How kayaks are made - pictorial tour of Native factory

[Yak Fish]

Loved it John! One of the best posts ever!
I'd love to have the word doc. You've got my email. Thanks!

[Goody]

A very interesting post. Great to see how they make the kayaks. How long does it take from start to finish to make one kayak?

Mobile

[J.A. Veil]

A very interesting post. Great to see how they make the kayaks. How long does it take from start to finish to make one kayak?

Mobile

During the tour we did not follow the exact same kayak from start to finish -- we examined several kayaks at different stages of completion. My guess is that getting one kayak from plastic powder to oven to unmolded hull to finished product would be 2-3 hours. Of course there is extra time (running parallel to the molding process) to make the seats and other fabric components.

[J.A. Veil]

Double post.

[Deadwood]

Thanks John, Very informative

[Seasalt]

great post!

[Salty Dog]

John, great job on the post. Must come from writing books.

[J.A. Veil]

I was surprised to see this 2014 post show up again. The rotomolding manufacturing process is quite interesting. Native's sister company Hurricane makes thermoformed kayaks, including two Propel versions -- one is sold as a Hurricane model, the other as a Native model. I have not witnessed the thermoforming process in person, but it involves placing a relatively thin sheet of ABS plastic onto a mold and then heating it. The sheet takes the shape of the mold. Last week I visited a large Native dealer in the Tampa area and saw one of the new thermoformed Slayer Propel 12 LT kayaks -- it looked sharp and was quite light. http://nativewatercraft.com/product/...-propel-12-lt/

[silasvirus82]

I'm so glad someone found this post, very interesting to see the whole process. I never realized these were made in my hometown state of NC either. Looks like a pretty cool place to work.