Klepper folding boat yard

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Coordinates: 47 ° 50 ′ 55.8 "  N , 12 ° 6 ′ 57.2"  E

Sewn logo on a Klepper folding boat from the 1960s
An Aerius Quattro Klepper folding boat

The Klepper Faltbootwerft is the oldest folding boat maker in the world. The shipyard has been producing since 1907 and bears the name of its founder Johann Klepper . The company is based in Rosenheim in Upper Bavaria . Since 1907 Klepper has sold over 250,000 folding boats worldwide. The company's shares are traded on the Berlin Stock Exchange.

history

1907–1945: beginning and first heyday

Johann Klepper was one of the first to produce modern folding kayaks in Germany . In 1907 he acquired the exclusive license for the production of Heurich's folding boat construction from Alfred Heurich and began the series production of boats in the attic of his parents' tailor's shop. In 1919 he founded Johann Klepper & Co. GmbH together with Karl Stich. In addition to the folding boats, which the population liked to call the rag boat, rag boat, plunder or rag cruiser because of their appearance, Klepper also produced a number of other rubberized articles such as rubber shoes and the Klepper coats , which he developed from a 1926 impregnated with rubber Fabric made.

In 1920 the completely waterproof skin made of rubberized fabric appeared. The vulcanization of the natural rubber used was said to work best with red, hence the mostly red hides in the early years (with a beige hood). Later the skin was also black, mostly with a red top, or blue ("blue whale"), until with the introduction of the T5 (1935), the silver-colored skin (mostly with a blue top) became the standard used for decades.

Karl Schott was one of the first to go on long journeys in a Klepper folding boat. In 1923 and 1925 he drove a two-seater to Asia Minor and Egypt. In 1928, Captain Franz Romer managed to cross the Atlantic in 90 days with a special folding boat from Klepper . The folding boat was 6.4 m long and 1 m wide. On the way from the Caribbean to New York City , Romer got caught in a hurricane and was lost.

When Hans Klepper took over the company from his father in 1929, the company produced up to 90 boats and 1,000 raincoats a day. With 3000 employees, it is Rosenheim's largest employer and dominates 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, 1017 of which were from Klepper. By 1936 the company had sold over 90,000 folding boats. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, two folding boat competitions took place for the first time, and the first three places were won with Klepper folding boats.

In 1933 stabilizing side walls were introduced, which greatly reduced the number of sents, made diagonal bars superfluous and prevented the scaffolding from sagging. Since the "T5 series" launched in 1935, the shape of the scaffolding at Klepper has not changed significantly. In 1936, the “T6” and “Super T6 series”, the lightest folding boats with a wooden frame to date, came onto the market. The wooden frame of the 550 cm long sports scull weighed 18 kg including the seats and backrests (for comparison: the wooden frame (with seats and backrests) of the current Aerius 545 weighs 23 kg). The 4.50 m long sports one weighed a total of just over 20 kg, the 5.50 m long sports scull 26.7 kg. This was made possible by very elaborate carpentry work with different wood thicknesses such as double T-beams on the frames . Klepper received a Grand Prix for this at the 1937 EXPO in Paris.

At the beginning of the National Socialist era , Klepper-Werke still advertised with the slogan "Go happily into the wide world with a Klepper boat and a Klepper tent". But the further development in Germany did not stop at the Rosenheim company, so after the beginning of the war in 1939 the civil and folding boat production ended. From the point of view of the Nazi regime, however, clothing that was important for the war effort continued to be produced. In addition to the Wehrmacht and the Reichsbahn , the Gestapo also wore Klepper coats, which gave them the popular nickname “Gestapo coat”. The Klepperwerke were severely damaged in an air raid on April 18, 1945.

1945–1978: Successful new beginning and falling demand

In 1949 the founder Johann Klepper died at the age of 80. In 1950, the Aerius, which is still available today, came onto the market, which had a new type of plug-in and snap-in system and, for the first time, air hoses that made assembly much easier. Nowadays almost all folding boats are equipped with side air tubes according to the Aerius principle. In 1956 , the doctor Hannes Lindemann managed to cross the Atlantic in 72 days with a standard Aerius 520 . To this day, Lindemann holds the record of having crossed the Atlantic in the smallest boat. His folding boat is exhibited in the Deutsches Museum in Munich .

