This attractive Adhoc canoe packs down to the size of a backpack and weighs pretty close to nothing!
It’s time to face the truth: I am an eco-nomad. Although it’s sometimes challenging to live up to my fullest green fantasies on the road, I do my best, though I often miss having easy access to the recreational sports that reinforce my love of nature: I miss my Trek bike, which gave me so much joy in Arizona’s pine-lined mountains, and kayaking along verdant Alaskan shores.
Of course, it’s not impossible to enjoy these activities in other countries, but it is almost always more expensive to rent equipment than to bring your own. He may not be a nomad, but Israeli designer Ori Levin has created the perfect solution for a gal like me: an awesome canoe that folds down to about the size of a standard backpack!
Levin’s adhoc folding canoe has just taken second place on my list-of-things-I-wouldn’t-mind-having-but-probably-never-will. It’s light – only weighs 4.1 kilograms, which still wouldn’t put my 12 kg backpack over the airline weight limit, and it packs down really well. When fully erected, it measures 13x23x70.
The Adhoc won’t help me win any speedy competitions against hardcore paddlers, it is perfectly stable. The frame is made from carbon fiber, and the hull is made with aramid – a heat-resistant synthetic fabric used in racing sails (thank you, Designboom).
A nifty corner lock keeps the telescopic poles in place and a device that Designboom calls a “parasol mechanism” in the center of the canoe provides the requisite structure for the boat’s sides.
It’s not made out of oats (like these compostable shoes) or bamboo or any other super eco-friendly material, but I’d venture to say that Ori Levin’s new canoe has a much lower carbon footprint than the standard hard-body. Just sayin’.
More awesome Israeli designs featured on Green Prophet:
Axing Paper Waste and Nasty PET in One Fell Bio-Foam
Ashpoopie: Secret Formula turns Poop into Ash within Seconds
Piece-Meal High Heels Lets Wearers Design Their Own Shoes
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Ooh, I like this. 🙂 Red goes well with green…