Folding kayak

A folding kayak is a direct descendant of the original Inuit kayak made of animal skins stretched over frames made from wood and bones. A modern folder has a collapsible frame made of some combination of wood, aluminium and plastic, and a skin made of a tough fabric with a waterproof coating. Many have integral air chambers inside the hull, making them virtually unsinkable.

The first workable folding kayak was built by Alfred Heurich in 1905, a German architectural student. Heurich paddled his creation on the Isar River near Munich and took out a patent on the design, called the Delphin (German: Dolphin), the following year. The Delphin had a bamboo frame with a sailcloth hull stretched over it. It could be folded up and carried in three bags, each weighing less than 4.5 kg (9.9 lb).

The folding kayak was made commercially successful by Johannes Klepper, whose factory was at Rosenheim, Germany. Klepper kayaks were very popular for their compact size and ease of transport. Klepper's Faltboot was introduced in 1906, many years before hardshell boats were commercially produced. Oskar Speck undertook his seven-year journey from Germany to Australia in the 1930s using folding kayaks made and sponsored by another manufacturer, Pionier-Faltboot-Werft.

During the Second World War the British and Commonwealth special forces employed "canoes" in the Mediterranean, European, and South-east Asian theatres. The special forces of the day (COPPS, RMBPD, etc.) had developed for them about a dozen state of the art "canoes" which were given the codename Cockle. These Cockles ranged from the Mk 1 early frame-and fabric 'folbot' type to the four man boats made of aluminum alloy; most were 'collapsible' rather than being boats that could be completely disassembled, as with modern-day folding boats. The Mk 2 could be collapsed but along its 15 ft length... to just c. 7 inches. This Mk 2 and its three-man Mk 2** were all of the same design and were designed by the same man—a Mr Fred Goatley. The Cockle Mk II was used by the RMBPD in Operation Frankton, the attack on Bordeaux in late 1942. There is plenty of documentation showing delivery of British canoes Mk 3's and Mk 6's for British Military in Australia and beyond. For the British led Operation Jaywick the British Mark 1 type canoes were used.

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