In the 1950s, over 1000 people worked at Klepper, including many young boat builders who later founded their own companies, such as the master tailor Walter Langer, the Langer company for textile canoe accessories, and Karl Brenner and Franz Wimmer in the joinery, which founded the BREWI company in 1961 and build kayaks made of GRP , as well as Toni Prijon in boat development from 1957–1961 , who also experimented with the material GRP and in 1959 also became world champion in single kayaks in white water. At this time the white water kayaks Slalom 58 and Slalom 59 as well as T 66 and T 67, which already resemble the later plastic kayaks, as well as the first plastic boats at Klepper in the early 1960s: SL, Quirl T and Quirl R. Later also the " Spider ”, a license replica from the Klaus Lettmann company, which became the most successful model of the whitewater descent at the 1967 World Cup. Until 1961 all world championship titles in white water slalom were won in the Klepper "Slalom 59". But already in 1963, folding boats were used for the last time at a canoe world championship.

In 1959, Klepper released the T 9 touring boat, a folding boat with a now legendary reputation. Herbert Rittlinger called it the “non-plus-ultra of a truly universal hiker” and in 2004 Kanu-Magazin judged it: “One of the best boats ever built using the traditional folding boat design. “The T 9 is very fast to drive, stable and at the same time agile and is suitable for light white water as well as a sea kayak. The boat has no air hoses and was built until total production was discontinued in the late 1970s. In 1961 Klepper had 13 stores of its own in major West German cities, the clothing division contributed around a third to total sales in 1965 and 6000 folding boats and plastic kayaks were produced (that was 90% of the folding boat and 80% of total kayak sales in West Germany). Since the late 1950s, Klepper has also been building foldable dinghies (Master, Passat), which in the mid-1960s were supplemented by a large number of rigid-hulled dinghies (Capitano, Maat, Youngster, etc.) such as motor inflatable dinghies (Kontiki). A tent trailer (piroschka) is also included in the program. From 1969 then the FAM made of GRP and from 1975 also the Monas . Surfboards were added until 1988. In the 1960s, Klepper (like a pioneer before) built a two-seater folding boat for the Kaufhof department store , which sold it under the Hellas brand . In the meantime, Klepper had long since become an outdoor chain of stores in today's parlance. In addition to (weatherproof) clothing, for example air mattresses, sleeping bags, camping furniture, inflatable boats (with motor), stoves, books and a variety of (large) tents were offered. Folding kayaks made up only 14 of a total of 42 pages in the catalog section (and without clothing!) Of the so-called Klepper book from 1961.

In 1970 the boat skin of the folding boats with side air tubes (Aerius, Master, Passat) switched from natural rubber to synthetic rubber (Hypalon with Trevira carrier fabric). The new skin in gray color is lighter and more tear-resistant and ages significantly less quickly in sunlight. The boats without side air tubes retained the previous five-fold rubber skin (the so-called silver skin) with the carrier fabric made of linen or hemp due to their higher elasticity, which is necessary for folding boats without side air tubes. In return, the Aerius scaffolding loses the weight-reducing measures from 1976 (recesses on the stem and slotted floor ladder). The elimination of the so-called relief seam on the skin, only a little later, is due to the increasingly necessary rationalization.

In 1967 Hans Klepper died and his son Hans-Jürgen took over the company, which he first converted into a GmbH & Co KG and sold to Herbert Michalke in 1972. A year later the company was split into Klepper Bootsbau KG and Klepper Bekleidungsfabrik KG. Nowadays, Klepper Faltbootwerft AG only produces folding kayaks and a model of the Klepper tent. In 1978 the shipyard launched the "K3", Europe's first PE kayak. It is as good as indestructible and a sensation for the time. At the end of the same year, Klepper stopped production of the folding boats. In the April 1979 test booklet, the “Aerius 2” received the verdict from Stiftung Warentest : good, making it the test winner ahead of “Metzeler Robinson 500” and “ Pouch RZ 85-3”. In 1980 the production of the sailing boats was stopped and Klepper only acted as licensor. The company then continued to sell rigid hull boats and surfboards for some time and was finally closed in 1997.

