Ask HN: Plastics mfg’s that sell kayak?

4 points by yakytaky 4 years ago | 1 comment

I’m considering starting a kayak rental service in my local area and would like to price out purchasing boats directly from a manufacturer rather than a consumer sporting goods store (REI, Dicks, etc).

All of the plastic manufacturer I’ve contacted up to this point stated they do not produce kayaks.

Could anyone here help point me in the direction of a company that sells kayaks off of the production line, or in bulk?

I know this isn’t the usual HN type of question, but this is a pretty resourceful community. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

thorin 4 years ago |

I'm pretty sure liquid logic kayaks will sell direct in the US

https://liquidlogickayaks.com/

Also highly recommended is Pyrahna (UK based with US manufacturing) and Dagger

https://www.pyranha.com/

https://www.dagger.com/eu/en

Note these are not mass produced in the way wallmart kayaks will be, each one of them is individually finished by someone who makes kayaks all day every day and probably paddles them every day too, so you aren't going to compete on price. Kayaks used to be commonly sold through a dealer network, but that is changing now, partly due to competition from the mass produced, far east market.