What will the future of kayaks and kayaking look like? I for one go for much lighter kayaks in general. Having built well tuned Skin On Frame Greenland style kayaks as light as 10kg gives a whole other meaning to the characteristic “responsive”. So, the question is, will we all get more into building our own kayaks or will there be new and better materials to mass manufacture from? Will manufacturers ever get to make kayaks on-demand, just right for you? Is 3d printing the way or do you get AI tuned drawings from ancient hunting kayaks?
I would have guessed current AI would make far better Greenland kayaks, but alas, they fall apart both in text descriptoions and images as of writing, 2022/2023. See images below.
Only time will tell, but I know that I’ll be out on the water enjoying whatever kayak I’m paddling, if I built it myself. Maybe you want to build one for yourself or prefer letting me build it for you with your own specifications?
The Skin On Frame building style is the classic Greenland Inuit way of building a hunting kayak. The frame is made out of wood and the fuselage was then covered with seal skin. It might sound harsh and un-vegan but they hunted for sustenance and thus survival. The kayak was made as a quick, sleek and stealthy platform to keep one’s harpoon and other hunting tools.
So, what parameters could we dream up today to possibly have in 125 years?
I would go for a non-sticky surface (for water). Charge electrically to repel? Yeah I know you need an opposite charge, but still… Maybe “sharkskin”?
Hard or soft shell (like Carbon/Kevlar or SOF)? Inflatable with tubes? Drop stitch inflatable? Built-in motor to quickly get to your kayaking spot and safely home if the weather turns on you?
Maybe the tide will turn (pun almost intended) and we will all go to fell some trees, chop up the wood with a hatchet, hunt some seals and make just about everything ourselves?
The prompt for the image below was “print an east greenland kayak with measurements”.
