Review: Pau Hana Solo Backcountry Paddleboard

Inflatable paddleboards are great for those of us without the means to transport solid core boards, but they still aren’t exactly small. I loved the Bote Breeze Aero (7/10, WIRED Recommends), and it did have backpack straps on the bag. But it wasn’t something you’d want to carry very far that way.

What if the water you want to paddle doesn’t have easy car access? That’s where Pau Hana’s new Solo Backcountry stand-up paddleboard (SUP) comes in. It packs down impressively small, weighs only about 23 pounds, and comes with a dry-bag backpack (drypack?) that’s actually comfortable. Will you want to bring it on a through-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail? No. But if you want to get to more remote waterways that require a hike or bike ride first, this is the board to get.

The “backcountry” in the name refers to the fact that this is a “hikeable” SUP. That is, it’s small and light enough that you can theoretically hike in with it. Everything about it is indeed compact, from the included pump to the paddle itself. This does involve trade-offs, and I’ll get to that in a bit. But it is impressive how small this board and all its gear gets. It’s no bigger than your standard overnight backpacking pack and weighs what you’d expect to carry on a weeklong trip. The board in the backpack weighs 23 pounds. Throw in a couple quarts of water, some snacks, and a camera, and you’re looking at about 30 pounds. By way of comparison, the Bote I tested previously had a load weight of about 48 pounds.

The drypack features a solid, but unpadded, hip belt and chest strap, which help stabilize the load when it’s on your back. I should note that while it is about the size and weight of your typical backpacking load, it rides very differently. You can’t control where the weight falls on your back by rearranging small items, like you can in a backpack. The result is that you bear most of the weight on your shoulders, no matter what you do. The hip belt is mainly there to keep it from sliding around on your back. Even then, I probably wouldn’t be super happy going more than a few miles with it on my back. Don’t forget that once you arrive, you have to inflate it by hand too.

While I found the Solo portable enough to get to some places I had not been before, it will still be too much weight for some users to cart around on their backs. The good news is that the Solo also rides well on a rear bike rack, which is another possibility if the weight is just a bit too much. And more good news: The inflated board is incredibly light. It’s just 14.8 pounds, which makes it the lightest board we’ve tested by a long shot. It does have a somewhat lower max rider weight, though. Pau Hana says it will support riders up to 215 pounds.

The other 8.2 pounds in the 23-pound total are the compact pump, paddle, fins, repair kit, and leash, and the drypack itself. The drypack is an especially nice touch. Not only does it serve as a carrying bag, but when you get on the water it keeps your stuff dry. Aside from the portability, the drypack was my favorite feature of the Solo.

I found the Solo to be a very maneuverable board. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to try it in the ocean, because I think it would have been surfable. Wisconsin is oceanographically challenged, though, so I had to make do with a lake, albeit a rather large one. The downside is that the board was a little less stable than some others I’ve used. It’s not difficult to ride or paddle; it just takes a little more getting used to than some of the more forgiving, wider, beginner-friendly boards.

The deck has a nice grip texture that never gets slick or slippery, and the construction feels very solid. Like many paddleboards, the Solo uses a woven drop stitch, which ensures that when the threads hit their max length (when you’ve fully inflated it) they hold. The Solo uses a very lightweight surface material (one of the reasons it’s so light), but it didn’t feel any weaker for it, and it has stood up well to plenty of rocky landings and underwater branches clawing at the bottom.

What I do not like about the Solo is the paddle.

Every design decision involves some trade-offs. Pau Hana wanted to make the Solo pack down very small, so it ditched the traditional hard paddle for a soft paddle with a rigid bottom bar. It works enough that you can get around, but the transfer of power from your arms to the water definitely suffers. The paddle is attached with a plastic clamp that broke the second time I used it. I just tossed it and stuck a hose clamp on it instead, which works but will eventually rust.

In the end, I decided to reverse the portability trade-off and bring a solid plastic paddle along, strapped to the outside of the pack. It didn’t make much difference to the weight or carry of the pack, and it’s an option I’d love to see Pau Hana add. Not everyone has spare paddles lying around.

The other trade-off worth mentioning is the small removable fins. You don’t get anything like the stability of a three-fin setup, like you do on the Bote. That didn’t bother me, but it does make this board better-suited to those with some experience. The removable part was a little more worrying. I had quite a bit of trouble getting one of the fins to lock into place, and I’ve seen similar reports around the web, including from one person who lost a fin. In my experience, they lock in place pretty solidly, but getting them to do so can take some serious work.

Finally, I have seen a number of people say that their pump doesn’t register PSI. I can see how they came to that conclusion because it seems to take forever to get it to register anything, but just keep going. Eventually, you get a PSI reading. I had no trouble getting it to the recommended 10-12 PSI.

Whether you should get the Solo boils down to a simple question: Is the portability worth the price for you? If you primarily paddle in places with easy access—that is, you drive right on up, unload and launch—then the extra money isn’t worth it. 

However, if you regularly find yourself wishing you could figure out a way to get your board into to some water that’s just a little too far to carry your typical SUP, the Solo might be a decent investment. I enjoyed my time with the Solo and was able to launch from and explore places I never thought I’d be able to get to with a paddleboard. That alone would make it well worth it in my view.