HYPAR - an Origami Kayak

[barnakiel]

You must know the feeling when you find something on the web that you have been carrying inside your head for a time ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ARTFItTh8M

https://www.hyparsmart.com/

I think the video is well worth having a look - this boat looks very light and quite small once folded - possibly a good choice for cruisers who like kayaking.

Cheers,
barnakiel

[Panope]

Interesting design, but in several shots while underway, the wake is seen to not break cleanly from the transom. Could be inefficient/slow.

Steve

[SailRedemption]

Check out the other company that does this, https://www.orukayak.com

I have been eyeing theirs for a while now. Very cool.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Panope

Interesting design, but in several shots while underway, the wake is seen to not break cleanly from the transom. Could be inefficient/slow.

Steve

This can be difficult to address within the design box. I think moving the seat forward could be a quick and dirty method. The stern is flat hence not much buoyancy there.

Canoe stern is the solution BUT then you do not get the extra stability that this origami kayak may provide.

Possibly as the production rolls out, there will be more than one size - which could address the fact that what is good for a 100lbs kido may be sub-optimised for their 200lbs parent.

I will have a look at the other kayak posted above now, wonder how they tackled the challenge.

Our friend here has an origami dinghy. Very good stuff.

b.

[Scout 30]

The Hypar appears to lack much directional stability. On the other hand the ORU appears to track straight as an arrow. I'm impressed but they are kind of pricey.

[mogulskibum]

My wife got the Oru Bay kayak last fall when REI had a big sale on them.

In a word: amazing.

In more than one word: It tracks really well, it's easy to assemble on the foredeck, and it quickly packs up and stores in the aft cabin. The only negative is that the cockpit is a bit rough for a taller, larger male with questionable knees to get in and out of.

The in-laws got one of the Oru Beack kayaks - with the wider stance and larger cockpit, it's a lot easier for me to get in and out of. But it doesn't track quite as well as the Bay (it's still *far* better than every single inflatable kayak I've tried) and is a touch slower than the Bay (but still faster than an inflatable).

I'm torn between the Oru Beach and holding out for one of these new Hypars - I won't lie, the sailing rig for the Hypar has me intrigued.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by mogulskibum

My wife got the Oru Bay kayak last fall when REI had a big sale on them.

In a word: amazing.

In more than one word: It tracks really well, it's easy to assemble on the foredeck, and it quickly packs up and stores in the aft cabin. The only negative is that the cockpit is a bit rough for a taller, larger male with questionable knees to get in and out of.

The in-laws got one of the Oru Beack kayaks - with the wider stance and larger cockpit, it's a lot easier for me to get in and out of. But it doesn't track quite as well as the Bay (it's still *far* better than every single inflatable kayak I've tried) and is a touch slower than the Bay (but still faster than an inflatable).

I'm torn between the Oru Beach and holding out for one of these new Hypars - I won't lie, the sailing rig for the Hypar has me intrigued.

How is it holding up to folding and unfolding. You would think the plastic would just bread after doing this over & over.

[mogulskibum]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

How is it holding up to folding and unfolding. You would think the plastic would just bread after doing this over & over.

They tested it to something like 10,000 folds before it failed - if you unfolded and folded it every single day, that would take over 13 years to fail. That part of it I didn't really worry about.

What I did worry about was gouges and cuts from sharp rocks, etc. After seeing it and using it, my worries on that front really diminished - it's very durable material. Your inflatable dinghy is probably more susceptible to a cut or puncture. Plus if you were to get a gouge, it would be insanely easy to fix.

All in all, I've been very impressed.

[barnakiel]

Yep. Some plastics can be folded thousands of times before they get weaker or fail. They are sort of like synthetic wood - hardly any work hardening.

b.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Anybody compared them to the take down, skin on frame kayaks? I know that there are a number of brands of those which have been around for decades. And when disassembled they fit into a couple of duffle bags. They've been paddled in pretty much every corner of the globe, including lots of spots with less than friendly waters.

[barnakiel]

I think they are very much like skin kayaks. Maybe faster to set up though?

I used a (wood) frame and skin kayak but it was at least 30 minutes to set up and maybe 60 pounds of weight or thereabouts. Possibly with today's materials they are faster to set up and much lighter.

I like the kayaks but cannot use them too much - by back hurts. But I may end up with an origami canoe of sorts one day.

I am super happy to see there are people out there who invent and re-invent such things. Each new iteration brings some extra value to us here.

Cheers,
b.

[SailFastTri]

I met a guy assembling an Oru Kayak on a dock in Tortola, and he said he's had it several years and loves it. He was on vacation and had shipped it as checked baggage. It looked pretty nice to me.

[mogulskibum]

I had a Folbot hypalon skin on frame folding kayak prior to the Oru. (Yeah, I've gone through a lot of kayaks trying to get the right one as I've also had two inflatable models.)

The Oru is far, far easier to assemble than the Folbot. I have zero hesitation unfolding and assembling it on the foredeck. The Folbot I always felt like I needed to fire up the dinghy and assemble the kayak on the beach - both because it needed more room to assemble, and because there were a lot of easily dropped pieces that I knew would eventually end up overboard.

Tracking wise, the Oru Bay is superior to the Folbot but the Beach is about the same.

Also: the indiegogo campaign for the hypar opened today. $550 USD for the first 50 sold, $750 after that. The sell count as of 17:30 EDT on April 19 is 32 of 50, so there's still time to jump in for the discount on the last 18.

At $550, I figured it's worth a chance and put my money in. Hopefully I don't get killed on shipping and/or the VAT exclusion covers the bulk of the shipping charge...

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by mogulskibum

Tracking wise, the Oru Bay is superior to the Folbot but the Beach is about the same.

I'm surprised to hear that ... my folbot tracks like it's on rails. But assembling it on the foredeck of a small boat would definitely be a troublesome exercise.

Having said that, once assembled it's a great boat. And served as my previous coastal cruising sailboat ... my current 27ft'er seems huge by comparison.

[mogulskibum]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

I'm surprised to hear that ... my folbot tracks like it's on rails. But assembling it on the foredeck of a small boat would definitely be a troublesome exercise.

Having said that, once assembled it's a great boat. And served as my previous coastal cruising sailboat ... my current 27ft'er seems huge by comparison.

I didn't say the tracking on the Folbot was bad, just that the Oru Bay was better

I liked the Folbot a lot. It just didn't work for our weekend cruising needs.

I actually expected to go back to one when we start cruising full time (when you're staying in an anchorage for more than two days it's not such a big deal to spend a bit more time and effort assembling your kayak).

And then we got one of the Orus, now I can't see using anything else.

Well, except for maybe this Hypar - and that's because of the sailing rig, which looks like a ton of fun to me...