Air V Floor vs Air Deck With Keel Floor

When you are searching for an inflatable boat you will find a myriad of different floor options available. From Aluminium and Ply Wood slatted floors to the lighter and easier to construct high-pressure air floor options.

If you have decided on an air floor, you may now be thinking, which of the two main types would suit my needs better? The Air Deck floor or the Air V Floor.

First, let’s give an overview of the 2 main types of air floor boats.

Air Deck Boats:

This type of boat has been around for a while now and still remains popular among many types of boaters.

The Boatworld air deck floor is constructed from a high-pressure flat air deck (12 psi) which is placed on top of an inflatable keel. The purpose of the inflatable keel being to give a V-shaped hull underneath the boat, which gives the boat better performance and steering then a flat-bottomed boat. The high-pressure air deck utilises drop stitch construction with thousands of individual fibres to ensure it can withstand the pressure, giving the user a rigid flat platform.

When we designed our Air Deck boat, we wanted to give users a great blend between the Pro aluminium and Air V type range. The air deck floor ensures that the boat remains solid whilst also saving on weight and storage, as the air deck matt can simply be rolled up at the end of the day along with the boat.

Our Air Deck boats start at £580, and range in size from 2.7 to 3.6m.

Air V Boats:

This boat has become increasingly popular over the last decade, as users have looked for something that takes advantage of modern construction technology to provide a sturdy yet convenient boat; Having quickly risen to be one of our most sought-after boats.

The Boatworld Air V floor is a high-pressure air floor (12 psi), constructed using drop stitch technology, that is integral to the boat. The Air V floor is pre-attached at the bottom of the tubes. When inflated the two air chambers will pop out into a pronounced V shape, reinforced underneath by a protected solid ridge along the keel line. The resulting V hull gives the boat fantastic directional stability when manoeuvring and is very solid.

This style of floor offers lightweight transportation and easy storage, as the only solid parts on the boat are the transom and the oars, meaning that you can simply unroll the boat and pump it up easily (especially with a high-pressure stirrup pump, or electric alternative). No need to fuss with a inflatable keel or additional parts.

Our Air V boats start at £570, and range in length from 2.5 to 3.8m.

Comparing the boat floors:

As you can see there are many differences between the two different types of air floor. The Air Decks main advantages over the Air V are that it is a flat platform to stand on unlike the Air V which is V shaped. The air floor is also replaceable on the Air Deck if the worst-case scenario was to happen.

The Air V’s main advantages over the Air deck are that it is very simple to setup, having the air floor integral to the boat means it simply needs inflating before heading out. The V hull is also more pronounced than on the Air Deck giving the boat more directional stability in the water and offering a smoother ride as there is more structural rigidity.

We hope that this helps to clear up the main differences between the two most popular air floors. If you have any more questions about anything mentioned in this blog, please feel free to get in touch.