My thoughts about the disappearance of North American Kayak Manufacturing

 It's been a few weeks since I heard the news that a mainstay of the Kayak Touring World was shutting it's doors. Seaward Kayaks formally announced that they were ceasing operations in a social media post on August 14th. Personally, I know the heartache the Seaward family is experiencing. This is not a business you get into to get rich. It is a business that will tie you to an existence that is truly hand to mouth and getting ahead is a fantasy. Let that sink in, because what I have to say will be upsetting to some.

It was a post in the Strictly Sea Kayaking group that got the most attention and response. In that post the author, Nick Schade, opened a hard conversation that needs to be had. The paddling community has opinions, and they are all valid even if a bit misguided. Below is the text from that post.

"Another one stops production.

North America used to have dozens of great sea manufacturers, making excellent, high performance sea kayaks. Now there are just a bare few left. Why is this?

Composite kayaks are all handmade, one by one. It takes skill and time to make a high quality boat. Most of the original manufactures were started in garages by folks who were passionate about sea kayaking. They built boats as a labor of love and were willing to make sacrifices for a lifestyle.

But, the price paddlers are willing to pay for a high quality boat is now not enough to pay competitive wages to the folks building them. So, as the original builders age out of the business, new folks aren't coming in to take over. 

Every boat builder that has disappeared or stopped making high quality performance sea kayaks has its own story about why they stopped, but if paddlers want to continue to have access to new and exciting sea kayaks we are going to have to get used to paying more for our toys. Nobody will make them if they can't earn a living doing it."

The Response

There were three basic responses that were the majority of the sentiment shared. 

• Composite Kayaks are too expensive. The sport is out of reach by most due to the high cost of the boats and necessary gear.
• Seaward designs were out of date
• Sea Kayaking is a dying sport

The Hidden Costs to develop a design

Let me dive into the cost aspect. This is a subject I know extremely well. To bring a new design to market, it is going to cost "X" in dollars. I'll use the figures I have, but please know that it will vary a bit for a variety of reasons.

To transfer a design from a concept to reality follows a few steps. A Plug must be built in order to build the mold. This is a representation of the shape of the kayak in full size 3D. There are a couple ways of transferring the design from paper/CAD to reality. The old method is to cut a set of forms in order to sheathe them in wood strips. Just like you would when building a wood stripped kayak. That takes time, roughly 200 hours for the rough shape to be ready for final finishing. At the cost of $25 per hour (internal labor rate) you are looking at $5000 just to have the rough shape of a kayak. Thats no hatch recesses or cockpit, no compass recess. Then, the modern "features" are added to bring the plug closer to the desired finished result. Time to add these features, another 30 hours. Then the surface of the plug must be prepared for molding. The process doubles the invested time or more. It all must be done by hand to ensure the surface is perfectly fair. It takes what it takes in order to get that desired shape and it can't be rushed. The entirety of the plug surface can be primed and sanded four or five times to ensure it is right. A top coat is applied when the surface is ready and the fun starts all over again. Sanding the top coat at least four times with finer and finer sand paper, prepping for the next step. The top coat is buffed to perfection and it is ready to mold, right? Not quite. Total time invested, roughly 500 hours and about $5500 in materials for a total cost to the company at $18K

The other method is to CNC cut a foam block. It's faster and extremely accurate. It will save time and labor, but the surface prep is the same as the wood strip method. The cost to cut a plug ranges between $12-18K for programming, cutting time and materials. In the end the plug will cost slightly more than the wood strip method and will typically cost about $22-25k. 

Then molds must be made with the new plug(s). Using the latest and greatest release agents to ensure the mold and plug will separate will take a day or two to apply. There is no chance for error in this step. It can not be rushed. Then you can move into the mold building phase. This is fresh in my memory as I just got quotes for mold construction here. For one deck and one hull mold, the cost is $18,000. Need more, multiply that cost. Now that the molds are created, the total invested is up to approximately $38-43k. Then you need molds for the coaming which will add another $4-5K to create. 

Then prototype kayaks must be built and tested. Provided everything goes well, the design should be ready to hit the market. To get to the point of being able to start producing a kayak, the company has spent about $60,000 when everything is accounted for. Keep in mind the labor used to get to this point is not generating revenue for the company either. It is overhead cost that must be covered and easily almost doubles the investment through un-monetized labor. 

If a company producing a composite kayak makes $1200 profit off of each, they will have to produce 50 kayaks before they see a single dime of profit. 

So, for someone to say that the designs were out of date, they do have a point. The construction of the kayaks is a more accurate assumption. Still today, most composite kayaks are hand laid. In order to modernize the construction to Vacuum Bagging or Infusion, new molds must be created with wider flanges to facilitate the switch. The capital required to make that happen is huge and very prohibitive. Companies are often severely restricted with lack of capital and can not change course to keep up with the times. The number one criterial discussed with potential customers is weight. It is no longer a "nice to have" and more of a requirement. When a company has been building kayaks using the traditional method, they are going to eliminate themselves from a major portion of the buyers due to weight. They are caught in a circle of needing sales to raise capital in order to adopt new building technologies. It is a no win situation. 

