This Folding Kayak Was Built for a “Lifetime of Abuse”

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June 14, 2017 9:00 am

When you follow adventure travel on the internet you start to notice some things about gear makers.

First, there are a lot of them. It takes time to distill who is building something good. There’s a lot of testing on the part of editors like us and users like you, and there are a lot of misses.

But then you see a company like TRAK. They’ve been making high-quality kayaks in Canada for over ten years. If you own a business, at five years, if you’re staying afloat, it means you’ve probably got a good product and you’re on to something. If you’re still going strong at ten years,  you have core customers and a solid network.

trak kayak (5 images)

This is a huge advantage when launching a new product. They have plenty of time to consider feedback when testing a product, which is what they’ve done with their new portable kayak, the TRAK 2.0.

This isn’t just dipping their toe in the water to compete with the Orus of the seas. This is a fully formed idea that blends their understanding of high-grade polyurethane, aluminum and carbon fiber with what professional kaykers want in a travel boat.

In the video it says that it can be assembled in ten minutes, which is about twice the time of the competition. But this comes with skirts and a full seal hull so you won’t be taking 90 percent of the water of the other folding kayaks. It packs into a bag that can be backpacked or rolled, and it fits into the trunk of a Smart car. So it’s about three times the price of other folding kayaks, but it’ll last much longer. 

If you’re looking for a touring kayak for open water, this looks like a very safe bet.

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