Folbot News Room

Folbot – The Most Practical Kayaks On Earth

Posted By: David Klein, ABlog4Guys.com (formally guyfix.com)
9/21/2009
Website: http://www.ablog4guys.com/folbot-the-most-practical-kay...

Folbot (www.folbot.com), is an American folding kayak company, located in Charleston, SC, that has been building amazing kayaks since 1933. The really neat thing about these kayaks is that unlike traditional kayaks, these Folbot kayaks are fully foldable, making traveling with them a breeze.

Folbots have several advantages over a traditional, rigid kayak, including: eliminating the need for storage or roof racks, and being more quiet on the water (their skin absorbs the water allowing the paddler to have access to birds and other marine life). For example, Folbot’s newest and lightest kayak, The CitibŌt, is capable of breaking down into the size of a backpack and it weighs only twenty four pounds, perfect for travelling with your kayak or if you live in the city, it is easily storable.

The company makes eight different Folbot models to fit the needs of everyone. Whether you’re 5′1″ and weigh 100 lbs or 6′3″ and weigh 250 lbs, Folbot has a kayak for you. The eight models are: The CitibŌt (their newest and lightest model), the Aleut, the Edisto, the Yukon, the Kiawah, the Kodiak, the Cooper, and the Greenland II.

The Citibōt utilizes Folbot’s taut tensioning device and adds a newly designed seat and cockpit coaming. With this urban friendly boat – just toss it over your shoulder and hop on the subway or bus – you can get on the water whenever and wherever you want.

The Aleut is a perfect single-seater kayak for day trips as well as expeditions, the Aleut performs like a 15-footer but is quite manageable in every way. Its high capacity-to-weight ratio, extreme stability, excellent tracking and fast simple set-up make the Aleut a true friend and traveling companion. It performs well in the ocean, in addition to flat water rivers and lakes. Constructed of the highest quality and most durable materials Folbot can find, you can expect many years of service from the Aleut.

The Edisto is the most versatile and accommodating kayak they’ve ever made. In its basic form it has an open cockpit with room for kids, a dog or your gear. Assembly is a breeze because all the cross frames are accessible, and conversion from one configuration to the next is also a snap.

The Yukon accommodates a 6′ 4″, 250-pound paddler with ease, but the seat adjusts for a smaller paddler who wants to be able to carry lots of gear. Assembly is quick because of its three-frame construction and the capacity-to-weight ratio cannot be beaten. The Yukon tracks like a 16-foot boat and its initial and secondary stability are amazing. The Yukon is at home in oceans, lakes and flat water rivers.

The Kiawah, the Cooper’s smaller sibling, is the perfect kayak for paddlers between 100 and 180 lbs. Light and easy to assemble, the Kiawah tracks very well, has good initial and secondary stability and achieves hull speed with a minimum of effort. The frame is corrosion proof, and both the bow and stern decks are zippered for easy gear access.

The Kodiak is a perfect combination of speed and stability. If you are looking for a medium-volume single-seater that can carry a healthy payload on an extended cruise, this is your kayak. The Kodiak shares the same design and engineering features of the Greenland II and Aleut and was built for increased speed. The Kodiak appeals to the intermediate to advanced paddler who is looking for a medium-volume, fast and agile boat that tracks like an arrow.

Without question the Cooper is the most popular boat they’ve ever produced. It will challenge any folding boat in the world for simplicity of assembly, ease of handling, and speed on the water. With a revolutionary skin tensioning system, the entire frame snaps together outside of the skin, making assembly a breeze. Zippered decks assure easy access to gear. The Cooper accommodates paddlers of a wide range of sizes because of multiple frame positions used at set up. Designed for oceans, lakes and flat-water rivers, all the materials are corrosion-proof and can be expected to give you years of trouble-free performance.

With a fast, stable hull shape designed for two paddlers, the Greenland II has enough room for a third small passenger or lots of gear (a 600 lb payload!). An incredibly versatile boat, the Greenland II is at home on all bodies of water — from rivers to the ocean. The high cockpit coaming and peaked decks are designed to keep you safe and dry in the roughest conditions. There is also plenty of beneath-deck storage space for longer expeditions.

Folbots are designed to allow you to travel with your kayak anywhere on the planet, when traditional kayaks will cost you $100 (or sometimes even be banned) to put on a plane with you, Folbots fold up nicely, so you can easily stow them away on any plane. Prices for the Folbot kayaks range from $1197 for the CitibŌt to $2595 for the Greenland II. To get your Folbot kayak visit http://www.folbot.com/.

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