Please note that due to the high weight of this raft, the UPS rate module that works with our shopping cart will be unable to calculate the shipping cost and you will get an ERROR message. Therefore, if you want one of the 176R’s you will need to phone us at 925-820-BOAT.
AIRE’s big seventeen-and-a-half foot 176R self bailing whitewater raft and you get $ back toward motor freight fees or accessories. If you live back east in a remote area, and want this raft delivered to a residential address, in some cases the freight bill can exceed $. In many instances though it will be less than that, so you can apply the remainder toward accessories. Our shopping cart does not deduct the $ allowance, nor is is set up to calculate ship rates above the 150 pound UPS limit, so that’s why you need to phone in orders for large boats like the 176R. An additional price break of $ is available for payments made via cashier’s check.
AIRE 176R Whitewater Raft We have NOT Tried
No one here at The Boat People have used a 176R, and we have no feedback on it either, so we can only discuss this model in generalities. We have put plenty of miles on another 17’6″ bucket raft that was a few inches wider than this one, so we do at least have experience with a raft of this size. Obviously any boat of this length and girth is intended for extended trips, preferably with fairly high water volume, where you might need a high load capacity. A 176R can still make it’s way down “normal” rivers at reasonable flows, but no one should buy this as a general purpose raft for waterways that normally only run 3,000 cfs (cubic feet per second) or less. At 7’8″ in width, technical boulder fields will be a tight squeeze.
These are not always available and you generally don’t get much color choice. For now AIRE is only making blue and yellow, but it’s rare they will even have both. Please note that the photo shown here, and the 176 and 186 models AIRE allegedly shows on their site appear to actually be pictures of a 156R in orange. No such thing as an orange 176! There is an extra lift handle on each side of a 176R not shown since this is the wrong photo. The valves are also in a different location than shown.
AIRE 176R Whitewater Raft Has Six Air Chambers
The 176R whitewater raft features six air chambers on the main hull rather than four, for maximum safety. If you don’t want any thwarts, the price will decrease by $. Conversely, you can easily put four thwarts in a 176 but few people would rig one of these as a paddle raft, and that would be the only reason for extras. If you are not going to trailer your 176R, plan on using a dolly or a lot of helpers to get it to the water’s edge. At 190 pounds with two thwarts, it is no featherweight.
Tube diameter on the AIRE 176R Whitewater Raft is 22″.