Sea Kayaking is Dying?

No, in spite of all of the "optimism" (insert sarcasm here)shared in social media, Kayak Touring is steadily growing albeit slowly. It is the slowest growth of all of the sub genres of paddlesports. The trouble is that we compare EVERYTHING to the 90's when Sea Kayaking was booming. These were the glory days! Reports I have received about the various symposiums and gatherings in the US has been very encouraging. Most have wait lists and are fully sold out. To me, that is a metric we need to be paying attention to. 

Kayaking is cost prohibitive and too expensive to attract new paddlers

When we priced out our models for sale, this caused the most anxiety. Yes, we were going to be at the top end of the retail cost scale. Truth be told, it was less of a worry that I had it made out to be. Here is the truth. If a person wants to get into a hobby, the will find a way to afford it!!! It does not matter a persons age or income, they will find a way. Below are two examples of hobbies that make me think I got into the wrong business. 

Cycling...... Another reference to the cycling industry, right? In particular, mountain biking or MTB. This is something I have direct experience in. There is no shortage of young riders in their 20s and 30s riding $5-7k mountain bikes. Here in Richmond Virginia, you can't throw a rock without hitting a rider on a high end MTB with the latest and greatest riding gear on. Follow them to their car and they will load it onto a Kuat or 1up bike rack that set them back nearly another $1k. The difference here is not cost, it is accessibility. So the argument that Sea Kayaking is too expensive only needs to look at the MTB scene for a reality check. 

The venerable Toyota Tacoma..... This one is my favorite comparisons. The average age of a Tacoma owner is young. In a recent survey on the Tacoma World web board 16-25 was the largest age group followed by 26-35. Both categories were individually more than double the count of every older age group. So, it is safe to say age16-35 is more than half of the total number of responses. With Toyota selling over 250,000 units per year, it is safe to say the younger ownership is substantial. A enthusiast will spend $45k on a new Tacoma TRD and within a year, replace the suspension, wheels and tires. The popular suspension systems range from $2500 to over $4000. A wheel and tire set will set you back another $2500. The latest trend is Overlanding which will require the upgraded suspension. A Rooftop tent and Rack system will set you back at least $3500. The list goes on and on. So, how does the average Tacoma owner afford a $45K truck and then another $20k in accessories? They find a way. They prioritize.

We in North America are addicted to convenience. How the hell there can be two Starbucks within a mile and a half on the same F'n street is dumbfounding! A good friend of mine has a podcast and is in the health and fitness space. His most memorable quote is, "We are never more brilliant at any time than when we are justifying our own bad behavior" We are so lazy, that we make a coffee run in the morning, every morning and pay our hard earned money for a coffee based drink that is robbing us of our health. Or, the stop at a fast food for a morning breakfast that will cost $10 or more. If someone says they can't afford something and is stopping at Starbucks five times a week, they have a problem. This applies to almost every aspect of our lives as consumers. We consume what we want, justify it and complain about not having money, rather than buying only what serves us as a need. If we really get honest about our wants and needs, kayaking would not be so "expensive". Yes, kayaking is a "want" to most, "need" for a few. 

So, why are North American Companies disappearing?

Here is a tid bit that most don't know. Some European Kayak Companies receive subsidies from their government. This helps keep their cost low so exporting them is possible and affordable. We, in The US are on their own. I've looked into grants and other avenues for some assistance. There are none. The hoops required to get even small grants are so numerous, that it is a full time job to just get your name thrown in the hat. Build kayaks, or go after free money? Can't do both, there are not enough hours in the day. So, we must make it on our own. 

The capital required to start a kayak company is one thing, to scale up is another. This is a place where we are with Turning Point Kayaks. Scaling up a business that makes a hand built product, is extraordinarily  hard. The rate of return is poor until you can get to a level that the volume makes up for the poor margins. The distance from start-up, to that point costs hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment. I am at that point and looking at the rate of return, it does not look good. I have held on due to sheer will or stupidity depending on the point of reference. Will I ever get the money and time I have invested? How many Kayaks will I have to build to get to that magical place where things get more profitable? I've done the math and if I took it to a financial advisor they would laugh me out of the room. I will never forget a comment by my departed friend Russel Farrow. I was loading kayaks and he came over and said, "I heard you are striking out on your own". I replied yes. His next statement is the part I will never forget. "You don't plan on getting rich in the kayak business do you?". I replied that all I wanted was to make a comfortable living. I said that 9 years ago and I am not there yet.

