Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe

Is the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe worth buying?

Yes, the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe is worth buying at £79.99 for anyone who paddles alone on a lake or a mild river. 4,688 owners rate it 4.3, and the price covers a working kit rather than a bare hull: oars, hand pump, repair patch and a seat with a backrest all arrive together. Paddle as a pair and it is the wrong boat, because the cockpit seats one.

What you are buying is a short, tough solo hull that turns where you point it. The 274 cm length suits a narrow river or a small lake, and the inflatable I-beam floor keeps the base rigid underfoot while grab lines at both ends let you drag it up a slipway. Anyone over 100 kg, or anyone who wants company on the water, should look further up the range.

What does the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe cost per kilo of load?

Eighty pence a kilo. Take the £79.99 price and divide it by the 100 kg the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe floats, and every kilo of load costs 80p, against 89p for the £159.95 Intex Challenger K2 and 94p for the £169.95 Intex Explorer K2. Only the £49.99 Andes, at 31p a kilo, beats it.

That 100 kg ceiling is where the number bites. A 90 kg paddler has 10 kg left for a bag, water and a camera, and a 100 kg paddler has nothing left at all. The 274 x 76 x 33 cm hull also gives up 77 cm to the Challenger K2, so it spins quickly in a current and drifts off line across a long, open stretch.

What comes with the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe?

The box holds the kayak, a pair of 86 inch aluminium oars, a high output hand pump and a repair patch. A cargo net for the bow and an inflatable seat with a backrest are part of the set too, so there is no second order to place before your first afternoon out.

Inflated it measures 274 x 76 x 33 cm, and it packs flat enough for a shed shelf or a car boot. The hull is rugged PVC with hard plastic skegs underneath for tracking, and the set weighs 1.1 kg in green, in the 2019 model. A carry bag is not part of the package, so add one if you plan to walk any distance from the car.

Where does the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe fall short?

Test yourself against the 100 kg limit before you order. A 95 kg paddler carries 5 kg of slack, which rules out camping gear and a cooler, and the single seat means there is no way to share the paddling with a partner or a child.

The length is the other compromise. At 274 cm the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe is 77 cm shorter than the Challenger K2, and that shows up as weathercocking in a crosswind on a big lake. It also arrives without a carry bag and with nothing more than a small bow cargo net, so bring one dry bag rather than three.

How does the Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe compare with the Challenger K2 and the Excursion Pro?

The Intex Challenger K2 at £159.95 is the tandem version of the same design. £79.96 more buys a second seat, 80 kg of extra load and 77 cm more hull, at 14.8 kg, and a couple splitting the bill pays £79.98 each. That is the point at which this solo boat stops making sense for two people.

The Intex Excursion Pro Kayak at £172.99 goes the other way: £93 more for a 305 x 91 cm solo hull rated 99.8 kg, with two detachable fishing rod holders, a camera and phone mount and two removable skegs. An angler who wants to fish from the seat should take that one. The Intex Challenger Inflatable Canoe wins for anyone who paddles for the sake of the stroke.

Frequently asked questions

Four questions come up again and again about this boat, and each one has a straight answer in the figures above.

If you have a question that is not here, the load limit and the deflated size are the two numbers worth checking against your own plans before you buy.