Matt Broze wrote: > GRANTA BOATS LTD:(all wood frame, canvas deck) 29 Great Whyte, Ramsey, > Huntington, Cambs PE17 1EZ, England 0487-813777 (Sold to Ottersports)(in > 78 Canoe Magazine's Buyer's Guide address listed is: 23 Great > White)(Canadian address:W. Royalty Ind. Park, Charlottetown, P.I.E. C1E 1B0) > > You didn't give its dimensions but it is likely to be one of these models or > a predecessor. I really am not up on the Granta folding kayaks as the make died long before I came on the paddling scene. (They also made kit boats.) Britain had a meaningful folding kayak industry prior to WW II. These boats were used by the Special Boat Service clandestine operators in various missions against the Germans and the Japanese. It started life under the name Special Folboat service but that name was changed as it gave away too much of what it was all about. The Germans for some reason did not want to export Kleppers to the British during the war and so local folding kayaks were used. > Alan Byde says in ASKC#64 Nov 87 (Anglesey Sea Kayak Club Newsletter--I > think, not sure of the spelling) that they were originally "Folbot", and > that in 1932 Fridel Meyer of Germany paddled a Folbot from Bravaria to > London. She also won some race against all comers circumnavigating Great Britain or most of a circumnavigation anyway. > > FOLBOT FOLDING BOATS LTD:(1933) 21 Hatfield St., London EC, England > (Spr98C&KHA#25--built Folboat folding "canoes" and Kingfisher rigid "canoes" > in the 1930's)(I suspect this company is somehow connected to Folbot Inc. > (see below) but don't no how. Maybe one of the Folding kayak gurus named > Ralph on this list can straighten me out about the origins or why the names > are similar. The other Ralph (Hoehn) probably is better plugged in since he reads German better than I do and most folding kayak literature is in that tongue. Perhaps he has the answer to why the Gerrmans would not export Kleppers to the Brits during the war. > > FOLBOT INC:Phil Cotton (1933)(only folding kayaks--kits are now at Bryant B. > W.) 4209 Pace. St., Charlestown, SC 29405 (was?also? P.O.Box 70877, Stark > Ind. Park, Charlestown, SC 29415)(12/95SKad-(800)533-5099, > 12/95SK-(800)528-9592, 99-01CBG-(843)744-3483, fax:(803)744-7783, > 98rec.boats FAQ--(800)744-3483 folbot1_at_aol.com www.folbot.com Same company. It was started by Jack Kissner, a German who I believe had worked at the Klepper factory and moved to London in the early 1930s to found the Folboat Company. I have a catalog or pages from one from around 1934, I think (I would have to check my archives). The company moved to New York City around 1938. It moved to Charleston, South Carolina in the 1950s. Kissner ran the company all that time until his death in the early 1980s. He was eccentric but then, again, most of us folding kayakers are. You havta be with our boats! ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Feb 06 2001 - 21:30:27 PST
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