Choosing a raft frame is a pivotal moment in your river gear acquisition process—arguably much more important than the raft itself. A raft frame that fits your all-around river running needs will last decades, which is handy because good frames are expensive. Here’s a guide to buying a raft frame, with tips about figuring out what frame will be best for you, determining the right frame size, configuring the frame for coolers and dry boxes, and accommodating various types of rigging to suit your needs.

Rafts on bank on Lower Salmon River
Raft frames hold everything together
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The tricky thing about shopping for a raft frame is every rafter has different aspirations and needs for how the frame will function. What works for one river runner might not work for you. And (unlike dropping into a ski or bike demo day), it’s difficult to test-drive raft frames unless you have multiple friends with different setups that you can check out. Revelations about the perfect frame setup often come after several multi-day trips where you can dial in how you like to rig and load your raft. 

Finding the right frame requires some information-gathering up front, keeping these considerations in mind.

Camp at Escalante Dominguez Canyon Gunnison River
Three- or four-bay raft frames easily accommodate a large cooler (under the rower’s seat), a dry box, and a drop bag for additional storage

Table of Contents

1. Aim for a frame that suits 75% of your river-running trips

Are you mostly planning to do one or two multi-day whitewater trips each year with the family on big western rivers? Or lots of day trips or short overnighters most weekends of the spring and summer? While no raft setup can accommodate every situation, you can find a raft and frame that will support most of your river-running aspirations. 

“Most people want to do a combination of several types of trips,” said Phil Walczynski, CEO and co-owner of Down River Equipment, a Denver-based river equipment company that has been building raft frames since the 1980s for various distributors (including Durango-based Southwest Raft and Jeep and Utah Whitewater Gear), outfitters, and private boaters. “The person’s budget needs to be considered, how much they’re using it, what sort of durability they need, and what sort of configuration they’re looking for—are they doing more multi-day trips or day trips?”

One of the biggest decision points is choosing a frame to accommodate primarily whitewater trips or fishing trips: Fishing frames are very different from whitewater frames, with the ideal setup accommodating one person rowing and one person fishing from a mounted seat or a casting deck (a platform incorporated into the frame). Fishing frames also often come with fittings for an anchor system to hold the raft in that sweet fishing hole.

And what if your main jam is paddle rafting with friends, but you want a better system for holding stuff than strapping dry bags to the thwarts? A paddle frame can accommodate a large cooler or dry box while leaving plenty of room for paddlers.

2. Gather all the information and experience you can with different raft frames

Before you buy your first raft frame, ask fellow river runners lots of questions about what they like and don’t like about their frame setups: Most boaters will be able to speak at length on this topic. If possible, go on some multi-day trips with people with different raft frame configurations, pay attention to how they load and rig their rafts, and take a spin on the oars even if it’s just in the eddy.

Another option (although somewhat expensive) is to rent a raft setup that you think matches your needs from an outfitter. After trying a few different rigs, you’ll gradually start to form your own opinions about what setup will work best for you. 

Young boy learning to row on Green River through Desolation Canyon
If you’ll have different people rowing the boat (kids, for example), make sure the frame’s kick bar and seat are adjustable to fit them

3. Determine your budget  

As with most purchases, extensive customization drives up the price of a raft frame. Costs for a new raft frame can range from $500 to $1,000 for a minimalist, pre-configured frame to $2,000 and up for 3- or 4-bay frame that is built to your specifications.

Choosing a pre-built, standard frame is an excellent way to save money while still getting a solid setup that can be modified and upgraded with additional components over time. For example, Down River’s Gunnison 3-bay frame starts at $629, is available for 10-foot rafts (such as the Hyside Mini-Max or RMR Storm) up to 16-foot rafts, and is compatible with components from other manufacturers that use 1.25-inch pipe.

NRS also offers base frame that are configurable: The 50-inch-long NRS Longhorn frame starts at $625, comes in 5 widths, and can be easily customized as a DIY project to add components such as side rail racks, thigh bars, and anchor systems.

The simplest, least expensive frames have no bays at all—you strap your cooler and dry box to the frame. But if you’ve used a raft that’s outfitted with bays that perfectly accommodate a full range of coolers, dry boxes, and ammo cans, it’s hard to go back.

If you’re going the custom route, the first step is choosing a base configuration that fits your raft. Next, you specify modifications. Down River, for example, builds their frames on site in Denver to fit the customer’s raft and gear. Rather than leaving the boat measurements to chance, they typically have the customer ship the raft to them so they can be sure the frame fits to length and width and sits properly on the chafe strips.

