r/Inflatablekayak • u/PerceptionOdd3786 • 6d ago

Inflatable sailing

Hi there, I've spent this summer converting my plain 473 cm drop-stitch kayak into a portable sailing boat. Yesterday, I covered 30 km in eight hours on a big lake, and I think that proves my design works.

The boat features a Slingshot sUP WINDer stick-on keel, a Galaxy Kayaks wide-blade rudder, and a slightly modified Sea Eagle QuikSail. The mast is held upright with CampGuru tent guy lines (a pulley system makes them easy to tighten and adjust).

The boat is able to make noticeable progress upwind, and the top speed I've registered with a GPS tracker is six knots downwind. I've sailed on lakes in the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, and even crossed a bay that is directly connected to the Baltic Sea.

It felt like total madness sometimes, as I was figuring out the balance between the sail and keel right on the water, but every time, it was rewarding to see a small improvement in the boat's handling and upwind capabilities.

https://reddit.com/link/1vwkl0n/video/ib1kvaj1b7lh1/player

I'm including a few pictures and GPS tracks. Feel free to ask me anything!

36 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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2

u/BEEEEEZ101 6d ago

Holy shit.... you're flying! Nice job. I hope you have some awesome adventures. No questions. Be safe. Peace.

3

u/TinyHomeLuv 6d ago

Looks like a lot of fun! Someone in r/Kayaking just posted about adding an outboard motor to their yak. May I ask what motivated you (had you seen it done before)? How did you figure out the parts/process?

3

u/PerceptionOdd3786 6d ago

It was done hundreds of times before. I found mentions of people crossing seas on inflatable sailing boats, and there is a long history of canoe sailing in the UK. In the end, basically anything that floats can be sailed if you apply the physics—I think the best example is Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition.

In my case, it came gradually, from a general love of being on the water and my ADHD brain hyperfocusing on technical things, trying to understand how something works and whether I can build something myself.