Kayaks are a lot of fun on the water, but they come with one drawback — their size makes them difficult to carry and problematic to store for many people. That changes with the Oru Beach Kayak, which can be folded into the size of a large duffle bag. Once folded, you can fit it easily into any car, store it in any closet — and even check it on an airplane.
The ingenious, origami-inspired design features one large piece of corrugated plastic that can be folded thousands of times from a box to a boat. Yet on the water, the folding kayak performs comparably to boats of similar size.
The company claims it takes only three minutes to go from folded to ready to paddle, and at 26 pounds, it’s half the weight of most kayaks its size. The boat is 28 inches wide, 12 feet long, and offers plenty of stability on the water. It can hold up to 300 pounds and features an open cockpit with a comfortable backrest and footrest — in fact, apart from the lightness of the boat, you’d be hard pressed to differentiate this boat from any other kayak.
$1,175, orukayak.com.
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