If you know you will frequently use add-ons like a bimini to keep the kids cool on those hot San Juan river trips, then it’s worth getting a frame with purpose-built fittings for those add-ons. 

Raft with bimini on San Juan River
A raft frame with sturdy fittings for a bimini might be a high priority for family floats through hot desert trips like the San Juan River

Separating wants and needs for your frame is an essential part of the process. Whether you’re coming up with specs for a custom frame or researching ready-made frames, you’ll need to think about various add-ons—whether you want or need them, and if so, what type:

  • Cooler bay: What size, where in the frame, and how many? It’s common to have one big cooler in the bay that’s under the rower’s seat (reducing temptation for people to rummage through the cooler during the day, which destroys the chill factor). We’ve found the best situation for us is having the critical cold food (dinner, for example) in the big cooler under the rower and another second-tier cooler elsewhere in the raft that’s easy to get to with fruit, seltzers, and sturdy vegetables. (Check out these tips on food packing for river trips for more about how to store and carry food.) 
  • Dry box bay: Same questions as above. Everyone packs their dry boxes differently, but before you buy a raft frame, you should know in general how much dry box space you think you need. Most frames are built to accommodate a certain standard size of dry box, so then the trick is to pare down the stuff that needs to go into the dry box to fit. Dry box essentials might include the campstove, dishwashing setup, dry goods, dishes, cookware, and utensils. We often carry a smaller plastic dry box for daytime snacks that we strap onto the front bench seat for easy access. But we often wish we had another aluminum dry box in the front bay.
  • Bimini fittings: The world is getting hotter, so if you plan on doing multi-day trips, just say yes. Look for solid stainless steel fittings as plastic ones will become brittle in the sun and fall apart. 
  • Oar tower setup: The oar towers should allow you to use various oar setups (oar rights or pins and clips) and make it easy to swap out. 
  • Captain’s seat: Different styles of seats provide different advantages and disadvantages in how much leverage you can wield on the oars, how comfortable you’ll be during a long day on the water, and other considerations. The least expensive options are a simple tractor-style seat or a slant seat.
  • Kick bar (foot brace): Adjustability of the kick bar is key if you’ll have different rowers swapping out on the oars. Being able to brace your feet comfortably makes a huge difference in the power and efficiency of your oar strokes.
  • Seats: Figuring out where raft passengers will sit (or stand if they’re fishing) is often a vexing puzzle because each trip might be different, requiring you to reconfigure the front of the boat. A system that lets you add a deck to the front bay—or take it out and use that space for another cooler or dry box—gives you optimal flexibility. If you’ll use the raft as a fishing boat, your focus will be accommodating a fishing seat.
  • Decks: Diamond-plate or resin decks that run the length of the tubes help boaters keep their footing when rigging, and decks on the front bag can be used as a platform for carrying dry boxes and other gear.

4. Think about safety features

Although it doesn’t seem that one frame would differ much from another when it comes to safety, ensuring that your frame fits your raft properly and is well-built is important. For example, for fishing rigs you want a casting deck that exactly fits the chamber so there’s no foot entrapment hazard (and to avoid the raft itself getting worn from a deck that’s too tight). 

Also look for a frame whose fittings are easy to adjust securely. You don’t want your oars popping out when you’re dropping into a rapid, or the kick bar to suddenly give way when you’re bracing against it.

Rafting below Boundary Creek put-in on Middle Fork of Salmon
Look for raft frames that adjust easily and securely so you don’t have gear mishaps in the middle of a tight rapid (this is below the Boundary Creek put-in on the Middle Fork of the Salmon)

5. Consider the ease of breaking down the frame

Although sliding your raft with the frame already in place off your trailer and into the water at the launch site is the dream, not everyone has a groovy raft trailer. (We spent years rolling our 13-foot Sotar into a small enough bundle to get it into the back of a Subaru GL hatchback, with the frame strapped to the roof racks. It worked!) Or the river access might not work with a pre-rigged raft and frame: For example, if you’re flying gear into Indian Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon or sending your gear on pack horses down the steep Chukar Trail trail to the Gunnison Gorge put-in. 

You’re likely to encounter many situations where you need to break down the frame, so make sure it’s easy to do. Down River frames have bent corners that make it easier to put the frame together at the put-in, says Walczynski. 

“Because of the bent corners, the frame is going to be square and flat the minute you put it together, whereas with frames that have fittings on the corners, you’ve got to fiddle with it and make sure it’s on a flat surface so that it lays nice and flat on the boat once it’s rigged.” A frame that has the fittings at the corners is harder to put together without it getting racked out of square and out of plane, which is extremely frustrating when you’re trying to get your rig put back together at a put-in.

