How kayaks are made - pictorial tour of Native factory

[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.

[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/

[Salty Dog]

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

[Seasalt]

great post!

[Deadwood]

Thanks John, Very informative

[J.A. Veil]

Double post.

[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.

[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

[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!

[WST120]

John,

Great article! Thanks for sharing. Your article answered one of the questions I always had (but never asked). How did they get the bass fasteners inside the kayak so they could screw on the handles, etc?

Dave

[Steve]

Thanks for posting this. My Dad lives near there and I should come back East and visit both soon.

I recall back in the day - me being an old guy who was there - the polyethylene pellets were indeed more pelletized than what you describe as granulated sugar media. Fail rates were higher with thin areas and voids due to the fledgling industry. Lots of cut up kayaks.

Kind of like Thomas Edison using seaweed and fishing line to make light bulbs--HE DID! but he also got it right eventually.

[Cowpokey]

How kayaks are made - pictorial tour of Native factory

There was an TV episode of "How It's Made" a while back that showed how rotomolded kayaks are made, pretty interesting. Might be able to find it on the web?

[mweber02]

Great write up John. Looks like a very interesting process. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

[eyedaddy]

Thanks John that would be a great place to visit. Your presentation is Top Shelf!

[J.A. Veil]

Did they mention the typical number of kayaks they produce per day?

Sorry, but I did not get a good number. The output depends on orders and could include 1, 2, or 3 production lines as well as 1, 2, or 3 shifts per day.