Bartlett 3m Circle Deck Water Hammock

The Circle Deck is 20kg where the 3.5m Hex Deck is 23kg and the big AquaDeck pontoons run past 40kg. Three kilos doesn't sound like much until you're carrying it down a bank to the water, and it's the difference between you doing it alone and asking for a hand. If your deck has to come out of your shed and back every weekend, the light one gets used and the heavy one doesn't.

This is the difference between a floating mat and somewhere you'll stay all afternoon. On a solid deck you're either on it and hot, or off it and swimming. With the mesh you sit on the ring with your legs through, or lie back into the mesh half submerged, and you set your own temperature. On a 38 degree day that's the difference between twenty minutes and your whole afternoon. It's also the safe splash zone for kids: in the water, inside your ring, and in sight the whole time.

Seven is a genuine number here, not a marketing one, and your construction is why. Drop-stitch double wall fabric at 4 to 5 PSI is roughly double the pressure a cheap platform runs, and higher pressure means a stiffer deck. That's what stops yours folding when someone climbs on from deep water, which is the exact moment a soft platform tips everyone in. The circular shape also spreads your weight evenly rather than putting it all on one edge.

The handles are the ones you'll appreciate first, because hauling yourself onto a floating deck from deep water is genuinely hard and there's always one within your reach. The four D-rings are for anchoring: run a line to your boat, to a mooring or to an anchor, and yours stays where you put it. On a windy day, an unanchored deck is something you swim after. Both are worth your thinking about before the first trip rather than during it.

Two habits do most of the work. Rinse the salt off before yours goes in the bag, because salt crystals grind at the fabric and the seams every time it's rolled and unrolled. And don't leave it inflated in full sun on a hot day, because the air inside expands and the pressure climbs well past 5 PSI on its own. Let a bit out on a 40 degree afternoon, put yours away dry, and it will still be good in ten years. The repair kit is in the box, which is the sort of thing you only need once but need badly.