Foldboat creates a boat that fits in a backpack
Looking for a boat that you can take absolutely everywhere with you? Check out what two London university students have come up with.
Apart from the fact that it’s hanging from a series of cables, there’s nothing remarkable about the boat pictured above at first glance. Appearances can sometimes be deceiving, however, and this is one such occasion. This is Foldboat’s Boat 1, an incredibly portable two-person row boat made from a single 8 foot by 5 foot sheet of plastic. As its name implies, it can be folded up for storage or transport. It collapses into carrying pack measuring 100x50x60cm — large by everyday backpack standards, but certainly in the same ballpark as the omnipresent Canadian hockey bag.
It takes just three folds, two minutes, and a handful of plastic clips to convert Boat 1 from pack mode into a boat, and the plastic hull can withstand around 6,000 total foldings. That’s plenty of durability to get you through 30 or so summers of leisurely paddling.
Foldboat’s designers, university design students Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies, have also developed another model: Boat 2. Like Boat 1 it’s made to be easy to transport and store, but it offers a slightly different take. Instead of converting into a pack, Boat 2 flattens into a sheet 250cm by 150cm. It’s not as though Boat 1 would be difficult to store, but it certainly couldn’t disappear along the back wall of your closet like Boat 2 can. It’s probably even slim enough to store inside your tent camper — even when it’s completely closed up.
Portability comes at a slight premium, of course: Boat 1 will sell for around $1,300 when it becomes available. You can pick up a sturdy little row boat for less than half that price in Canada, but chances are good that you’re not going to be able to tuck it in the back of your Ford Focus or strap it on your shoulders while you hike to your favourite secluded spot.
One of the trickiest parts about getting ready for a camping trip is making sure that you have enough space to take everything you want — and taking a boat almost always means reduced gas mileage. Neither of those will ever be an issue again if you pick up one of the Foldboat models, so how about it, Sync readers? Can you picture yourself shelling out $1,300 for one of these plastic water craft?
[Source: Foldboat and Geek.com]
Great engineering but does it float when filled with water.
Has it been approved by Transport Canada and/or the US Coast
Gaurd? What is the safe weight capacity?
Interested.
How much weight can it hold…so a 2 person boat so appox it could hold 500lb or more should be told
It sounds cool, but I’d be too afraid to get into a plastic boat in the middle of a Canadian lake in the fall. One small leak and you’d be sunk, literally.
if they only had these on the Titanic
rather buy an alpacka raft, cheaper and easier to transport. probably more durably too.
Just what we need two more students scamming the system by “inventing ” something that has been commercially available since 1933 see Folboat.My family camped with them for years.
Hey Dave, I think there’s a big difference between what these students created and Folboat, which are “foldable kayaks.” According to their website, it can take 20 minutes to assemble a Folboat, and the smallest weighs 24 lbs. Foldboats on the other hand, are rowboats, not kayaks, and though I can’t find a weight specification, they look to be a good deal lighter, with fewer parts and easier to assemble. So while their idea of a folding boat isn’t new, their version of the idea seems unique.
I grew up with a Folboat, too, and while it could be disassembled it wasn’t a two or three minute chore. I don’t ever remember my father collapsing it in the 15+ years we used it.
As for “just what we need,” this *IS* just what we need! These types of creations aren’t always something totally new, but it’s still good to see people trying different approaches.
So I bought this boat and it is 36″ long and 20″ wide when folded and when I need to use it I attach the recyclable/reusable gas cylinder and inflate it in about 2 minutes and it holds 650 pounds and folds back to it original size and is approved by everyone who is supposed to approve it and it cost $500 total at Le Baron’s. This boat is a perfect science/engineering project and I admire deeply your ingenuity but take that brain power and apply it to something better than Dragon’s Den fodder and build something amazing that the outdoor types can’t live without…example, the Coleman tent that goes up in a couple of minutes,now that’s useful.Don’t give up. If this is what you can come up with and your still in university then you will do some great things when the ideas come in……you need a thinkster on your team….that’s someone who can do the theory and planning but doesn’t have the skills to build it.Good luck and go Western!!.
I think the idea is very good…for those that need these, why not?
Does the team have a video of how it goes together and can we actually see 2 people using it.?
Good luck to you guys for the concept and the determination to proceed with your idea.