Foldboat is a fully functional £800 boat

Remember the paper boats that we (and by “we” I mean people with pre-video game infested childhoods) sailed in puddles every time it rained? Well, this pair of design students from London’s Royal College of Art has created a life size version of the same concept that can be folded out in less than two minutes into a full-fledged boat that can actually cruise on the water with an adult inside. The brainchild of Arno Mathies and Max Frommeld, both of whom are studying for their Masters in production design at the institute, have created this fully functioning boat that actually folds out from back pack size.

Foldboat

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Foldboat

Foldboat is a folding boat that folds out from back pack size to a fully functioning boat in 2 mins.

Using only three components, the folding boat is fashioned from a single sheet of plastic that can be transformed into a rowing boat from a flat plastic sheet measuring 8ft x 5ft. one of the ‘models’ of the boats can be unfolded completely flat while another can be folded to fit inside a backpack and carried around. To go from sheet mode to boat mode, the creation takes just two minutes and a process involving three simple folds and placing a few clips to secure the sides. The boat comes with floating, waterproof cushions that double up as seating as well as safety gear and a pair of plastic blade-fitted ash oars.

The makers of the Foldboat claim that the boat is sturdy enough on the water to safely carry an average adult and the same sheet of plastic can folded and unfolded over 6,000 times making it one heck of an investment.

The flat-folding version of the Flatboat is created more for mass use and can be stacked for use by emergency services and boat hire companies on location and in flooding situations. At £800 a pop, the Foldboat costs pretty much the same as an average row boat though it does pay for itself in terms of what of save on transportation and maintenance costs.

Via: Daily Mail