Folding boat
A folding boat is a boat that essentially consists of a flexible boat skin and an inner structure that can be dismantled. The boat skin is made of rubber , PVC , TPU or Hypalon for the lower ship and a textile - for example cotton or a modern composite material ( laminate ) - for the hood. The boat frame is usually made of wood - for example ash and birch plywood - or aluminum and plastic.
The common folding boat models are mostly canoes . These are mainly kayaks , folding canoes are less common . Occasionally one also comes across rowing boats , dinghies and dinghies . A special variant called the banana boat consists of collapsible plastic sheets. Folding boats account for almost 10% of total kayak sales in Germany.
Although most inflatable boats can be folded up, these are commonly referred to as inflatable boats or air boats rather than collapsible boats. Even the suitcase boat, which can be dismantled into individual parts and thus transported, is not a folding boat in the narrower sense.
Special folding boat engines were developed as a propulsion aid .
history
As early as 500 BC BC goods were transported from Armenia to Babylon by folding boats. The boat hides were carried back by donkeys that were carried along. (Herodotus)
The Unangan , indigenous people of the Aleutians , have been using kayaks that cannot be dismantled since ancient times, with scaffolding made of driftwood, bones and a covering made of animal skins. With these baidarkas they go hunting for sea lions . In terms of size and shape, these boats can most likely be considered the ancestors of modern folding boats.
A forerunner of the modern folding boat was built for Andrée's polar expedition in 1897 and can still be seen today in the polar museum in Gränna , Sweden .
The first modern folding boat was built in 1905 by the architecture student Alfred Heurich in the form of a folding kayak. He drove it for the first time on the Isar from Bad Tölz to Munich ; In total, he covered more than 100,000 km in folding boats. The sporting goods dealer Johann Klepper from Rosenheim acquired a license for Heurich's construction in 1907 and began series production.
Folding boating became a mass pleasure in the decades that followed. In the 1920s, the Deutsche Reichsbahn even used special trains for folding boat drivers who conquered the rivers and lakes in large flocks on weekends for water hikes , and in the 1930s, Folbot trains brought paddlers from New York to good work sites along the Hudson River . At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , folding boats became an Olympic discipline . During this time, the idea of the folding boat spread from Germany to the rest of Europe, North America and Japan, but never reached the same level as in Germany. At that time the Klepper company dominated the folding boat market. According to statistics from the Engelhartszell customs office on the Danube, 2054 folding boats passed the German-Austrian border in 1930, including 1017 from Klepper. By 1936 the company had sold over 90,000 folding boats. An important competitor, the Pionier shipyard from Bad Tölz, had an annual production of around 500 folding boats in the 1930s.
The folding boat yards developed the necessary camping equipment for their customers because there were often no overnight accommodations on rivers and lakes . While tents previously only consisted of canvas and had no floor, the folding boat builders built their tents like the skins of their boats: the top made of tightly woven cotton, the floor made of rubber. And the fans of the folding boat sport invented the necessary accessories, such as Carl Joseph Luther the down sleeping bag and Hans Berger ( Sport Berger company ) the air mattress . Thus, the manufacturers of tents and camping items were mainly folding boat yards until well into the 1950s.
Its popularity fell during World War II and did not reach pre-war levels afterwards. In 1958, according to the (West German) Federation of the German Sports Goods Industry, sales of folding boats were only 20 percent compared to the 1930s. On the one hand, this was due to the sharp rise in motorization in West Germany. Travel was no longer done in a folding boat, but on a motorcycle or car. On the other hand, in the two decades after the Second World War, river construction with barrages for the growing commercial shipping and for electricity generation increased sharply. In addition, there was an enormous pollution of the rivers, which also made water hiking less popular. Canoeing became more and more an extreme sport in white water on the upper reaches of the still unspoilt and unpolluted rivers. However, the plastic kayaks that emerged from the early 1960s are much better suited for white water. With the advent of motorization from the 1950s, the stiff, non-dismantling and cheaper plastic kayaks could also be transported on cars, which led to a further decline in the popularity of folding boats.