Since 1981: Klepper Faltbootwerft HS Walther GmbH and Klepper Faltbootwerft AG

Klepper Alu-Lite 400

Thyssen board member Hermann Siegesmund Walther founded Klepper Faltbootwerft HS Walther GmbH in 1981 after a transition period and built the Aerius 450 and 520 as well as the T9 under license in the Klepper factory. In addition, a shortened Aerius single was developed under the name Aerius 2000, which was renamed the Tramp 380 in 1999. In 1982 Klepper folding boats were used in the Falklands War. Walther succeeded in rapidly increasing production from a total of 300 boats in 1982, 700 one year later and up to 1000 in 1984. The knowledge gained during the winter circumnavigation of Cape Horn in 1984 by Arved Fuchs and Rainer Neuber with two Aerius 450s led to the next Years to various detail improvements on all Aerius models, such as carrying straps on the bow and stern and a tensioning device on the foot control. From 1986 until the relocation of production to Poland in 2013, the wooden scaffolding (with the exception of the fittings) was no longer made by Klepper, but by the carpentry workshop Karl-Heinz Gasteiger, Grassau.

Walther died in 1994, and in a major fire in October 1995, the production facility and the factory museum as well as almost all spare parts and documents were destroyed. After that, all the patterns had to be obtained again. In 1998, his son Walthers, who lived in the USA, sold the company to the management consultant Henning Isbruch, who had been working as a consultant for Klepper Faltbootwerft HS Walther GmbH since 1981. The Klepper Faltbootwerft HS Walther GmbH became the Klepper Faltbootwerft AG in 2000. The Klepper Faltbootwerft AG had prior to listing with a guarantee dividend advertised, but which was paid only by 2002 by 2008. After a court decision confirmed by the Munich Higher Regional Court , subscribed shares could be returned. The Klepper Faltbootwerft has filed a constitutional complaint against this judgment, the outcome of which is open (as of October 2015 and according to Klepper's own statements).

In 1999 the Alu-Lite 400 came on the market, which is the lightest and fastest to drive current Klepper single-fold boat and for the first time uses aluminum instead of wood for the scaffolding. The entire boat fits into a rucksack and is a real “rucksack boat” again, just like when the folding boat production began almost a hundred years ago. In May 2001 the company's own Klepper folding boat museum was opened, which shows various exhibits from Klepper boats, coats and tents. In 2002 the Aerius XXL 585 was introduced for two adults and two children. In the same year the shipyard made a turnover of two million euros with an average of 20 employees (depending on the season) and sold 80% multi-seater and 20% single. The Aerius 490 Langeiner was offered for the first time in 2004 and quickly replaced the standard one with 450 cm (just like three years later the extended two-seater 545 pushed the standard two-seater 520 from the market). The New Museum Nuremberg exhibits as design icons from 2006. Two Klepper folding kayaks.

In 2013, Klepper Faltbootwerft AG sold 219 folding boats, which since this year have no longer been made in Rosenheim, but at Wayland in Poland . One reason for this was the increasing competition from Russia, with low labor costs. The final production, assembly and quality control of every Klepper folding boat delivered is carried out at the old location in Rosenheim. Accessories such as sails and spray decks will also continue to be produced in Rosenheim. The previous suppliers of the materials were also retained, so the plug-in and snap-in system continues to come from Germany. With the relocation of a large part of the production to Poland, major delivery difficulties arose, so that several dealers took Klepper products out of their range.

With the Backyak, a six-part plug-in kayak for two adults and one child comes onto the market in 2014, which can also be made into two single kayaks, a bathing island, a small catamaran and a sled with accessories. The 5.4 m long carbon kayak is disassembled and transported in two backpack-like tons, which are two of the six boat hulls.