It takes a skill that is rare in order to build a composite kayak. No matter how it is built, the skill required is rare. The more proficient the builder is, the more valuable they are. Except in the kayak business. The price of a kayak prohibits competitive wages for the people who craft them. Here in the US, depending on location minimum wage is about all a shop can afford. For example, Portugal is the home of the largest composite kayak manufacturer in the world. The average income is 11,104 euros as compared to EU average of 21,268. Now compare that with average income in the US of 69,392 usd (59,981 eros) and the difference is insane. Kayaks built in Asia have similar labor costs. How are we to compete? At Turning Point, we have 40 hours budgeted for the build of a single kayak with an internal labor rate of $25 per hour. With our competition paying a quarter of what we do here, the difference is obvious. We train our builders and provide a valuable skill. That person can take that skill to aerospace or marine sectors of the composites business and make two or three times what they are making building kayaks. In Richmond Va, the income required to purchase a home is just north of $100K/yr. The average rent is more than 50% of the median monthly income. It becomes easy to see the challenges we face as small businesses to recruit and retain quality employees. Eddyline Kayaks left their home of Washington State, citing unsustainable operating overhead and skyrocketing cost of living for their employees. Manufacturing went to Mexico while corporate offices relocated to Bentonville Ar. I do not find fault with the decision, it was a business choice that was necessary in order to survive. 

Marketing, messaging and social media. Words I would love to forget. I come from the era where quality is recognized and you could charge appropriately for it. Now, we are competing to be the lowest price to capture ever smaller and smaller sales numbers. The sales numbers are being diluted by cheap, often knock off kayaks produced overseas. The slick marketing campaigns on social media are hard to ignore. I've watched brands come and go, often leaving their customers with substandard products and a bad impression of the sport. How are we, as reputable companies supposed to bring those people back into the sport? We don't because it is too expensive to reach them. Example, the Brooklyn Kayak Company. Oh, a US based company right? Nope! The reviews pretty much paint a company set up to do one thing, separate unsuspecting new kayakers from their hard earned money. The reviews are mixed and the company has a bit if a reputation. How does a reputable company compete with the vast amount of social media bombardment from companies like this? How would anyone regain the trust lost after getting less than what they paid for or non existent customer service? 

Here is another example that makes my blood boil. I will not name the company, but its easy to figure out. A big slick marketing campaign was launched by a well funded company. The focus was on sustainability in the materials used to build the kayaks. The capital they obtained was from their home government under the guise they were launching a company that was focused on natural materials. The reality was much different though. There was a big push with YouTube channels to get favorable reviews and it was successful up to a point. They also distributed kayaks to some of the big Facebook group moderators to also win favor with them. I saw this company at a trade show. Something was not adding up. The retail price and the cost of materials did not mesh, not even in the same ballpark. I opened the hatches and was overcome by the smell of styrene. Bio Resin does not have styrene. Only Polyester or Vinylester have sytrene. So, it was a lie. The visible "green materials" used in construction were bathed in a toxic slurry of good old fashioned polyester resin. Then it got worse. One of the Youtube reviews went south and one kayak was damaged severely. It was apparent that the kayak only had decorative skins of Flax and the heart was good old fiberglass! Later it was learned that all of the kayaks were not being built by the company and were contracted by a company in Estonia. They said nothing publicly and later came out saying all production was moving in house. I ran across a 2024 model last winter and it still wreaked of styrene. All of the kayaks that were sold in the US in 2022 and 2023 were not what they said they were. We as a community were Green-Washed. We were lied to and customer trust was damaged in the industry. I am not sure if they lost funding, but the company was seeking private investors a few months back through social media posts. 

Kayaking, in particular Sea Kayaking is a sport of solitude. For me and many others, it provides a quiet place to focus on one thing for a brief time. Social media is the antithesis of why so many enjoy the quiet that kayaking provides. Do you want to know what people in the business talk about among themselves? The dumb shit they observe on social media. The arguments, gaslighting, projection and utter narcissism on full display through the anonymity of a keyboard or phone. It is not the harmonious environment one would think given the emotional and physical benefits that kayaking provides. In the grand scheme of things, paddlesports is a very small community. Opinions often get repeated by unaware people and that opinion becomes a "thing" very quickly. Kayaking is like a small town. You can't do anything without the whole town knowing.  Do that same thing in a city of 1 million, nobody knows anything about it. Kayaking is like the small town, except we've given the loud speaker of social media to everyone. Bad advice given by well meaning people becomes more than it needs to be. Things like "composite kayaks are easily damaged" and "composite kayaks are too expensive" all become "things" we as small companies have to address over and over. In fact, most knowledgeable experts in the industry do not post or give advice on social media. If they do, they are often trolled by a self appointed expert with an axe to grind with the world. I have done my tour of duty on Social media and am now withdrawing from anything kayaking in order to have some balance in my life. My knowledge that I have worked so hard to obtain should not be free. I've been trolled, I've been called many different things in comments and even endured a expletive laced tirade by a person on the phone an a Saturday afternoon. My company was born on social media, it grew because of it. Now to withdraw is a weird place to be. Between this post and one other I have written, they will be my last. I will have to figure out another way of growing the company away from where it was born. 

So, in the end, companies like Turning Point are on the verge of extinction here in North America. The deck is stacked against us and any business expert would argue that it is not a viable business to participate in. The margins are too thin and the risk is extremely high. THEN you pile on all of the "stuff" mentioned above, there is no wonder we are dying. 

My hope is that the wounds heal for the Seaward Family. They did it right. They built really well made kayaks that are a staple of many touring companies. They treated customers like family. It is my hope that they all find success and continue their love of kayaking. Thank you for being Seaward and showing us how it is supposed to be done.