Nevertheless, folding boats were still to be seen frequently during water hikes on West German waters until the 1970s, after which they were only rarely seen. In the GDR and Eastern Europe - due to limited travel opportunities, the special importance of camping and the large chains of lakes - the folding boats from Pouch and MTW enjoyed great popularity until the fall of the Berlin Wall, although they were relatively expensive and difficult to obtain.
In 1993 the Canadian shipyard Feathercraft brought out the K-Light type with an aluminum frame, revolutionizing the folding boat market. With a total weight of just 15 kg, the K-Light was not only the lightest folding boat by far. When packed together, it also fit in a rucksack and was for the first time a real “rucksack boat” like the one that had existed at the beginning of the folding boat production almost 90 years ago. Its shape was partly based on sea kayaks and moved away from the classic folding boat shape. Nevertheless, it can be set up very quickly. This combination did not exist before, and the K-Light found many imitators. With him, the folding boat market changed, which in the previous decades had mainly consisted of two-seater vehicles. The first folding boat with an aluminum frame from a European manufacturer was the Klepper Alu-Lite type, which appeared in 1999 and its dimensions were strongly based on the K-Light.
From around the year 2000, the sales figures for folding boats rose again, and a small renaissance developed that continues to this day. So were z. B. 2004 sold around 4,000 folding boats across Europe. Folding boats available in Central Europe mostly come from Germany (Klepper, Pouch), France (Nautiraid), Norway (Ally), Poland (Wayland), Russia (Nortik, Triton), the USA (Pakboats, Folbot) or Canada (Feathercraft, Trak) .
Lately there have been some attempts to reduce the setup time. This is how the Oru Kayak and Nortik Fold models were created, which work according to the origami principle and allow assembly times of around five minutes. On the other hand, their handling characteristics are not quite as good as those of scaffold folding boats and the assembly time has been reduced by only a few minutes compared to the Klepper folding boats that have been manufactured for decades (assembly record time of 3:45 minutes).
A relatively new development are kayaks that can be plugged together and are then so compact that they can be transported as a backpack, e.g. B. the Pakayak (USA) as a single kayak and the Klepper Backyak as a two-person kayak. They combine the advantages of robust solid fuel boats with the good transport properties of traditional folding boats and enable previously unknown assembly times of only about three minutes. Although this type of boat will influence the folding boat market in the future, not all manufacturers of these plug- in boats count them as folding boats, and it remains to be seen whether a separate category will develop.
Advantages and disadvantages
Compared to stiff boats, folding boats have the advantage that they can be transported in practically any form of public transport - with the appropriate travel preparations also in an airplane - and that is how real water hikes become possible. There is no need to commute back to the place of work or to do round trips. When transporting a car, the disadvantage of high air resistance and the risk of damage when transporting on a roof rack is eliminated.
The main drawbacks are greater susceptibility to damage, which limits the application possibilities of folding boats. Driving in white water is hardly possible without endangering the material. Nevertheless, the boat skin can withstand simple ground contact, especially if the skin has been provided with keel strips: Reinforcements of the boat skin at the points where the scaffolding is in contact with the inside of the boat skin. The inadequate partitioning of folding boats entails risks, especially on large bodies of water; However, this problem can be alleviated by using a floating body or a specially adapted kayak sock . The many individual parts require more maintenance and care, but can be easily replaced, improvised or rebuilt if necessary (wear, damage). New folding boats are usually more expensive than festival boats of the same size because of their complex production.
construction
With the classic construction principle, the front and rear half of the frame are pushed separately into the skin and then tensioned using the keel. The inflation of the air tubes attached to the side of the skin smoothes the last wrinkles of the skin and holds the framework firmly in the skin. This principle has been used for decades. B. used in the Klepper Aerius and leads to quick assembly times of around 15 minutes. Instead of the keel lever, a hydraulic unit (Trak) or tensioning of the keel rod and the four Senten rods by means of the deck rods as levers is used (Feathercraft). The assembly times are shortened or lengthened by a few minutes.