Down River Equipment raft frame for fishing seat and diamond-plate fishing deck
On this custom fishing frame made by Down River, the frame rails and diamond-plate casting deck are fit precisely to the tube

Down River also fabricates the pipe for raft frames using a swage (or tapering, so one end of the pipe can slide into another), which allows pipes to be joined easily and increases the strength. 

The NRS LoPro fittings are the core of its DIY approach to frame customization, allowing you to modify the frame in various ways, including adjusting the position of the rower’s seat, configuring the dry box and cooler bays, and adding components.

Down River Equipment raft frame fittings
Down River frame fittings

6. Make sure the frame is adjustable

Even after you’ve configured your frame for the first time, or ordered a custom frame to your specifications, you should be able to make a few on-the-fly adjustments to your frame to accommodate different rowers, different conditions, or your changing preferences.

For example, you might want to adjust the cross-bars of your frame to fine-tune the fit for your cooler or dry box, change the position or angle of the seat, adjust the kick bar, or move the oar towers on the side rails. If you plan on having different people row your raft, the ability to move the oar towers along the side rails to accommodate the rower is critical. Any difficulty in making these adjustments will become annoying over time and dissuade you from fine-tuning your setup so you can row comfortably and safely.

7. Don’t get fixated on the “forever frame”

Being made of sturdy aluminum, most raft frames will likely outlast you and your grandkids. But you don’t need to keep a frame forever if it’s not working for you. You needs will likely change over time. For example, you might decide you’re done with whitewater and want to turn your raft into a fishing rig.

“The beauty of working with aluminum is we can modify these frames pretty much at any time,” said Walczynski. “A common change would be taking a basic three-bay, single-rail frame and turning it into a fishing frame. We do that kind of stuff all the time. We’d put a front thigh brace on it, put an anchor system on it, and a casting deck.”

One warning about switching raft frames: If your new frame doesn’t accommodate your existing collection of dry boxes and coolers, you’ll need to factor in those replacements. Although you should be able to adjust the frame to fit what you have, you’re limited by the space between the tubes across the width (the beam) of the boat. So you might have to adjust the lineup of gear in the bays, which can be an unwelcome surprise.

Whether you modify the frame yourself or get a pro to help, you can likely make adjustments to suit your new situation. But in some cases, it might be easier just to sell your current setup and look for something else. Raft frames are always in demand. To sell or give away your frame, contact river equipment stores that offer used gear, post it on Mountain Buzz, or contact a local commercial outfitter to see whether they (or one of their guides) would be interested.

Then can you start over on your quest to find the perfect raft frame.

Frequently asked questions about buying a raft frame

What is a raft frame? 

A raft frame (used for inflatable boats rowed or paddled on rivers) is a flat metal (typically aluminum) structure that fits on top of a raft and provides compartments for storage (such as dry boxes and coolers), fittings for the oars, anchor points for strapping on gear, and add-on components such as seats and biminis (sun shelters). Although raft frames are usually used for rafts that are rowed, frames are available for paddle rafts, too, providing storage across the center of the boat while leaving room for paddlers. 

What are raft frames made of?

Raft frames are usually constructed of aluminum for good weight-to-strength ratio and because aluminum can be bent (with the right tooling) to various shapes and sizes to accommodate different configurations in the raft.

Do river rafts come with frames?

Complete preconfigured raft packages are available from many outfitters, including the raft itself, the frame, and various rigging. However, if you’re buying a new raft, you might want to buy a customized or semi-custom frame that is configured to suit your preferences as to the number of storage bays, style of the rower’s seat, and other specifications.

How much do raft frames weigh?

The weight of the frame depends on its size. A basic aluminum frame for a 14-foot raft weighs about 50 to 60 pounds.

How can I ensure my frame will fit my raft?

Frame manufacturers and rafting outfitters have experience with most available raft makes and models, so they can advise you on which frames will fit your raft. If you’re ordering a custom frame, the outfitter might suggest that you ship the boat to them so they can ensure a perfect fit of the frame and the components, such as fishing platforms.

What are the smallest and largest raft frames?

If you’re willing to pay for a custom job, you can likely specify any size of raft frame as long as you can find a manufacturer with the right tooling. Standard raft frames are built for 13- or 14-foot rafts as these are most commonly used on rivers for whitewater and fishing floats. Grand Canyon rafts are typically 16 or 18 feet long to accommodate gear for a two- or three-week trip. Frame are also available for 9- or 10-foot rafts, which can be a good option for river runners looking for an easy overnighter rig. 

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