One side! Make way for the King in his resplendent Kayak Crown.
Interesting. I had tried to make something where I could sling my 'yak as some sort of tall backpack, but never could make it work. Turns out I’ve been doing it wrong!!!
Heh. I (literally) laughed out loud at that picture. I’m sure its a very practical device, but the pictures look ridiculous.
I looked at the link, could not find the listed weight of this hat that not only floats but is ideal for when the sun is at a severe angle.
A great hat to wear for a night out on the town and the perfect conversation starter. I mean who cares if it’s also a kayak, I am in it for the fashion. What a totally and awesomely cool looking hat!
65+ pounds for the practical but stylish plastic sea kayak. For the more fashion-conscious, well-heeled outdoor paddler, kevlar or fiberglass can shave 15-20 pounds off that. And an ultralight cedar strip kayak using 4 oz glass for the deck will weigh just 30 pounds and will be a stunning complement to just about any kayaking attire.
Just such a system is available commercially. Personally, I try to plane my kayak adventures to involve as little carrying as possible. Long portages suck.
Seems like it could be tough on the coaming area of some kayaks, which is a common weak point.
I can imagine that things could get interesting on a very windy day, too.
Coaming is definitely an issue as after you take it off, you’ll have serious kayak hair.
Hey, if those African women who carry giant pots on their heads can do it . . .
I thought the same thing. But when I first looked at it, I thought that most of the load was carried right on the person’s head, instead of the shoulders. One bad gust of wind would turn your head and neck 90 degrees from ever controlling your bladder again. Thankfully I was wrong on that!
And Kayaker - thanks! That’s just what I had in mind! I probably won’t get it, but it’s nice to know that I wasn’t the only one ghinking along those lines.
There are also folboats, kayaks designed to break down into a backpack sized package.
I’ve seen the Folboats before. Interesting idea.
I saw one a year or two back that a guy made himself. He worked for an awning company - you know, the fabric and tube awnings that business put over doors, windows, etc? He designed a variation of the skin-on-frame boats using 2 long tubes of about 4" diameter each and made of awning material on each side, a couple of cross pieces around the cockpit, a lightweight metal frame of something like conduit to give it rigidity fore and aft, and a fabric skin that it all slipped into to keep the water out. It was about 14-15’ long altogether, but he could put it all in a medium-sized duffel bag. He claimed he could carry the entire thing on the back of his motorcycle. He also said that he went kayaking way up north with some kayak-snob friends who had some nice flat water boats. They all laughed at him at the start of the weekend, but were impressed that he could keep up with them with little trouble, and by Sunday night they wanted him to make boats like this for them.
I clicked the link in the OP without reading any of the other posts, and boy howdy did I Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there when the page opened up. It looks so ridiculous that I think I need one. I mean, sure, maybe I’ll use it when I’m actually paddling sometime, but like the lone cashew, I’m, in it for the fashion statement it’ll make.
Thanks for this! I just shared it with a very handy friend and he apparently already has 90% of the stuff he would need to do a project like this. He thanks you, his spouse curses you and me.
There’s a decent chance I may see this guy, or someone who knows him, in a few weeks. If your friend is interested, contact me offline, and I’ll see if I can pass that along to the builder. Maybe we can put the two of them in touch, and see what comes of it.
Edit: And this wouldn’t be the first spouse who cursed me for something I’ve done with/for/to their husbands. One in particular does NOT like flying, especially small planes. I took her husband Mike with me when I wrangled a ride in a 4-place Piper. She knew nothing about it until we circled the party in my back yard, and my wife pointed up and said, “There goes Ralf and Mike now”. She almost got double-whiplash, first turning to Missus Coder and saying “WHAT???”, and then looking up…
That was my proudest moment of that season.