With the cocktail dress principle, the complete frame is first built up separately and then pushed into the skin, which can usually be opened on the aft deck with a zipper. The framework, which is fitted into the skin, tensions the skin by means of a lever or wedge at the rear (e.g. Nautiraid Raid or Klepper Alu-Lite). The advantages are a simpler structure and easier loading with luggage. The disadvantage is the potentially fault-prone zipper, which is also not completely waterproof.
Take it with you on public transport
Until the end of the 1990s, a long baton bag from a folding boat could expressly be taken into the 2nd class wagons of Deutsche Bahn free of charge. In the current regulations, however, a general distinction is made between hand luggage and payloads. While a skin rucksack and a bulkhead pocket can be clearly assigned to hand luggage - hand luggage must be able to be stowed above or under the seat - the staff bag falls under a load. Only one load that they can carry themselves may be carried per traveler. Loads do not have to be stowed above or below the seat, but may only be taken along if special storage facilities are available in the vestibules or aisles of the car.
For this reason, you can take a folding boat with you free of charge in local transport with mostly larger multi-purpose compartments. The situation is different in long-distance traffic, where there are usually no such multi-purpose compartments and instead, if at all, only bicycle parking spaces that require reservation are available. In order to use such a place with folding boat luggage, a bicycle ticket for € 5.40 (with BahnCard) or € 8 (without BahnCard) should be purchased in advance . A claim to be derived from the conditions of carriage does not arise, but it is based on the earlier regulation (folding boat luggage is free in trolleys for loads / with multi-purpose compartments, where these are not available, the folding boat luggage (in the luggage trolley) can be taken on a bike card) and is therefore usually accepted by the train crew.
In practice, however, it is generally much more relaxed to take folding boat luggage with you and for individual travelers. A long stick bag is also transported on the ICE 1 and 2 if it has been removed from the boat trolley and can be placed in a niche. In the ICE-T there is a multi-purpose compartment (car 24 or 34) and three bicycle parking spaces, each ICE 3 will be redesigned by 2020 and will receive a car with generous space for a stroller and two wheelchairs (car 25 or 35) and the new ICE 4 has a bicycle compartment.
In the transport associations, especially when taking them on buses, trams and underground trains, there are sometimes slightly different regulations. For example, the rules for taking luggage with you in the VBB (Berlin and Brandenburg) and MVV are formulated more freely and identically: "Taking things with you is ruled out if this extends the stopover beyond the usual extent or if there is a risk that the object will be taken with you." other passengers cannot find a place in the vehicle. "
Outstanding rides
The preferred areas of the folding boats are inland and on the coasts. Nevertheless, folding boats were also used for spectacular ocean journeys:
- Around 1926, the later ethnologist and travel writer Erich Wustmann drove up from Schleswig-Holstein through the Skagerrak and the Norwegian coast in a folding boat after graduating from school ; he made many trips ashore and sailed northward into the next winter (later published as a folding boat trip from fjord to fjord ).
- In 1928 Franz Romer crossed the Atlantic in a 6.40 m long folding boat. He used a sailable boat to sail across the Atlantic from Lisbon in 58 days. Romer was the first person to cross the Atlantic alive in a folding boat. After stopping over in Saint Thomas and San Juan , Puerto Rico, he is missing on the way to New York.
- In 1932, the German Oskar Speck embarked on a journey that was probably unique in history. With his folding boat he drove alone from Ulm halfway around the world to Australia . After seven years he reached his goal in 1939. Today you can find his boat in the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney .
