VIDEO: TRAK Tough - The Story of Kayak #2535
“Are you bulls***ing me? I drove right over it… I drove right over the back, over the top, turned the wheel and backed right over it…”
What do you do with a kayak that’s just been run over by a truck? Well, the first thing we did at TRAK is thank the neighbour who drove over it. Then we sent it off to get reviewed by Adventure Kayak magazine:
“A week later, #2535 arrives on my doorstep… It looks brand new. I search the sleek red and white skin and find a faint tread mark on the hull.”
Here at TRAK’s home in Airdrie, Alberta, in the foothills of our awesome Rocky Mountains, it’s an hour from spectacular paddling in glacial lakes, down mountain rivers; it’s also cowboy country, and “built tough” pick-up trucks are the new horses – they’re everywhere. But they’re no match for TRAK Tough as Dennis found out when the trajectory of his truck aligned perfectly into our fully assembled kayak #2535 just outside the loading bay.
Just how did a 6,500 pound (3,000 kg) truck not destroy a “folder”? Well, the short answer is if the boat wasn’t a skin-on-frame, it would have been destroyed. TRAK’s Inuit pedigree – the concept of stretching a durable skin onto a rigid frame – means that it can withstand injury by flexing. Think travel luggage – soft case vs. hard case. Think coconut tree vs. giant redwood – in the face of a storm gale wind, what doesn’t bend, breaks.
TRAK’s frame is made of anodized aircraft-grade aluminum. The skin is military-grade polyurethane. The combination creates a virtually puncture-proof kayak construction. The combination makes for the toughest, most portable, most flexible, most seaworthy kayak that’s ever been made.
-Mercedes on the water of Lake Superior this summer in kayak #2535
Where’s #2535 today? Well, on the water of course, being paddled on Lake Superior by TRAK Pilot, Zack Kruzins and nature photographer and adventurer, Aric Fishman. TRAK Tough means it will be out on the water for years to come (even if another truck decides to challenge its fortitude!).
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