Hey,

A friend of mine is coming to visit Bern over the weekend and seeing as the weather is supposed to be really good, I thought of doing the boat thing from Thun to Bern. Anyone know if there are people you can rent inflatable boats from? I found Aare Tubing, but would rather be in a boat than a tube. Also I dont think it would make sense to buy one now that is the last days of Summer (actually Autumn).

So if anyone knows any useful tips or info or can help I would appreciate it.

http://www.aarebootsvermietung.ch/

You could probably buy a boat for less than the rental cost (do they still have them in Migros XX?) but perhaps not with life jackets as well.

Aldi are selling plastic boats for less than CHF 70,--

Sorry I can't help with the boat rental question either.
Just in case you've never done this before, you should have a look at this map from the "swiss lifeguards association"
http://www.slrg.ch/uploads/media/aar..._Thun-Bern.pdf
Just after Thun there is a bit of a tricky spot (big waves/high speed depending on water volume) at the railway bridge near Uttigen station ("Thun-Bern SBB" on the map). It is marked as "very dangerous part for inexperienced boatlers(swinglish) /Schlauchbootfahrer".

It is doable, although we always have discussions if we should pass left or right.

So if you don't feel overly confident you can just take the regional train Bern-Thun (via Münsingen) to Uttigen and embark after a short walk from the station.

Here is another link to a site showing the current water levels.
http://www.infosport.ch/kanu/levels/navlevel.htm

Forgot the fun part: Start early and take some drinks and food with you, so you can have a nice bbq at the banks of the river.
And if you know all this already, have fun anyway!

And here am I thinking about when to prepare my board for the coming winter..

Thanks everyone, thats quite helpful. Ya we plan to make it an event with drinks, some food and then will find somewhere to stop (prob eichholtzli) to braai (bbq) I am super amped. If we do find our own boat are life vests necessary or will other floatation devices work too?
And what and where is Aldi?

I've been planning to do this all summer but never had the time/people/right weather. And it turns out the weather on saturday is really good (apparently) so we figured why not!