- In 1956, the German doctor Hannes Lindemann crossed the Atlantic in 72 days in a Klepper folding boat of the Aerius II type, which he named "Liberia III". To this day it is the smallest watercraft in terms of volume with which a person has ever crossed the Atlantic alive (but not the shortest, that was Father's Day ). The boat is exhibited today in the Deutsches Museum .
- In 1968, Harald Fritzsch from the GDR , together with his friend, managed a daring escape by folding boat across the Black Sea from what was then the Eastern Bloc to Turkey.
- In 1982, at the beginning of the Falklands War , British commandos landed on the Falkland Islands in Klepper folding boats that could not be located by the Argentine radar and built the first bridgehead .
Also worth mentioning is Herbert Rittlinger , who as a travel writer published many books on the subject of folding boats, including "All alone to the Amazon", "Paradise soon to be lost", "Black Adventure" or "The new school of canoeing".
Further trips in the article on the Klepper Faltbootwerft .
Permanent exhibitions
The Kleppermuseum is the in-house exhibition of the shipyard of the same name in Rosenheim and is currently the largest publicly accessible exhibition on folding boats in Germany. The museum and the shipyard burned down completely in 1995. The fire destroyed all exhibits collected up to that point. The current ones come mainly from donations. You can see almost exclusively models from the Klepper shipyard.
The Association of Friends of Historic Folding Boats is currently showing the largest public exhibition of historic folding boat models from various manufacturers. The showroom is located in the hall of the Patcool company (folding boat frame repairs and spare parts) in Werder near Potsdam and can be visited at any time during the company's opening hours.
The Faltbootkabinett in Lychen by Dirk Bredow, which once opened over a hundred historical folding boats, has been closed for several years and some (valuable) exhibits have been sold by the owner. The rest of the boats are still in the building of the former exhibition.
Individual "famous" folding boats are for example in the German Museum in Munich ( Hannes Lindemann Klepper Aerius II), the Klepper Olympic pairs silver medalist Willi Horn and Erich Hanisch in Wassersportmuseum in Berlin-Grunau , Arved Fuchs ' Klepper Aerius I in the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg as well as the two of Pope John Paul II in the Archdiocesan Museum in Krakow .
Manufacturer
According to an estimate by the Federal Environment Ministry, around 1,000 folding boats are sold in Germany each year, which is a little less than 10% of total kayak sales in Germany. The German folding boat manufacturers, Klepper and Pouch, sell around 300 and a little less than 100 boats a year.
Active manufacturers
- Bergans (Ally folding canoe and kayak, Norway)
- Banana boat (Germany)
- Boatory (Atlyak Kayaks, China)
- FirstLightKayaks (New Zealand)
- FMK (Russia)
- Fujita (Japan)
- Klepper Faltbootwerft AG (Germany)
- Long Haul (USA)
- Nautiraid (France)
- Neris (Ukraine)
- nortik (mainly importer of Russian folding boats, Germany)
- Oru Kayaks (USA)
- Pakayaks (USA)
- Pakboats (USA)
- Poucher Boats GmbH (Germany)
- Seavivor (USA)
- Trak Kayaks (Canada)
- Triton (Russia)
- Wayland (Poland)
Former manufacturers (selection)
- Feathercraft Folding Kayaks (Canada) - until December 2016 (after that only spare parts supply)
- Folbot (USA) - not in production since 2016
- Germania (BRD) - folding boat production until 1978 (company still exists, spare parts supply possible)
- Granata (UK)
- Hammer (FRG) - taken over by Metzeler in 1968
- Hart (FRG) - until 1968
- Chain (FRG) - until 1974
- LFB star (GDR)
- Marquardt (FRG) - until 1958
- Metzeler (FRG) - folding boat production until 1978
- MTW Wismar (GDR)
- PAX Sonneberg (GDR)
- Pioneer (FRG) - until 1971
- Tyne (UK)
Individual evidence
- ↑ FAZ.net of January 14, 2013, folding boats, From the attic back to the water [1]
- ↑ Environmental protection in the sporting goods industry . Website Umweltbundesamt.de. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ^ Sven Sievers: With the folding boat in the polar ice - the Andrée expedition of 1897 , in rushing trips and the sound of the sea III. International Yearbook of Folding Boat Sports 2005/2006
- ↑ Ursula & Christian Altenhofer: The Hadernkahn, history of the folding boat. 3rd edition 1997, Pollner Verlag, p. 177
- ↑ 90 years of the Pioneers folding boat yard, exhibition catalog 2015, page 49
- ↑ "The strife Kahn" by Ursula and Christian Altenhofer, Pollner Verlag, 3rd Edition 1997
- ↑ City Museum Bad Tölz: Pioneer - 90 years of the Bad Tölz folding boat yard. Exhibition catalog 2015, p. 41.
