A folding kayak is a direct descendant
of the original Inuit kayak made of animal skins
stretched over frames made from wood and bones. A modern folder
has a collapsable frame made of some combination of wood, aluminum
and plastic, and a skin made of a tough fabric with a waterproof
coating. Many have integral air chambers inside the hull, making
them virtually unsinkable.
The earliest commercial folding kayaks were developed
in the late 19th century in Rosenheim, Germany by Johannes Klepper,
and were very popular for their compact size and ease of transport.
Klepper's Faltboot was introduced in 1906, many years before hardshell
boats were commercially produced. Their Aerius II model was introduced
in 1951 and is still in production in 2006. In 1956, Dr. Hannes
Lindemann crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an Aerius II, proof of the
folding kayak's integrity and seaworthiness! Their
light weight and non-metallic construction has made them the choice
of many military Special Forces. Nautiraid of France produces a
special model for military use, as do Klepper and Long Haul, who
supply German and US Special Forces, respectively.
There are about ten major folding kayak manufacturers
today, and a handful of small, one-off makers. In addition to Klepper
the best-known brands are Feathercraft, Folbot, Long Haul, Nautiraid
and Pouch. Long Haul double kayak hulls are identical
in form to Kleppers, so a Klepper Aerius II frame can be used with
a Long Haul MK-II skin, and vice versa.
Most folding kayaks have very similar construction,
even though the materials may differ. Some boats use frames made
of spruce and marine plywood, while others use aluminum tubing and
various plastics, and a few newer boats such as Fujita and Firstlight
use carbon fiber or fiberglass composite tubing. Typically there
are solid bow and stern pieces, and anywhere from three to seven
ribs connected via some sort of flexible attachment to a number
of longerons. Many boats follow the basic design pioneered by Klepper
in having a folding set of floorboards and gunwales as well as additional
longerons to add stiffness and shape.
Most folding boats have two-part skins, with different
materials used for the deck and the hull. Decks can be made of a
breathable cotton/hemp blend, as Klepper has done since their early
days, or of coated synthetics, as Feathercraft, Folbot, Nautiraid
and Pouch do. Each approach has its own particular benefits and
drawbacks; all work well in practice. Hulls are generally made of
a heavily coated synthetic fiber. In the early days, rubber coated
cotton canvas was used, while the modern boats use a synthetic rubber
—Hypalon, polyurethane or PVC—over a synthetic (typically
Dacron) cloth.
Folders are known for their durability, stability,
and longevity: The Klepper Aerius I (a single-seater) has been used
successfully for white-water kayaking (before the
era of modern polyethelyne boats), due to its durability and excellent
manoeuvrability, while many Kleppers have been in frequent use for
more than 20 years.
Although some hardshell kayakers are
critical of folding boats and do not regard them as true kayaks,
they exhibit many of the same paddling characteristics as the original
skin-and-frame vessels of the circumpolar north. Some folding
kayaks, like the Feathercraft Khatsolano, are equal in
performance to the fastest hardshell kayaks. Other
than contemporary replicas of Inuit, Aleut,
and Eskimo kayaks and baidarkas,
they are the closest relatives to the skin-and-frame boats of the
past.
Information provided by Wikipedia
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_kayak
