Does anybody here have experience with packrafts? I heard about them a while back on a different forum, and they struck me as a way of adding spice & ease of travel to some hiking trips. My wife and I are planning on taking a beginners' kayaking course, then going from there.

I'm curious about how much extra bulk & weight the needed gear would add. The context would be summer lake trips, maybe two nights, with no interest in turbulent rivers. So far I've only found two manufacturers of packrafts, Alpacka & Sevylor. The Alpacka seems aimed towards more hardcore rafters, so we're thinking of trying the cheaper Sevylor first.

Wisdom? Stories? Good idea, or a pain to carry? We do like the occassional paddling trip, but haven't done an overnighter yet.