- ↑ City Museum Bad Tölz: Pioneer - 90 years of the Bad Tölz folding boat yard. Exhibition catalog 2015, p. 57
- ↑ Ursula & Christian Altenhofer: The Hadernkahn, history of the folding boat. 3rd edition 1997, Pollner Verlag, pp. 123 & 124.
- ↑ Kanu Magazin: Five easy travel ones in comparison. June 2004
- ↑ The Art of Folding . Kayak Magazine website. Retrieved December 18, 2016
- ↑ Test Nortik Fold 4.2 . Canoe magazine website. Retrieved December 18, 2016
- ^ Klepper Assembly World Record . youtube.de. Retrieved December 18, 2016
- ↑ Pakayak . Manufacturer's website. Retrieved May 3, 2018
- ↑ Backyak . Manufacturer's website. Retrieved May 3, 2018
- ^ German course book 1995; Item 30: hand luggage, payloads; Page A12
- ↑ Conditions of carriage Deutsche Bahn ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. bahn.de
- ↑ Luggage on the train bahn.de
- ^ BZ map book Märkische Gewässer, 1938, page 33
- ↑ Faltboot und Bahn faltboot.org
- ↑ ICE 3 redesign grahnert.de
- ↑ Seating plans ICE-T ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ice-fansite.com
- ^ Conditions of carriage in the VBB. s-bahn-berlin.de
- ↑ Conditions of Carriage. ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. mvv-muenchen.de
- ↑ Reinhard Werth : Hirnwelten. Reports from the edge of consciousness. CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44076-2 , p. 56.
- ↑ Petra Dietsche: The astonishment at the foreign. Four literary studies on the problem of understanding and representing foreign cultures (= European university publications. Series 1: German language and literature. Vol. 748). P. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1984, ISBN 3-8204-5299-0 , p. 15.
- ^ Museum website Kleppermuseum Rosenheim
- ^ Website Friends of historic folding boats e. V.
- ↑ Historical Faltbootkabinett faltbootbasteln.de
- ↑ Arved Fuchs leaves his legendary Klepper folding boat in the museum shz.de.de
- ↑ After bankruptcy and restart . Website mdr.de. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ Klepper folding boats back in the fast lane. Financial news. Accessed December 6, 2016
- ↑ Environmental protection in the sporting goods industry . Website Umweltbundesamt.de. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ News page Feathercraft . Website feathercraft.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ Is Folbot on Hiatus / Out of Business? . Website foldingkayaks.org. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ^ Website of the company Germania Bootswerft
- ^ Metzeler - Hammer folding boats . Website faltbootbasteln.de. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ Type database: Werft Hart . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ Type database: Werft Ketten . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved December 6, 2016
- ↑ Type database: Werft Pionier . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved December 6, 2016
Web links
- Database of folding boat models, manufacturers and accessories .
- Folding boat literature
- History of the folding boat at deutschlandfunkkultur.de
- Faltbootbraftelseiten Information about historical folding boats.
- MTW folding boats About folding boat construction at the Mathias Thesen shipyard in Wismar from 1954 to 1990
- Audio image 30min. on the history of the folding boat at MDR KULTUR