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Hyperform Lettmann design tandem kayak

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I’ve been looking for a project boat and I finally found one:

http://lancaster.craigslist.org/boa/4057947187.html

It’s in my shop.

1977 HIN, but in excellent condition, with very few bottom scratches; obviously stored inside and gently used.
16’ 5” long (197”) x 29” wide, with should give it a decent L/W ratio.
11 ½” deep at center, 14” deep at decks.
61.5 lbs before gutting, and I think I can take out 10+ lbs of excess.

I need to gut the hull of both seats, both sets of foot pegs/rudder controls and the split foam pillars under the decks. And some other things that were manufacturer-glassed into the hull. I think I can re-use the rudder controls and the pivot, but the rudder blade itself will certainly go – it is a massive chunk of thick stainless steel that is 14” long x 8 ½” wide. I now recall hearing something about the size and shape of Hyperform’s rudder.

It came with two 50” split-pillar float bags, two 33” split-pillar float bags. Even the float bags were clean and sound.

And two 210cm Kober Weltmeister Moldau paddles from the same era as the hull; wood one piece non-take-aparts with 90 degree of set – heavy (3lbs even), with aluminum bang trips, but the wood is very pretty, with some kind of dark veneer on the blades.

Other than some places where the veneer is chipped the paddles look like they were put in storage 35 years ago and never used. Even the varnish is in perfect condition. I have no paddling use for a 3lb 210cm paddle, but I’ll think of something.

If anyone has information about late 70’s Hyperform (Lettmann design) tandem flatwater/cruising kayaks I’d like to know more.
 
Your patience has paid off, looks like a sweet deal. I'll assume its proximity to Marysville warranteda gizmo and doohickey resupply to BMO.

 
Your patience has paid off, looks like a sweet deal. I'll assume its proximity to Marysville warranteda gizmo and doohickey resupply to BMO.

Conk, closer proximity than you think. I got lost coming home from Manhiem and ended up in Harrisburg all of 10 minutes from BMO.

But I was eager to get the boat home and take some weights and measurements, and I won’t know what gizmos and doohickies I need until I have the hull gutted.

I may not need much. I know I’ll want to add carry handles and bungee to the decks, and install a comfortable seat. I may just custom carve a minicel seat and add a removable Surf to Summit back band.

Now I have some real motivation to finish the 7 paddles I have hanging in the shop and move on to the next project.

I’d love to find a late 70’s Hyperform catalog or some archived information about the boat. I don’t even know what the model was called.
 
You going to make a single out of it?

I have a paddle that looks exactly like those Kobers. I got it from that old folding kayak company not named Klepper, whose catalog even in the 70's and 80's looked like the photos were taken in 1930's. Can't remember the name of that company.
 

That's it. And 30+ years after looking at their catalogs and buying their paddle, they now of course have a website . . . still with those anachronistic photos.

1951 white water clean.jpg


I like this photo ad a lot. It shows how much more liberated and innocent and fun paddling (and everything else) was during the post-War years. And I look rather dashing in the stern. Or maybe that's Mike.
 

Glenn

Ah, 1951, when bare shirted men and women in lingerie ran surprising drops in their Folbot.

It appears that illustration was done just prior to the invention of the PFD. I have a copy of a 1956 Red Cross book “Canoeing” with several dozen B&W photos, and I believe there are PFD’s visible in two of them.

The text alone in that Folbot cover made it worth printing and hanging in the shop.

Find me a 1977 Hyperform catalog and I’ll trade you a stylish Kober paddle.
 
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