In 2010, a 12-year-old boy was walking home from school when he saw a strange-looking boat in a pile of garbage at the side of the street. The boat was long, double-ended, and surprisingly light for its size. It was covered with some kind of fabric, like the upholstery of an automobile seat. Underneath was a spindly wooden framework. The boy dragged it home, in desperate hopes that somehow an outboard motor could be mounted on it to make it go very fast. The boy’s dad is a cabinetmaker in Fort Pierce, Florida, and was known to perform minor miracles in the realm of things that were important to 12-year-old boys—but he could not invent a way to put an outboard motor on a fabric-covered sea kayak. So, they loaded it into the pickup truck and brought it to me, at Riverside Marina Boatyard.I instantly knew what it was, as the Folbot name-plaque was still affixed to the cockpit coaming. But what it really was, was a basket case. The fabric covering was worn, torn, and poorly applied. The hull was covered with what looked like gray Naugahyde; the deck with green fabric of the same type. The sheer clamps were riddled with hundreds of tiny bronze ring-shank nails holding the fabric in place. The framework was made of spruce longitudinal stringers over plywood frames with a plywood keel plank. Many of the stringers were broken or missing, and the frames were damaged with rot pockets and what looked like very large rodent bites. The wood around the fastenings was suffering from metal sickness. The bronze nails and screws holding everything together were little more than yellow powder.The kayak was old. And big. And clearly meant for the garbagemen. It was beyond rescue—and yet I couldn’t quite bring myself to break it up and toss it in the dumpster. Because it was also beautiful—a very far-gone piece of functional art. The model was Folbot’s largest two-person expedition kayak—an early model, from the late 1950s or early ’60s. The fabric covering was certainly not original. I eventually stripped the fabric off the frame, and broke the frame into its two halves, where the Folbot kit pieces were joined. All the stringers and the bottom plank were attached with screws and butt-blocks so that the boat could be reduced to two sections about 8′ long.
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Beautiful, nice work!
Your kayak looks so nice. Wow, so much work! It’s something I would like to do, but this is the Folbot I have today.
https://forums.wcha.org/threads/old-canoe-with-the-serial-number-0672.19742/
Back in 1977 I bought a Folbot Super kit, which is what you have here, At the time you could get it as a folding boat or a kit for one which was rigid but couldn’t be packed in bags in the closet. I was living in Ketchikan, Alaska, and put many miles it.
The boat came without a rudder, but you could buy a sail rig for it. This had a thwart which clamped across the front of the cockpit to support the mast and to hang the leeboards from. If I recall correctly, there was a tiller which hooked into a yoke at the top of the rudder which was pulled or pushed fore and aft.
The seats were plywood. The backrests were hinged to the frames so you could sit on them instead of being down inside the boat. I made use of this feature most of the time when weather permitted as it was more comfortable. I was working for the US Forest Service on the Tongass N.F. at the time, surveying roads on Prince of Wales Island. I sailed up from Naukati to our camp at El Cap and used the Folbot there. When we were transferred to the Whale Pass camp my crew helped me portage it across to the road system and then trucked it to camp. Later, I sailed it back to Ketchikan with my two huskies on board. That trip took three days with camping along the way.
Thank you for rejuvenating your Folbot, and the article which unleashed many fond memories!
Nice save!!
A beautiful article, thank you very much for sharing this, Reuel. I picked up what I believe is an already assembled Folbot Super a few years back from a gentleman that was moving to Japan for work; he couldn’t take it with him, for it can’t be disassembled. It is an enjoyable boat to paddle, it can carry a lot of gear with a total capacity of 660 lbs (boat, paddlers, gear); mine had a small sticker stating 300kgs capacity. Also, it sails well. When its skin eventually gives up the ghost I will do what Reuel Parker did with his. Thank you again, from the wet coast of Canada.
You tempt me so! I do not have a Folbot, but I do have ratty Chuckanut 12s from Dave Gentry that I have thought to redo in cedar strip.
I own an intact vintage Folbot of the same design, which I bought several years ago for a song. It is complete with the sail and rigging, including mast, rudder, twin daggerboards, paddles, seats, etc. The rudder mount was broken, so I had a metal worker create one out of stainless steel.
The vinyl fabric is intact, and seaworthy, though it is definitely showing its age. I have seen your boat published before, but not yet with such an extensive write up. Kudos, your boat looks great!
I had planned to reskin mine in a similar fashion last year, but I ended up building a new bathroom and master closet on my own house instead. Perhaps I will get to it this year!