Kayak Noise - Artist Boat

Artist boat gets kids paddling....

Team Ocean Kayak's Jeff Herman in cooperation with Necky Kayaks have donated a Necky Chatham 16 to Artist Boat. ArtistBoat.org is a unique nonprofit in Texas that has literally taken thousands of kids kayaking to learn about coastal margins and coastal eco systems. The Chatham will be raffled to help raise money for Artist Boat and is on display at the legendary Mod Coffee Shop in Galveston.

Kayak Noise - Lots going on

Busy Times in R/D.....

It's that time of year we are full on with lots of new projects. We are cutting boats out on the cnc machine, making prototypes and doing test paddles. This is a great stage of development as each project is up and running and starting to take shape. Some things are working and other not so much and we have to rethink. We always have more ideas than we can actually get done. So quiet often it is about sifting through and trying to pick the best.

Each person in R/D gets to head up projects and see them through to the finish. But everyone gets to throw there opinion into the mix on every project. So no one is doing designs in a vacuum.


One of the new projects is a LV Elite. I'm trying to keep all the great parts of the Elite just in a smaller package. So it will not have as much packing space but this compact version should be really lively and fun to paddle. It has a slightly smaller fit so should be good for med to small paddlers.

Kayak Noise - Caves

Paddling in Caves....

Alex Matthews Kayaks the Caves and Arches of Port Renfrew, BC from Alex Matthews on Vimeo.

Kayak Noise - The Office

The Shaping Room....

This is where it all happens the shaping room. For most boats even if we cut them out on the CNC machine we still do the last bit by hand. With hand shaping you can smooth out the lines and refine the shape in a way that is difficult on the computer screen. We set up the room with adjustable lights to show up the lines of the boat. The room is painted a neutral color and sealed up to keep the dust in.