Origami Kayak

The San Francisco Bay Area: Big waters, small living spaces, crowded streets, zero parking. Because Anton Willis loves to kayak, and because he isn't a whiner who sits around complaining about problems instead of doing something about them, he embraced his city's perks, and developed the Oru Kayak to accommodate its flaws. A foldable boat in a compact carrying case, the Oru Kayak maintains the high-performance needs of avid paddlers, but breaks down post-use into a 33" x 29" x 10" rectangle easily storable in a car trunk, hall closet, sailboat, office cube, or even jimmied atop a backpack during hikes to more remote waters.

The Oru Kayak team designed their origami-inspired boat to transform quickly and easily, with an assembly time of around 5 minutes, and no tools necessary. At full size, it measures 12' long x 25" wide and weighs only 25 pounds. Not bad for their promise that it will also handle smoothly and stably darting through waves with a load of up to 260 pounds.

The Oru is engineered from a single sheet of double-layered plastic, and sports a single seam sealed with a watertight rubber gasket. It is covered with a corrugated plastic skin for toughness and durability. Other features:

Easy-to-use snap-release buckles
Sturdy coaming (cockpit rim) fits spray skirts
Easily-adjustable footrest
Comfortable foam seat and backband
Rubber holding strap for accessories
Shoulder strap on case for easy transport on foot
Fits commercial spray skirts and float bags
Front and back rubber fairings

Already a resounding success on Kickstarter, the Oru Kayak campaign runs until December 19, 2012. Even at an $800 asking price, the Oru team is nearly sold out of their initial production run of 200 (at printing, 76 were left). That batch intends to ship in May 2013. A second run, also available for an $800 pledge, anticipates heading out in June 2013. Full instructions and a detailed assembly video will be included with all orders. And for an additional $200 of support, eager backers will receive one of the first 50 Orus ever produced--signed, numbered, and delivered a couple months earlier, in March 2013.

All kayaks will be fabricated in California using local manufacturers and sustainable production practices.

Origami Kayak

Origami Kayak Gifts