Bartlett 4mx2m Rectangular Deck Water Hammock

A solid inflatable deck sits on top of the water and gets hot. The mesh panel through the middle of this one lets water come up and air move through, so you're partly in the water while you're lying on it. On a still summer day that's the feature that keeps people on it rather than sliding off every ten minutes to cool down. It also means the deck drains instead of holding a puddle.

Four metres of inflatable wants to sag in the middle. Drop-stitch construction uses thousands of threads joining the top and bottom skins, so when you pump it to 4 or 5 PSI those threads hold the surfaces flat against each other rather than letting it balloon. That's why you can walk across this and it feels like a deck. Get the pressure right: under-inflate it and you lose exactly the thing you paid for.

The handles are what let you get back on from the water, which sounds obvious until you've tried climbing onto something with smooth sides. They also give two people a proper grip to carry it. The six D-rings are the anchoring points: run a line to your boat, drop an anchor off one, or tie it to a jetty. Between them you can set it up wherever you're mooring rather than improvising with rope around the edge.

It packs to 55 x 45 x 30cm in the supplied bag and weighs 25kg, so it fits in a boot and stores in a shed. The hand pump is included, which is honest but slow at this size: if you'll use it most weekends, an electric pump is the upgrade worth making. Rinse it with fresh water after a day in the salt and it'll last a lot longer.

This is a lounging platform. The mesh centre and the 4 to 5 PSI make it a comfortable place to lie down, not a working deck. If what you want is somewhere to stand, load gear on and off the boat, or park a jet ski, a solid inflatable dock is the better shape. Have a look at the inflatable pontoon range, or call the store on 03 7056 6732 and we'll match one to what you're doing.