We just sold our Hyside Mini Max to friends. I was really sad to say goodbye to this boat, but we adopted a giant dog, and it quickly became clear that if we wanted to bring him rafting with us, we needed a bigger boat.
Specs
- Length: 10’6”
- Width: 5’2″
- Tube Diameter: 18″
- Weight” 70 lbs.
- Material: Hypalon or Neoprene*
*These boats are made in hypalon and neoprene, ours was neoprene. The advantage of the neoprene is that it is slightly less expensive than the hypalon boats. The downside, if you care about this sort of thing, is that the neoprene boats only come in black. We only had our boat for a couple years, so I can’t really speak to the durability of the neoprene.
What it is
Fun and Sporty – This is a great boat for R2-ing! It is obviously not as stable as a bigger boat, and if you go upside down, you go fast. It is perfect for technical rivers, and exciting in bigger water. Hyside puts the suggested maximum capacity at five people, but if you are a party of four more often than not, I might consider a bigger boat.
A lightweight fishing boat – With a CFS fishing frame this is a great little fishing rig. Even with the frame on, it was light enough for two people to carry over uneven ground when we were somewhere without a boat ramp.
Portable – In addition to being light, it rolls up really small and is easily managed by one person (see the note about neoprene). As a guide, most of my private boating is done in the fall, when the rivers are down to baseflow and can be very boney. This boat makes those low water trips more accessible, and inspired dreams of low water backpacking style trips. It also inspired more half-baked dreams of putting it in a bag with backpack straps and flying to other countries to go boating.
What it is not
A “quiver of one” boat – I love this boat, but it is not the perfect go anywhere, do anything boat. For some trips you just need something bigger.
A gear boat – You absolutely can do multi-days in this boat, but it is more like backpacking than car camping – but hey, I love backpacking.
Photo: Montana River Photography 
Big dog, small boat
I would recommend this boat to everybody, but especially people who already have or have access to a bigger boat for multi-days. It is also perfect if you want to primarily run low volume rivers, don’t have the storage space for a big boat, want to travel with it, or want to go kayaking in a raft.
