Looking for Current Designs Double Vision Kayak

[kayakwriter]

I only just thought of this possibility: the Feathercraft Klondike. Slanger, for your background info, Feathercraft, who were on Granville Island in BC, made what were probably the best folding kayaks in the world. The company is no longer around, but if you found a used Klondike in reasonable condition, it wouldn't be cheap, but it would offer these advantages: foldable, for easier storage and transport, and no roof-racking - you pull it in and out of your trunk/hatchback and assemble it at the launch site. Convertible for tandem/solo setup, so usable by yourself when your daughter's not around (or vise-versa when she gets older). Strong - a true touring kayaking kayak. As mentioned, a decent one won't be cheap, but if you looked after it, it should hold its value really well. Feathercraft are highly sought after by folding boaters in the know, because they literally aren't making them anymore.

Doug Simpson (owner/founder of Feathercraft) took the essential blueprints, jigs and machine tools with him to his retirement home in the Gulf Islands, and last I heard was providing post-sales support by making spare parts on a cottage-industry, as-required, as-he-gets-around-to-it basis.

 

[alexsidles]

I only just thought of this possibility: the Feathercraft Klondike. ... you pull it in and out of your trunk/hatchback and assemble it at the launch site

Feathercraft Klondike was my primary touring boat for about nine years. I paddled it from Anacortes to Alaska in 2011. I still take my kids out in it to this day.

The Klondike never required less than two and a half hours' assembly and at least one hour's disassembly—far too much time to justify for day tripping. Even disassembled, there was the question of how to dry out the boat prior to storage. After a while, I just started leaving it assembled in the back yard all the time, negating one of the main supposed advantages of a foldable kayak.

After three years in the assembled position, the aluminum frames permanently froze into place. The boat could no longer be disassembled, even if I had wanted to.

I eventually replaced the frozen frames with new ones from Feathercraft, at a cost of several thousand dollars. But I still didn't enjoy the multi-hour process of assembly and disassembly, so I started leaving the boat assembled in the back yard once more. Sure enough, the new frames soon froze into place, too.

Now I'm stuck with the world's most expensive, non-foldable, skin-on-frame. It doesn't even have a skin-on-frame's chief advantage of lightness, because the assembled Klondike weighs around eighty pounds (36 kg).

My two Folbots also suffered the fate of frozen frames. My dad's enormous, 110-pound (50 kg) Long Haul hasn't been disassembled in over a year, so I'm sure it, too, will soon join the others as a permanently assembled skin-on-frame, if it hasn't already.

Folding kayaks do have their place, and apparently, that place is fully assembled, upside-down, in my back yard.

Alex

 

[kayakwriter]

Feathercraft Klondike was my primary touring boat for about nine years. I paddled it from Anacortes to Alaska in 2011. I still take my kids out in it to this day.

The Klondike never required less than two and a half hours' assembly and at least one hour's disassembly—far too much time to justify for day tripping. Even disassembled, there was the question of how to dry out the boat prior to storage. After a while, I just started leaving it assembled in the back yard all the time, negating one of the main supposed advantages of a foldable kayak.

After three years in the assembled position, the aluminum frames permanently froze into place. The boat could no longer be disassembled, even if I had wanted to.

I eventually replaced the frozen frames with new ones from Feathercraft, at a cost of several thousand dollars. But I still didn't enjoy the multi-hour process of assembly and disassembly, so I started leaving the boat assembled in the back yard once more. Sure enough, the new frames soon froze into place, too.

Now I'm stuck with the world's most expensive, non-foldable, skin-on-frame. It doesn't even have a skin-on-frame's chief advantage of lightness, because the assembled Klondike weighs around eighty pounds (36 kg).

My two Folbots also suffered the fate of frozen frames. My dad's enormous, 110-pound (50 kg) Long Haul hasn't been disassembled in over a year, so I'm sure it, too, will soon join the others as a permanently assembled skin-on-frame, if it hasn't already.

Folding kayaks do have their place, and apparently, that place is fully assembled, upside-down, in my back yard.

Alex

Thanks for the experience-based perspective on that! Years back I did an assessment/evaluation of a pair of older Feathercraft for a couple who were selling them, having aged out of kayaking. I seem to remember they came with bottles of fairly viscous anti-freeze lubricant cream - made for aircraft if I recall correctly. You were supposed to apply it religiously to the male sections of the ferrules to prevent polus captivus. Ahem...

On the plus side, maybe you'd like to sell Slanger your pre- and perma-assembled Klondike for a fair price? At least he could still benefit from the tandem/solo convertibility.

 

[cougarmeat]

Just catching up with unread treads and the phrase, "shouldering" caught my eye. I used to shoulder my singles a lot. I had a two wheel cart but I was "saving it" for ... I don't know what. Once a paddling partner (who doesn't like me lifting boats alone) started complaining about lifting her half of the boat (to be fair she's in her ..., well, she's not a kid), I started using the cart. I use it all the time now.

I can roll the kayak off the back of the jeep till the stern is on the ground, then just lift the bow off the rack and set it down. It's relatively easy - especially with a helper - to put the cart under the kayak and roll it away.

If you get a cart, your need to shoulder that double may not be very often.

 

[Jurfie]

Just catching up with unread treads and the phrase, "shouldering" caught my eye. I used to shoulder my singles a lot. I had a two wheel cart but I was "saving it" for ... I don't know what. Once a paddling partner (who doesn't like me lifting boats alone) started complaining about lifting her half of the boat (to be fair she's in her ..., well, she's not a kid), I started using the cart. I use it all the time now.

I can roll the kayak off the back of the jeep till the stern is on the ground, then just lift the bow off the rack and set it down. It's relatively easy - especially with a helper - to put the cart under the kayak and roll it away.

If you get a cart, your need to shoulder that double may not be very often.

Hmm. I’ve been shouldering my boat, but it stings every time I hear “BONGGG!” off a tree, dock railing, ramp, etc.

Perhaps I should try out a cart! I’ve not bothered as I’m usually not carrying it far, and it is always mostly empty.

 

[cougarmeat]

They come in different sizes and different style wheels. There is nothing special about mine (other than it's about 25 years old) - no high clearance or fatter sand wheels, etc. Just stuff you could find at a hardware store. Though the wheels come off and the frame folds so it would fit in the boat, I don't use it for portage. I just use it to haul the boat from the car to the launch point. At the car I fill it with paddles, spray skirt, pump, paddle float and a few bags to save one trip from the car.

A paddle partner would feel bad because I was doing all the work, carrying the (empty) boat to the water. But she wasn't strong enough to carry one end while I was at the other. So we share the work by putting on the cart. I pull from the front, she guides it in the back.

 

[rider]

If comparing plastic vs plastic, is there any reason to pick a Double Vision over a Looksha T?