A couple of years ago at a big outdoors show in the US I came upon the stand for a fledgling kayak design, which for all money looked to me like a hard chined composite boat. I walked over & gave the hull a poke, because it looked kind of strange, & to my amusement it flexed. The boat was a skin on frame, but one with some pretty spectacular points of difference.
I went out & test paddled the boat the next day, trying out some of the innovative features like adjustable rocker. You want a play boat & tourer? Just pull back on the hydraulics while you're underway and your hard tracking, low rocker 16ft sea kayak: 
turns into a classic shaped sea kayaking play boat design: 
Best of all, it paddles like a hard shell, performance sea kayak (check out this video for an idea of what they can do) , rather than a practical but relatively uninteresting floating log, which is pretty much what I have found the great majority of folders to feel like on the water. It takes a flat 10 minutes to put it together (to see the boat put together click HERE), and when you're done it packs into something no airline check-in desk worth their salt is going to think is anything other than a set of golf clubs:
The issue at the time for me was the price. These boats were going out for about $USD5500, which at the time was about $AUD7000 - pretty close to the going price for a good quality folder, but still a hefty whack. Time & success in combination lead good businesses to savings as the market for such a brilliant product increases, and that big price tag has come down in the last year or so. We at Expedition Kayaks are proud to announce that we are the first & only distributors of the Trak T-1600 in the Australian market, & will have stock on hand from June 29. These versatile, high performance, downright sexy folding skin-on-frame boats will be available for less than $AUD5000, in gold or green, with a next day national delivery. 
If you're space challenged or are sick to the eyeballs of turning up at an overseas paddling heaven only to find your only option is a sit on top, contact us for a test paddle of the Trak - we will have a demo boat and stock on the shelf here from June 29. Keep an eye on our website over the coming days for full details.
I went out & test paddled the boat the next day, trying out some of the innovative features like adjustable rocker. You want a play boat & tourer? Just pull back on the hydraulics while you're underway and your hard tracking, low rocker 16ft sea kayak: turns into a classic shaped sea kayaking play boat design: Best of all, it paddles like a hard shell, performance sea kayak (check out this video for an idea of what they can do) , rather than a practical but relatively uninteresting floating log, which is pretty much what I have found the great majority of folders to feel like on the water. It takes a flat 10 minutes to put it together (to see the boat put together click HERE), and when you're done it packs into something no airline check-in desk worth their salt is going to think is anything other than a set of golf clubs:The issue at the time for me was the price. These boats were going out for about $USD5500, which at the time was about $AUD7000 - pretty close to the going price for a good quality folder, but still a hefty whack. Time & success in combination lead good businesses to savings as the market for such a brilliant product increases, and that big price tag has come down in the last year or so. We at Expedition Kayaks are proud to announce that we are the first & only distributors of the Trak T-1600 in the Australian market, & will have stock on hand from June 29. These versatile, high performance, downright sexy folding skin-on-frame boats will be available for less than $AUD5000, in gold or green, with a next day national delivery. If you're space challenged or are sick to the eyeballs of turning up at an overseas paddling heaven only to find your only option is a sit on top, contact us for a test paddle of the Trak - we will have a demo boat and stock on the shelf here from June 29. Keep an eye on our website over the coming days for full details.
Great press for a wonderful concept. I had my butt in one of these boats a couple of weeks ago for the very first time. I found out that getting wet is part of the adventure. Good luck and thank you for spreading the word about TRAK to the Southern Hemisphere!
ReplyDeleteD. Kevin Foster