people included will ultimately allow you to determine the right kind of raft for you. Inflatable rafts cater to a specific set of needs, so learning how different factors affect its performance tells you its ability to adapt. Looking at a raft’s spec sheet will tell you if it is a good fit or otherwise, but if you need more help, Saturn has hotline assistance available at your disposal.
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G’day, my name is Rach Taylor and I’m the proud Founder of Surf Hungry. I am a former Australian Olympic athlete and Australian representative surf sports athlete. I’ve worked in the surf industry and lived at many of Australia’s best surf spots, sparking a life-long love of the ocean and a passion for surf sports which also rubbed off on my two young sons! I am also lucky to spend a lot of ocean-time in my favorite second home, Indonesia. In addition to SurfHungry I have founded several other websites in my areas of passion, namely coffee and rock climbing, and am also a regular rowing content contributor.
