----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter A. Chopelas" <pac_at_premier1.net> > So despite kayaks being ancient in origin, its modern history is not very > old. I.e. there was only a few companies commercially making folding > kayaks prior to WWII, and I do not think anyone one commercially > manufacturing non-folding skin on frame kayaks in any large numbers ever. > And commercially made molded fiberglass sea kayaks did not show up until > about 1970(?). There were a lot more than a "few" companies making folding kayaks commercially prior to WW II. I counted up their names and locations (most in Germany) from the Der Haderkahn book on the history of folding kayaks published in 1989. I recall that there were about 80 companies producing the boats prior to WWII. Obviously some were small but the large ones were quite massive in their yearly production turnout. Klepper was probably the largest and in many popular paddling spots often hundreds of foldables would be on the water at the same time on a good weekend. > > Does any have a guess how many commercially manufactured sea kayaks are > sold today world wide? And how many folding kayaks? I once had a reasonable handle on this in the early 1990s. Using a lot of extrapolation from knowledge I had of the production run of two of the largest hardshell companies and knowing the same, with more precision, for the folding kayak companies, I came up with some figure. I can't remember what that was and it would be inapplicable now since since then many more companies have been making plastic kayaks that previously only did fiberglass such as Wilderness Systems. Polyethylene really changed things in providing entry-level (as well as better boats) at a cheap price that has drawn an avalanche of interest and buyers. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 20 2001 - 07:00:03 PST
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