Messing About on the River with the Intex Challenger K2 Kayak

At a small town near my home, we have a gentle stretch of the River Wharfe that I’ve been paddleboarding on for several years. While paddleboards are great fun, and we’ve loved messing around with our inflatable ITIWIT paddleboard, the main issue with them is that you really need two to enjoy the sport together, and that means transporting two, which starts to become a problem even in a larger car.

Ever since COVID, I’ve seen a real explosion in the number of people taking to the river on inflatable kayaks, and it occurred to me that this might be a way to share our love for paddle sports more conveniently.

So, this year, we invested in an Intex Challenger K2 inflatable 2-person kayak.

Paddle sports are slow in nature, and you get to chat with other paddlers around you. A few people fondly mentioned Challenger K2 during these conversations. Their sentiments were echoed on Amazon reviews, and the Challenger K2 has a review average of 4.2/5 from a total of over 32 thousand reviews. That’s a good enough recommendation for me, and at just over £100 on Amazon, it was cheaper than buying an extra paddleboard.

The Challenger K2 arrived in a surprisingly compact box, and at first I thought I’d misread the label. There couldn’t possibly be two paddles and a pump, as well as the kayak in that box, I thought. Wrong, there was a relatively small pump (when compared to my paddle board pump) and two paddles that comprised of five parts and slotted together to make full-size paddles.

I’ve never been one for reading instructions, so I found some handy videos on YouTube that showed me how to set the K2 up. I didn’t even give it a dry run in our backyard, I just spread it out on the riverbank and followed the 6-minute video. My son, Harrison, put the two paddles together, while I inflated the two chambers of the K2 using the pump. It took a couple of minutes to inflate both chambers, and the video advised not to over-inflate or use a high-pressure pump. This was music to my ears as pumping up my ITIWIT board is a real workout toward the end, even with the much larger pump. Inflating the two seats of the K2 was even easier, and I did this using my mouth, but it can also be done with the pump. Then there was a small float to inflate that tucks into the nose, to give more lift at the front and act as a foot rest.

Less than five minutes after starting, we were good to go. We stowed the pump and some food and drink in the rear storage area and headed down the river for a six-mile round trip.

The riverbed was very low in one or two areas, and I was anxious about potentially puncturing the kayak on some of the exposed rocks, so we did climb out once or twice to carry it along the shore on these stretches. I was amazed at how stable the K2 was when either myself or Harrison climbed in or out from the side. Yes, it rocked a little, but at no stage was I worried it would capsize with us climbing in or out. This is presumably because the bottom of the kayak is flat, rather than having a keel, and this stability is great for beginners and kids.

The Challenger K2 did move more slowly in the water than a rigid kayak, but this is to be expected with more surface area on the water and no keel. It’s aimed at leisurely paddlers rather than hardcore kayakers. That said, Harrison and I are part of a club and sometimes use rigid kayaks and canoes. He had no complaints and thought the K2 moved fast enough, especially when we both paddled together. We managed to complete our 6-mile round trip in just over a couple of hours, and this was taking things at a steady pace and having snacks at the halfway point, rather than rushing along.

I was particularly surprised at how comfortable and stable the seats are. They inflate and attach to the main body of the K2 by Velcro, with a couple of buckles that hold the rear of the seat in place to keep your back straight. This system works really well and was more comfortable than the plastic seating found in rigid kayaks, in my opinion.

Once we’d completed our maiden voyage, we lifted the Challenger K2 back out of the river and carried it to a patch of grass to let the air out. Again, this was a fairly pain-free process, and (as with most inflatable craft, like paddleboards) relied on us progressively squeezing the air from the chambers using a combination of body weight and folding the K2. Remarkably, it fit back into the supplied bag quite easily once deflated, even with all the other pieces of equipment like the oars, seats and pump. It’s almost always a struggle to get inflatable craft back into their bags after deflating them, but not the Challenger K2. That said, the bag is probably the one aspect that lets the K2 down. It does feel a little flimsy, and I’m not sure how well it will stand the test of time. For comparison, my ITIWIT paddleboard bag is a sturdy backpack that I’ve carried up and down some serious hills to get to the sea, but the K2’s bag would be more of a challenge to carry long distances.

But for short distances it’s more than ample, and because it’s a two-person kayak it makes sense to inflate it near your car and then carry it to the launch while inflated. Harrison and I did this and stowed all our loose items in the rear storage area while carrying it.

Would I recommend the Challenger K2 to families? Absolutely. It provides the perfect introduction to paddle sports and is a handy addition to those in paddle clubs, like myself and Harrison. Transporting a rigid kayak is too much of a pain, and even transporting two paddleboards can be difficult in a regular car. The K2 opens up possibilities to enjoy paddling together in a local beauty spot or even at sheltered coves on the coast on a calm day.

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