BlankFollowing on the recent thread on Grantha folding kayaks, I wonder if any of you have direct experience of another make of foldables, the Sigma kayaks which were made (or imported to North America?) by Kayak Labs. What is their history? They still have a website with descriptions of the kayaks at http://home.ici.net/~k-lab . The double (Sigma 2Z) seems to have an interesting layout with three cockpits/hatches with the central one being used for solo paddling. I am considering buying one second hand. With no spare parts available the original build quality becomes even more important as does the feasibility of do-it-yourself repairing! Grateful for any comments... John Irwin London *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Irwin" <jii_at_earsbooks.plus.com> > BlankFollowing on the recent thread on Grantha folding kayaks, I wonder if > any of you have direct experience of another make of foldables, the Sigma > kayaks which were made (or imported to North America?) by Kayak Labs. > What is their history? Kayak Labs was in business for about 8 years or so before closing down fairly recently. It made interesting models that had adjustable sponsons, i.e. you could vary their effective width. This was done with a zipper on each side the deck that constricted the volume that the sponson could fill by simply closing the zipper. Or make the sponsons wider by opening up the zipper. The boats had the simplest of aluminum tubing frame including for the crossribs. And the "fittings" hold long pieces to crossribs were simply studs sticking out of each corner of the crossribs (the studs fitted into holes in the long tubes). The connections were held in tension with webbing straps and fastex snap buckles. The frame halves went together in an unbelievable but functioning way unlike any other folding kayak ever. Hard to discribe but it was startlingly different. The frame was so simple that I doubt you would have any problem replicating any missing or broken parts. Any one who could weld and shape aluminum tubing could do it for you and the studs could be replaced by easily in the same manner. The owner and chief designer of the company was Vitale Pesikov, an imigre from the former Soviet Union. An article was done about him in Sea Kayaker ages ago. I met him several times and he was an enthusiastic very engaging fellow. A side story: Vitale had a very heavy Russian accent. I once ran across a woman who had met him and told me "Oh, I met the owner, the _Italian_ fellow." Well Vitale certainly is Italian!!! 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/ ***************************************************************************
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