making your own folding kayak.

[Nullifier]

A friend of mine turned me onto this site yesterday. It has all the info you need to make your own if you have some basic tools and patience. Ironicaly two of the paddlers in the pics are great friends of mine who are awesome paddlers. The Molina's have high standards so which ever designs they have built I know will be good to paddle. Just another take on expedition boats for compact storage.

www.yostwerks.com

I have lamented over this topic being a serious paddler. I think that if you're pressed for space on the roof with something like a roof top tent, or you are running long distances through areas with heavy brush, this is a great way to go. Light and compact.

There is probably a considerable set up time for one of these boats to go paddling. I'm gonna guess 30 minues unless you practice alot, But they can offer a fairly high level of performance and take up little space.

I may actually take on one of thee over the winter so if I do I'll let you know.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Very interesting site! Thanks for the link.

A friend and I built a Pygmy Sea Kayaks Arctic Tern (marine plywood construction for those who aren't familiar with them) for a short piece in Outside Magazine a couple years ago. It's a very good boat. But it would be fun to build a folder.

 

[Scott Brady]

Excellent compactness. Though without a comfortable seat, I would not spend much time in it. And with the narrow berth too, I probably wouldn't be in it for long either... :sunflower

 

[Nullifier]

I think what has my attention is the simplicity of modifying it to fit your body. I think I wil end up modifing one of the models with a little more width to fit me better.

Since you are cutting your own stations it would be simple to make them wider to scale.

Seats would also be a snap. I would use a foam seat from a Bell rob roy epoxied to the wood base plate, and a simple imersion reasearch back band. This will keep the wieght to a minimum but provide A+ comfort.