Background
After moving to a small apartment and being boatless for a while, I was starting to get the urge to get out on the water again. So: I needed a small, portable, easy to store boat to explore the many interesting waterways in my area. Oh, and it had to be built inside my apartment! A folding boat seemed like the perfect solution. You can read about the build here.
The build was actually finished around Christmas 2024, just in time for all the water to freeze over! So the folded boat was stashed somewhere out of the way, meeting its first design goal well.
Come March the weather was finally starting to warm up enough to start contemplating a launch - the first official weekend of spring was set as the launch date.
Launch day
Before heading out into the wild, a quick test unfold in the living room. A bit of creaking, but everything seemed ok. The walk down to the water was pretty uneventful. Navigating the stairs? Check. Walking a few hundred meters? Check. The boat was starting to feel pretty heavy by the end of that walk though, a few kilos less definitely wouldn't hurt.
Unfolding and assembly also went well, just a couple of minutes. There's definitely some room to improve this method as it's fiddly to get everything lined up, and it's happening inside the folded boat where you can't see it.
And then the big moment. The boat was very easy to pick up and place in the water. But then - disaster! The water was immediately pouring in. I was expecting a bit of leakage through the painted cloth hinges, but this was not that.
After pulling the boat out again to see what was going on I found a small rip on each side - right at the critical intersection where the panels meet in the middle of that boat. There wasn't any fixing it on the spot, but I wanted to give it a quick test run anyway. The boat wa re-launched, and since the water was rushing in I kneeled so that at least my butt would stay dry. The temperature was still pretty cold after all.
First impressions
It was great to be afloat again in my own creation. The boat moved along alright. Pretty swively, it was very easy to spin, and not that easy to keep going straight. The waterline length was a bit shorter than I was expecting. I didn't really do any maths on this, but I think the shape could be improved by having a bit less rocker. It's possible that the folding introduces a bit more rocker into the boat than "designed for". It would be possible to compensate for that by putting a spacer in between the gunwale halves.
It gave some pretty interesting handling, turning my body to the left would actually turn the boat to the right causing the opposite effect to intended. You really feel like the boat is a part of you.
Next steps
Well, I think it's time to give up on the bedsheet. I'm very happy that it doesn't leak when intact, but unfortunately it's just to prone to ripping. I've found some suppliers of PVC tarps, and I think the next step will be to replace some or all of the seams with this material.
A small part of me is already wanting to build the next version, but I should really use this one for a while to make sure I learn all the lessons there are to learn first.
Written on 26 April 2025