Oru’s most compact, lightweight and fastest-to-assemble kayak, the Inlet will also be its least expensive
All the excuses for not owning a kayak have just been erased. Oru Kayak, the makers of the original origami-inspired kayak, directly tackled weight, carry and setup with the company’s newest and most innovative kayak design to date, the Inlet. The Inlet most notably features an all-new origami folding pattern that allows the kayak to be intuitively folded from box-to-boat in under three minutes. The Inlet also boasts the lightest-weight and thinnest-fold profile of any Oru Kayak — at just 10 inches wide, the inlet is small enough to be stashed under a living room sofa or stacked 3x in the trunk of a standard compact car.
To achieve the Inlet’s unheard-of specifications, Oru worked out an entirely new origami folding pattern, the first completely-new folding pattern since the company was formed in 2012. Developed by Oru Founder and Chief Design Officer Anton Willis, the new folding pattern produces a significantly streamlined box-to-boat assembly that eliminates many of the loose parts found in other Oru Kayaks. Notably, the Inlet features Oru’s first fully-integrated floorboard, enabling a more intuitive and speedy assembly. In a handful of simple steps, Inlet owners can now be on the water in less than three minutes; 75% faster than past Oru kayak models.
Oru’s new folding pattern achieves more than just speed, it also maximizes spatial efficiency and reduces overall weight. When fully assembled, the roomy Inlet is 10ft long, 31-inches wide, and weighs just 20lbs. When not paddling, the Inlet neatly folds into a compact box, similar in size to a guitar case (40”x18”x10”).
For Willis, the Inlet represents a dream come to fruition: “This boat represents what I always wanted for Oru: kayaks with intuitive and quick assembly, great stability, an affordable price, and unbelievable portability. I strongly feel that the Inlet is as close as we’ve ever come to building a product that breaks all the common barriers to boat ownership.”
In an ongoing effort to make on-water recreation accessible to more people, Oru paid special attention to the Inlet’s price tag. At MSRP of $850 (or $699 for a limited time on Kickstarter), the Inlet is Oru’s first kayak ever to be listed under $1000, and is notably $450 less than Oru’s currently least expensive model.
Primary image courtesy of Taylor Glenn.
