Portable Kayak Trailer

Portable Kayak Trailer Folding portable kayak trailers Kayaking is a low cost fun activity and is very popular in the US. Our product will focus on the following key features
1.

Over the last decade, kayaking market has significantly grown to include wide variety of kayaks ranging from as small as 5-feet kayaks for white water kayaking to as long as 24’ kayaks for long distance ocean kayaking. Although kayaks have opened a whole new world for the outdoor enthusiast, in our recent conversation with Prof. Michael Schill (who is a local kayaking enthusiast), we identified tw

o issues. These issues highlighted the extent to which a person is limited by transportation requirement for kayaks.
1. Kayaks launched in rivers like James River require pick up services on the downstream end of the launch. One way this could be resolved is by taking a car upstream to launch and then leaving another car downstream however the limitations are that two cars are needed and both the cars need to be equipped with kayak racks. Other way is to have someone provide drop off and pick up services. This process could be inconvenient if river is far away or if there are no pick up services available.
2. Some places where the closest parking spot is far away from the launching spot require the kayaks to be physically transported. This could be a challenge when kayaks are heavy or are over 15’ long. These situations could be specially restricting for parents of young kids. We believe that even though several solutions are available, none is particularly feasible to support the free spirit nature of the kayaking/canoeing activity. Provide hands free transportation of kayaks and canoes. Great for parents who wants to either carry kids in arms, hold hands or just carry some other gear/paraphernalia with them
2. Provide a light trailer that could be easily and quickly folded in small backpack. The backpack could be easily carried in a small kayak without the need to carry the trailer back to car.
3. Provide a mechanism to tow single or multiple kayaks/canoes behind a bike so that cars could be parked downstream and kayaks could be taken upstream.

12/06/2012

Professor Jeremy Hutchinson-Krupat testing trailer inside Darden's main hall.

12/04/2012

Demonstration of trailer strength

12/04/2012

Feedback on trailer by random people on the street - 2

12/04/2012

Feedback on trailer by random people on the street - 1

12/04/2012

Demonstration of trailer carrying 2 person, 14 foot kayak

12/04/2012

Demonstration of flexible joint

12/04/2012
12/04/2012

Connecting the shaft to the rear axle and front mount.

12/04/2012

Orientation to trailer components

working prototype
11/14/2012

working prototype

11/04/2012

Friday Nov 2: We unleashed the free spirit of kayaking which, as we know, has been limited by the inconvenience of transporting kayaks. It started with a scouting trip to local Lowes on 29 North to scope out what was available and how could that be used to build a user friendly, light, portable but strong trailer. After the trip, the team reconvened to final brainstorming design session. Suffice to say that it was it was difficult to communicate and understand the concepts on two dimensional papers. After much deliberation, we agreed on the design concept and prepared a list of required materials

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100 Darden Blvd
Charlottesville, VA
22903

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