Mr Gingerbread

Not sure how easy it would be to put the folding kayak on a bike though or go any distance on bike. EDIT: Just too a quick look at hi end folders (feather craft) and the weight alone is 35-40lb (5x heavier). Not sure what the packed size would be but I can't see it getting loaded on the same bike it would carry on the water.

Bcone, Standard bikerafting setup. It's an alpacka packraft with sprayskirt and moded with thigh braces. Carries a my steel touring bike easily and fits with paddle in one 25L side bag (camp gear goes in other side bag). Raft setup weighs about 8-9lbs. I live on a small island and I use it when I want to go cycling on one of the other islands. I use a whitewater helmet for cycling and paddling ocean/river. Upside down it turns into a 1.5 ft thick air mattress (just toss a tarp over). If you want more info look up packrafting or bikerafting.

Congrats on the build looks good!

Inflaties are awesome if you use them right. They are not performance oriented but you can go places and do things that can make your friends drool. If anyone tells you they are not real boats get them to read Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland. Congrats! Bonus Pic of my packraft set up (yes it works the other way around):

News of my demises has been greatly exaggerated. Been working solid for over a week from my shad (Christened "Enertree". Combine the words "energy" and "tree" and you got it) as my boss ran out of kayaks. Started off with a trial by fire with 5 hours of rescues and rolls (professional development days), then a week of day tours followed by an overnighter and then a quarter of the way around the island to get home. The rescues session ran the gambit of regular "T" rescues to specialty stuff like Hand of God and Cleopatra's Needle. Cleopatra's Needle is the key one as that would be what you would need to use with a swamped skin boat with or without float bags (and I did for another SoF kayak). Never did needed it on my kayak as the sea sock worked amazingly well. For rolls I found I could C to C roll the kayak without thigh braces by pinning my knees under the coaming but it is not reliable and very uncomfortable. With a foam Masik for the knees Greenland rolling works well but I'm out of practice. Right now I'll be using a back sculling roll to get back up until I get time to practice quicker Greenland stuff. Got out in the white caps on a 25 knot wind day and am very happy with the performance. The initial stability of the kayak is much greater then I'm used to but is enjoyable. Still playing with it to get it on edge comfortably as the initial stability makes it a bit harder. Packs gear for an overnight much better then I though with the only problem piece of gear being a sleeping bag as it didn't fit in the hull any where so I took out the back rest and replaced it with the stuffed sleeping bag (its not even a big bag). Right now I'm just painting over all the scratches and where the paint came off (pulling it 3 miles home on wheel caused the bow under the keel to lose a lot of paint for some reason into my hands). I filled it with water when I was cleaning the kayak out and the spots that had been stripped down to the base cloth didn't leak so thats good. I'm re-rigging some of the deck and doing some wood burning art on the coaming. I've put glow in the dark toggles on the extreem end of the bow/stern bungies to make sliding a paddle under easy. I need to figure out how to put in the bow/stern handles. The holes were drilled before skinning but I'm still hesitant to use them as all the Sof owners I talk to tell me their handle always leak a bit of water. The seat ripped out of its screw holes and was tied off to the ribs for the rest of the week after rolling so I am now screwing them in with different screw in a better spot. Sealing a bit of the top stitch but am not looking to fully seal it as even with waves constantly breaking over the bow seam it doesn't let in more then a few drops and it is nice to be able to let water drain out of the seams after washing out the kayak and leaving it upside down on the rack. Hand me down camera finally died so don't have any pictures of the current work. I'll be doing a write up on my thoughts for the sea sock in the next few days. Happy Paddling, -Nathan

Ran out of time to pond test the kayak and am away teaching Outdoor Ed for the next 4 days. Did take the time to fill it with water. The hull is bullet, errr water proof. Pant seam on the side has one very small area that seeps water. Top sewn seam however leaks in many places and will need some work. Not sure if I should just keep coating it in pant or use something like aquaseal. Moot for now as I have a 3 days of hard paddling with it when I get back and I'm confident that it will handle it until I get some time to "polish" everything.

Finished rigging deck and putting on some keel guards. No water time as I want to give the sealant on the keel guards the time to cure. Keel strips are only 13 inches long so they might be too small and need replacing in the future ($1 medium sized cutting board donated the plastic). Reflective cord used as grab lines.

I have no experience but like the idea. They look like they would have more friction/grip with a spray skirt. I like the look but I know many don't. Sealing it properly might be a problem.

Rigging underway. Got it to the point where I'm going to try and get it on the water today to see how she floats. Driving hard to get it done for next weekend as it is the guides exchange so the perfect opportunity to test and abuse the kayak (3 days of training, fun and rescue scenarios). I'll save the art for later. I switched at the last minute from traditional rope and toggles to bungees for deck rigging. Used a bungee to hold the seat pad and it is big enough I can store my farmer john wet suit as the seat pad on expedition (when it is not needed of course). Still used the toggles on the back deck for holding a paddle/out rigger (bungees pulled tighter).

Deck coats started. Never worked with oil based paint before so lots of learning. Might hire one of my artist friends to do some deck art (take the eyes away from my many small mistakes ). Not too worried about making a work of art out of a kayak as I'm planning on paddling the sh*t out of it anyway.

Just finished putting on the last bottom coat and will let it sit for a few days before starting the top in blue.

Will the lip on the underside of the hatch ring still fit in the hole with the fabric and nails? I only ask as I ran into a small problem fitting mine as I forgot about the underside lip.

I hesitate to give an answer on the fit right now as I just popped it on and off to make sure I ordered the right size. I can't give more info as the painting has begun on my shad and will take a least a week to finish. It was a semi custom order as I ran a tape measure around the coaming to get 51 inches which is between their Large and Folbot (52") sizes (I paid the Folbot price and they sized it down to my coaming). Joel seems agreeable to doing custom orders. I'll make sure to do a big write up when I get some water time with the sea sock (aka. kayak condom).

Keeping water out is not my primary concern for the most part. Keeping dirt/grime out and having less cleaning/maintenance for me is the big draw (I clean kayaks 60-90 min a day, 7 days a week in the summer). I reserve judgment on the water/safety aspect until I test it upside down. Entanglement is very low on my list of safety concerns. I'm ocean kayaking, not river/lake kayaking so drowning due to entrapment is not likely (I've never heard of a case in sea/ocean kayaking so feel free to link me to some info). Also I plan to use the rope system for packing bags for touring and the sea sock I would think would greatly reduce getting tangled up. Also touring I may need to substitute my float bags for gear bags with air until there is room for inflating float bags. So I do no intend to replace my float bags but I do see scenarios in my kayaking when float bags may not work. Both together will be my go to. I've always liked my safety in layers, using them all when I can and having options when I need to pick and chose. For my sock I went with a color you can see from miles off so it's also a visual signal in emergency's. Last thing would be the extra bit of warmth and comfort for paddling in the north pacific.

Just got my sea sock in the mail and need to get the kayak done to try it out. Hoping to do an "impressions" post on it later. If anyone has anything to say on sea socks I'd like to hear it and if anyone is looking for information on them hit the links below (saves me from retyping the info ). http://www.kayakquixotica.com/2011/08/12/the-fantastical-sea-sock/ http://www.qajaqusa.org/newsletter/Masik_Summer2003_07034.pdf Photos are of the sea sock I had made by Black Dog Kayaks for my "in progress" Shad