OUR STORY
We are a small family owned and run business operating out of Trawalla in regional Victoria.
Rohan and Sandra have successfully operated a hang gliding training and flight harness manufacturing facility in the area for over 30 years. Outdoor activities have been a staple for them their entire lives having been involved in a number of outdoor sport activities over the years.
The establishment of the BakPakYak brand came about after a road trip around USA where Rohan and Sandra frequently crossed the Mississippi River. Rohan having re-read the Huckleberry Finn novels commented that a rafting trip down the river would be a fantastic adventure but the logistics of getting such a craft to and from the water whenever required might be a physical challenge beyond us in future years. During the rest of the trip Rohan put his mind to lightweight boat design having built fibreglass and folded sheet-metal watercraft in his teens.
Having a number of great rivers in Australia we decided we'd first try our hand on those before taking on the Mississippi. The quest for the best touring craft began. It had to be lightweight, carry lots of equipment and pack so small we could post it or take it in any car, train, bus or plane. Inflatable, hard plastic and composite watercraft failed on all three criteria.
Once home we assembled our camping / touring equipment and concluded one folding kayak or canoe per person would best suit our needs. All such craft available at this time had draw-backs, either too heavy, too complicated / fragile / hard to repair, limited or difficult access to luggage, too expensive, took too long to pack, too bulky when packed, sometimes all of the above. We clearly had to design our own.
Covid came along and all but destroyed our flight training facility as our customers could not attend to undertake training so we set about pouring hours into our folding kayak design. We commenced with 1/10th scale paper then 1/4 scale cardboard origami models, progressing rapidly to 1/2 scale thin corflute versions. At one stage we had sixty seven scale kayaks scattered around the lounge room. It took another 19 months, nine full sized prototypes and much testing before we settled on and copyrighted our 488T design.
All three of Rohan & Sandra's children have been involved in many ways during the commercialisation of BakPakYak with Michael continuing with the production side of the business. His qualification as fitter & turner has greatly helped with streamlining design and production.
We have already enjoyed hundreds of days on the water in our kayaks and hope that you will also love the freedom these craft afford.