According to its own information, Klepper has a global market share of around 68% in 2014 and has produced 302 folding boats this year.

With the Aerius 490 Star, the conventional Langeiner with a new skin, frame and seat will be launched in 2016. The frame is made of Gabon wood , the skin is made entirely of PVC (including the hood) and the seat is simpler and lighter than the usual. With a total weight of only 19 kg, it is almost 10 kg lighter than the conventional Langeiner in the expedition equipment with TPU skin. The Aerius 490 Star is offered at significantly lower prices than all the other boats in the shipyard, but the durability of the frame and skin has to be compromised. A few months later, the Aerius 545 is also offered as a star model with a new lightweight frame and a PVC skin. With a total weight of only 27 kg, it is lighter than all other models in the competition.

In 2016, eight workers worked in the tailoring shop and up to seven in the carpentry shop at the company's headquarters near Warsaw in Mława . There are eight employees in Rosenheim.

On August 1, 2020, Klepper Faltbootwerft AG was taken over by the newly founded Klepper Lifestyle GmbH , a company of Compass Logistics International AG , based in Hamburg . Michael Müller is the new board member and owner of the company. The Rosenheim production site will remain.

Current models

The range now includes folding kayaks in various sizes, colors and equipment variants for use under leisure and expedition conditions for water hiking up to whitewater difficulty level II and sea ​​kayaking :

  • Single-seater: Tramp 380, Aerius 490, Sprint Alu 490
  • Two-seater: Aerius 545, Backyak
  • Three and four-seater: Aerius XXL

The models are available with a skin on the lower part of PVC (version: Smartline and Star), gray Hypalon / CSM (version: Classic) or black TPU (version: Expedition). TPU is at least as resistant as the previously exclusively used Hypalon or CSM, but it makes boat skin 30% lighter. A lower ship made of PVC is not quite as resistant.

The top of the boat skin is almost always made of a special, waterproof, woven and impregnated cotton fabric (cotton is the only fabric that can be used in kayaks that is breathable). PVC is only used for the top of the Star version.

For the scaffolding, the classic wooden frame made from multiple glued birch plywood and ash wood parts is offered for almost all models. The Aerius 490 and Aerius 545 can also be equipped with the 25% lighter carbon frame and with a frame made of Gabon wood (version: Star), which is also very light, but not quite as robust. Only the Sprint Alu 490 is offered with an aluminum frame .

With a carbon frame and a skin made of TPU material, the Aerius 545 Expedition weighs approx. 24 kg, making it the lightest two-seater folding boat in its class. The Aerius 490 with Gabon wooden frame and TPU / PVC skin, which has been available since 2017, weighs only approx. 17 kg and is therefore one of the lightest single-seater folding boats with a length of almost five meters.

All boats, with the exception of the Sprint Alu 490, can be sails. Sails of up to 5 m² are possible from single to three-seater. You can choose between the Freewind drivesail, the full sail S2 (without gaff ) and the full sail S3 (with gaff). In addition to the boats, the Klepper Faltbootwerft manufactures everything to do with folding boats, from spare parts and comfort equipment to paddles and steering systems.

In 2013, the readers of Kanu-Magazin voted the Aerius II 545 Classic the second most popular travel boat double.

Special forms

The Backyak was presented on October 6, 2011. This is a carbon kayak that can be dismantled and, thanks to its various modules and add-ons, allows for several assembly variants. In addition to the classic kayak structure, the Backyak can also be assembled as a catamaran with a sail or as a sledge.

