Clear Blue Hawaii - Not Entirely Transparent
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 04.19.06
Damn, and I was getting all excited there for while. Clear Blue Hawaii were going on about polyurethane being perfect for as the skin for the world’s sole transparent foldable kayak, and at 26 lbs (12 kg), the lightest too. Supported by a Carbon Kevlar frame system, the award winning Napali Kayak folds up small enough to fit into a hiking pack, yet gives the paddler a fish eye view of the watery underworld beneath them. Learning about the cost of $5,000 (including shipping) was a bit of a dampener. But discovering in the fine print that the shell was actually a urethane and vinyl mix was indeed disheartening. We shan’t be giving PVC products the thumbs up, any time soon. But they did manage a redemption of sorts, ....
.... by offering their Solarpac series. Think photovoltaic packs for kayakers. 3 products. A Voltaic lookalike day pack, a dry bag (more vinyl maybe?), and a solar panel that clips to the deck of a kayak, or over an existing daypack. Upwards of $200 USD a piece. All using the same 6 Watt CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide) Solar Panel, which is said to be able to charge mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players and GPS units. Though no indication if the adaptors are also provided. ::Clear Blue Hawaii.
I wouldn't be giving any thumbs up for urethanes, either. They're formulated from primarily formaldehyde. Nasty stuff, as well.
Clear Blue Hawaii's claim to be the first foldable with a transparent hull are not exactly accurate. FirstLight of New Zealand have been offering a transparant hull option for a number of years. However they also have a urethane hull.
Check it out at http://firstlightkayaks.com
It seems as if all modern folding kayak's are made from hypalon, polyurethane or PVC over a synthetic hull. The older method is it use a rubber coated canvas, but nobody seemes to make these today.
Well spotted Fergus. It was our understanding that the Napali is in fact made by First Light for Clear Blue. First Light do, as you say, offer the option of a clear hull, but do not offer the full clear deck. So for a kayak that one can see right through (i.e, both deck and hull) Clear Blue Hawaii's transparent claim would seem to be legit.