Klepper was the #1 folding boat - or Kayak of the time. Expensive but
very fine German made folding kayak. Came in a one and two man version.
First one I ever saw was on July 4, 1969 out Chena Pump Road near
Fairbanks at the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers. A river
rafting contest was being held - from the start point on the Tanana down
to Nenana as the takeout point. A days float. A couple came driving up
in a Beetle, got out, took out two bags, and proceeded to assemble a
Klepper Aerius - two man - picked it up, set it in the water, and
paddled off down the river. I was fascinated. They made it look so easy.
And I was particularly impressed as to h9ow easy it seemed they could
paddle up stream. The Tanana is no slow river by any means.

In 1982 I bought my first folding Kayak. I still could not afford the
Klepper, but did manage to buy it's competitor, the Folbot. Similar at
the time to the Klepper, it was not so refined but handled OK. It used
wood frames with aluminum tubes for the stringers. The tubes were in
sections and could be broken down. The whole thing packed into two bags,
very similar to the Klepper. The quality of the Folbot at the time was
not so good as the Klepper, but I understand that today the quality of
the workmanship has improved considerable. Were I to buy a new folding
Kayak I might well get another Folbot.

BTW, the Folbot back then was made in Charleston, SC. I think it still
is. They have a web site.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

No Name Available wrote:

>Hi All,
>Back in the day, a long long time ago, in world, galaxies away....
>I started kayaking in what was called a fold boat.
>German made, I think?
>Fit into one or two small packages.
>Anyone on the list remember these?
>John C...
>
>In a message dated 5/27/2005 8:04:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>jefferrata@YAHOO.COM writes:
>Stephen wrote:
>
>
>>>Finally a question about kayaks, as we are heading
>>>
>>>
>to the North Country and a circumnavigation of Lake
>Superior (Jeff Earl...where's your travel blog?). A
>fellow Listee and I will be traveling with wives and
>young sons(one each). And we are discussing how many
>bikes and kayaks we should bring along.  The bikes are
>easy enough to carry. The kayaks aren't.
>
>
>
>