Expeditions with Klepper folding boats

  • 1909 Crossing of the English Channel in a single series folding boat Delphin by CE Layton
  • 1923 Patagonia trip by Erich Maria Remarque , description in the magazine Kanu-Sport ( republished in Meeresrauschen und Rinsenbummeln III - 2005/2006 )
  • 1925 trip to the Middle East ( Lake Garda to Basra ) by Karl Schott
  • 1928 Sven Hedin's trip to Asia
  • 1928 Crossing the Atlantic in a special construction by Franz Romer
  • 1928 drive to Lake Inari and the Arctic Ocean by Curt Biging, described in the book Inari (1929)
  • 1929 Nine-month expedition on the Norwegian coast and in the Arctic Ocean by Erich Wustmann
  • 1929 Carl Borro Schwerla explored the Colorado and Grand Canyon
  • 1932 Greenland expedition by Ernst Sorge in connection with the shooting of the film SOS Eisberg , description in the book With airplane, folding boat and film camera in the ice fjords of Greenland
  • 1938 Danube and Drina excursion by Lothar-Günther Buchheim , description in the books Days and Nights rise from the river. A Danube Cruise (1941) and Vagabond and River Pirate (2010)
  • 1954 First ascent of the Upper Nile by Herbert Rittlinger , description in the book Black Adventure
  • 1955 Amazon Befahrung by Hans Ertl , documented in the film advance into Paititi
  • 1955 Crossing the Mediterranean from Marseille to Tunis by W. Zimmermann
  • 1956 Atlantic crossing by Hannes Lindemann , description in the book Alone over the ocean
  • 1957 Expedition to the Lacandonen , Mexico, by Herbert Rittlinger, description in the book Ins Land der Lacandonen
  • 1970 From Singapore to Australia by John Dowd
  • 1979 circumnavigation of Cape Horn by Charles Porter
  • 1983 G. Kimmich and E. Eckstein sailed the Marañón
  • 1984 Winter circumnavigation of Cape Horn by Arved Fuchs and Rainer Neuber, description in the book Im Faltboot um Cape Horn
  • 1985 Expedition to the Magnetic North Pole by Arved Fuchs
  • 1990 South Seas trip by Paul Theroux , description in the book The Happy Islands of Oceania
  • 1992 Half-circuit of Australia by Eric Stiller and Tony Brown
  • 1996 Michael Vogeley drives on the Strait of Magellan
  • 2001 Amazon tour by Brümmer and Glöckner, description in the book Amazonia
  • 2005 Halfway around Europe by Franziska and Rainer Ulm
  • 2008 4100 km over eight rivers in Canada and Alaska (partly as the first Germans) by Walter Steinberg and Siglinde Fischer, documented in the film Canada-Alaska
  • In 2016 Oscar Scafidi and Alfy Weston sailed the Cuanza from its source to its mouth, documented in the film Kayak the Kwanza

literature

  • Altenhofer, Ursula and Christian: The barge - history of the folding boat. from: Pollner Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-925660-09-7
  • Eddelbüttel, Walter Friedrich: Canoe hiking book for Northwest Germany. Published by Otto Molweide, Hamburg 1929
  • Tiller, Artur: Handbook of water sports. Publisher: Ravensburger / Otto Maier, Ravensburg 1939, ISBN 3-7688-1018-6 (new edition from the publisher: Delius Klasing , Bielefeld 1997)
  • Arved Fuchs : Around Cape Horn in a folding boat. Publisher: Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 3-7688-1092-5
  • Klaus Bovers: The folding boat (tours, technology, traditions). Published by HS Walther, Rosenheim 1984

