All original material copyright 1997-2011 Michael J. Edelman unless otherwise noted. No material may be reproduced in any form without express written permission of the owner(s).
Site last updated January 20, 2011
There are a number of Russian-made boats being sold by various dealers, and a lot of folding boat fans are curious as to the quality and value of these boats. Most were originally made as military boats, although a great many were sold in the civilian market, too. I'm gathering all the information on a single page to make it easy to compare information about different boats and dealers. To begin with, a short introduction (Information and pictures courtesy of Konstantin Abramov of NERIS, Inc http://www.neriskayaks.com) who started as a maker of replacement skins for Russian boats, but now built their own, complete folding kayaks.)
The most popular and common models are from Taimen (Tamien refers to the name of a large fish). Taimen has been making the "Salut" model in a Moscow military factory whose main product is actually military helicopters, which explains in large part why these boats are so durable. These kayaks have been in production since 1975, and during those years they have not had not any serious changes made to them.
The frames are made from high strength duraluminium tubes. The original skin, as supplied by the factory, Konstatin describes as being made from "elephant rubber fabric" - a material characterized by high weight, poor quality, lack of durability, poor repairability and so forth. etc. The factory is reportedly not very interested in making a better hull fabric as the boats are a cheap item, and a new skin would raise the price. Many buyers prefer to replace the factory skin with a new custom skin; there are a number of private companies who supply skins made of PVC and simnilar materials for $130-$140 US.
The Taimen folding kayaks come in 2 and 3 person versions Specs as follows:.
2 person kayak 3 person kayak 5 meters/16'5" 5.7 meters/18'8" 85cm/33.5" 88cm/35" 250kg/551lbs 375kg/827lbs 24kg/53lbs 29kg/64lbs $300 US $350 US A few pictures of the 2 and 3 person Tameins with aftermarket skins:
Here's a typical Tamien double with an aftermarket PVC hull in red. And the same in yellow. You can get a good idea of the frame construction from this shot. Note the ladder-type floorboards. Very strong, though a bit fussy to assemble. And a red boat with yellow spraydeck. The Tamien triple. That's a big boat. A typical folding kayak outing. Konstantin tells me there are perhaps 4,000 or 5,000 of these boats in private hands throughout the former Eastern bloc. A used Tamien- Adam Grzegorzewski, Poland:
"I come from Poland and I am an owner of Russian double folding kayak called TAIMIEN. I bought it almost brand new 4 years ago in Poland (somebody bought it in Russia). It has an aluminum skeleton, deck made of impregnated cotton and open cockpit. I don't have any manual and specification for this kayak, so I am not sure what material was used on hull. It came with rudder and aluminum paddles. I was on several kayak trips with my wife and we can say that it's a good construction and for sure it's worth the money we spent (it didn't cost a lot, approximately 250 USD). We always carry in this boat lots of things and the Taimien is very roomy (there are lots of space between the persons inside kayak, so the camping equipment is easily accessible). It's stable but at the same time slow (but we just don't care about this last parameter, enjoying the splendor of the nature doesn't have to be on fast speed). We paddled mainly in Eastern Poland on lakes and rivers but last summer we paddled Lemmenjoki River in Finish Lapland (near Inari Lake). We had to carry lots of things with us. The terrain over there was completely uninhabited and our Taimien did a good job."
I had been looking at your folding kayak pages and realized that I could travel to St. Petersberg and bring one back with me, since I travel there on an irregular basis. I looked at Triton's page (with some Russians who could translate it for me) and they suggested that I try and visit the factory/store (with someone who could speak Russian) on my next visit. I figured I could afford 360 USD for a folding kayak, but the Kleppers sold here start at 30 000 swedish crowns, or a little under 3 000 US, and were a little too much for me.
We managed to squeeze in a visit the last day (I flew out that afternoon). The person driving didn't have too much trouble locating the shop based on Triton's map, and once inside it looked like a fairly neat (and new) shop. They also had paddles, wet suits, and flotation aids for paddlers. No one spoke english (except for my friends) so I asked questions via them. I ended up buying a Svir N (partly because it is imported to both Sweden and the US) and I was looking for something for lakes here, though I will probably try it on the baltic eventually. The N model has inflatable sponsons, but they also sell a Svir without (for 30 dollars less). We put two double (Russian) paddles in the bag, along with a pair of spray skirts. The kayak was 360 USD. They didn't take Visa, but I could pay cash (rubles) at the current exchange rates. I imagine greenbacks would also work but we were out and you can take out rubles at the ATM.
Transporting it was fairly painless. It went crosswise in the trunk of the Lada we were driving, which is better than in my VW passat, where it has to go at an angle. Misha (who was driving) had to leave me with it at the first x-ray machine, but a travelling companion helped me carry through customs. The customs woman asked me what it was, and I just said 'It's a baidarka' (which is the Russian name) and she waved me through after x-raying the bag. She asked a little about currency, but we hadspent everything.
We were taking SAS 733 back to Stockholm, and there were two of us in business class. Even with the boat, our luggage only came to 54 kg and there was no problem checking everything. No comments or complaints.
Once at Arlanda, we walked through the green line of customs and they didn't even stop us.
Since I had bought it on my last day, I hadn't had time to get the manual translated. After an enormous amount of trial and error, some pictures of it we found on yours and Igor's web site, and some time spent with a Russian/English dictionary, we managed to get it assembled (I think even correctly). Not quite sure about the 10 small metal rods and nylon straps, but I used them to tension the bottom of the kayak against the frame. None of my tubes were color coded, but it wasn't really necessary. We put it in a nearby lake and it worked just fine!!
Some hints to anyone that wants to try and duplicate this:
1. Make sure your Russian is good or take a Russian friend with you.
2. Get a little folding wheeled cart to put it on to get from the first x-ray machine at Pulkovo to the customs and then the check-in counter- or- be prepared to carry it on your back -- it comes with shoulder straps and a hip belt.
3. Explore some of the lakes and streams north of St. Petersberg instead of rushing home like me! If you do this with a Russian friend you might learn how to put the thing together.
Jonathan wrote again recently to tell me that the Triton factory can be found at http://www.yarva.com. The web site is in Russian, but Babelfish translates the address and contact information as:
Russia, 192102, Saint Petersburg,
Volkovskiy the rest, 146, Corp.. 1, office 224
from metro"Elektrosila" avt.e', tram. 15,43 to ost."Volkovskiy so on.")
Tel./faks: (812) 269-4330, 269-4291, 268-0504
e-mail: triton@triton-ltd.ru
URL: http//www.yarva.com
|
||||||
| You can donate a dollar (or more) via PayPal to help keep the site going. If you donate this way, everything goes direct to web hosting- no cash to me. It just helps pay my hosting bills. |
|
| You can buy Folding Kayak merchandise at Cafe Press |
By buying kayak books through Amazon you help to defray the costs of this site. Every book you buy generates a small dividend for this web site, at no cost to yourself. (See the Books page for specific kayaking recommendations).
And for home builders- here's a great resource:
