We are Moving

Sales of high end composite boats have been declining for some time. Competition from Asian composite, rotomoulded plastic and thermoformed kayaks and the shift in the economy have all contributed to this decline. Over the last few years it has become obvious that we need to change our business model. Our annual sales have now declined to the point where it is no longer feasible to continue in our present location with its high overhead costs. As a result, we are now in the process of relocating our workshop from Maple Ridge to Quadra Island. This will take place over the next few months. Once established there, the number of kayaks built will be a small fraction of what we previously built. The end result is that if you would like one of our kayaks I would recommend ordering it while we can still build it in Maple Ridge as it may be some time before I restart production on Quadra Island.

Along with this change we are reducing the retail price of our single kayaks to $3,800 for a glass boat and $4,595 for a Kevlar boat. We will now also be able to offer an even lighter weight version of our Kevlar kayak which incorporates a layer of carbon fibre in the laminate. You will save about 2 pounds on our already light weight, high tech Kevlar kayak. This kayak is primarily made of Kevlar with only the outside layer in carbon. In fact it probably has even more Kevlar in it than any of the competitors' Kevlar kayaks. Not all Kevlar kayaks are created equal.
We do have a couple of newish boats to introduce. The older of the two is the Ice Kap. Its slightly more voluminous cousin is the Illusion. Both boats are available with our version of a skeg. What is interesting is that we have determined that placing the skeg closer to the centre of the kayak rather than more towards the stern still allows the paddler lots of directional control with the paddle rather than just stiffening up the tracking. Both of these boats are available in the United States from Sterling's Kayaks . How this came about was that I had almost finished the design of the Ice Kap a few years ago but wasn't able to find the time to complete it. So Sterling Donalson came up to my shop and helped fair up the plug and then built himself a set of moulds. Sterling has since modified the original version a few times based on paddler input. After a bit we discovered that folks would like more volume in the same basic concept so the Illusion was developed.  In the picture below you can see the Illusion

 

And here are some pictures of the Ice Kap