Web links

Commons : Klepper Faltbootwerft  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klepper shares in pre-market trading. Website Bankkaufmann! Com. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  2. ↑ Hans-Walter Keweloh: With "Plünnenkreuzern" on the way. Folding boat sport on rivers and streams in the Weser area . In: Men from Morgenstern , Heimatbund an Elbe and Weser estuary e. V. (Ed.): Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt . No. 806 . Nordsee-Zeitung GmbH, Bremerhaven February 2017, p. 3–4 ( digital version [PDF; 2.5 MB ; accessed on October 12, 2018]).
  3. ↑ "The strife Kahn" , by Ursula and Christian Altenhofer, 3rd edition 1997, p 177
  4. ↑ a b FBB Klepper Super T6 (1938) . Website faltbootbasteln.de. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ Weights of the wooden carbon frame from the Klepper Aerius II . Folding boat forum. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Johann Klepper and the Klepperwerke . Website of the Rosenheim City Archives. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  7. ↑ types . Website faltboot.org, accessed December 20, 2013
  8. ↑ due date . WDR website. Retrieved December 27, 2013
  9. ↑ Kanu magazine, issue 1/2018, pp. 66 and 67
  10. ^ History ( Memento from August 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Lettmann GmbH website. Retrieved August 31, 2015
  11. ^ Klepper T9 . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved July 5, 2015
  12. ^ Klepper T9 . Website Plünnenkreuzer + Landgänger. Retrieved July 5, 2015
  13. ^ The "Klepper Book" from 1961 ( Memento from September 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) - prospectus of the Klepper Faltbootwerft with 130 pages, accessed on February 28, 2017
  14. ↑ Klepper relies on sporty clothing . Website of the Hamburger Abendblatt. Retrieved September 1, 2015
  15. ↑ Other Klepper boats . Website faltbootbasteln.de. Retrieved September 1, 2015
  16. ^ Piroschka meeting . Website of Raumteiler24. Retrieved September 1, 2015
  17. ^ Sales prospectus Klepper Monas . Website of MONAS Klassenvereinigung eV Accessed on August 31, 2015
  18. ^ Surf Museum . Website Surf-Forum.com. Retrieved September 1, 2015
  19. ↑ History of the boat skin at Klepper . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved August 26, 2015
  20. ^ History of Aerius 520 . Website faltboot.org. Retrieved November 19, 2016
  21. ↑ Canoe Archive . Website of Klepper Faltbootwerft Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved December 27, 2013
  22. ↑ Canoe History . Website of the Noris Canoe School. Retrieved September 2, 2015
  23. ^ History of the Monas class association monas-klassenvereinigung.de
  24. ↑ Small battleships . Website finanzen.net. Retrieved December 9, 2016
  25. ^ "Das Faltboot" , by Klaus Bovers, 1984 edition, p. 14
  26. ↑ “In the folding boat around Cape Horn” , by Arved Fuchs, Piper series, 1992 edition, p. 242
  27. ↑ Klepper-Faltbootwerft AG: reversal of the share . Website anwalt24.de. Retrieved December 19, 2013
  28. ↑ The international folding boat market 2003 . Website faltenreich.de. Accessed December 21, 2016; (also in BUM 2, from p. 269)
  29. ↑ Klepper Annual General Meeting, 2012 management report, website klepper.de. Retrieved June 9, 2016
  30. ↑ The company at a glance . Website of Klepper Faltbootwerft Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved January 16, 2015
  31. ↑ Klepper folding boats back in the fast lane. on: Finanznachrichten.de, accessed on February 28, 2017
  32. ↑ Klepper Aerius 490 Star . Website Faltboot-Werkstatt Hannover. Retrieved February 8, 2016
  33. ↑ Klepper Aerius 545 Star . Offer from Faltbootspiegel.de on ebay. Retrieved July 8, 2016
  34. ^ Reopening of the Klepper Museum OVB-Online website. Accessed June 8, 2016
  35. ↑ Press release Klepper website Klepper. Accessed August 24, 2020
  36. ^ Website of the Klepper Faltbootwerft Aktiengesellschaft. Technical data Aerius 454 carbon / wood frame.Retrieved January 15, 2016
  37. ↑ Group photo of paddlers pick . Website of Klepper Faltbootwerft Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved December 19, 2013
  38. ↑ In the folding boat . Website of the Klepper Museum eV Accessed July 10, 2015
  39. ↑ The Renaissance of the Binsenbummers . Deutschlandradio Zeitfragen, accessed on September 29, 2015
  40. ↑ 10 Greatest Sea Kayak Expeditions . Sarah's Journey weblog. Wordpress. Retrieved August 31, 2015
  41. ↑ a b History . Website of Klepper Faltbootwerft Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved August 31, 2015
  42. ^ Estrecho - The Strait of Magellan in a kayak . Michael Vogeley's website. Retrieved January 10, 2014
  43. ^ Mackenzie / Yukon project . www.walter-steinberg.de, accessed on January 26, 2016
  44. ↑ Kayak the Kwanza . www.kayakthekwanza.com, Retrieved March 20, 2017