Dragonworks?

I was thumbing through the Canoe & Kayak buyers guide, and I noticed this company for the first time called Dragonworks Kayaks. It looks like a small outfit: no website, only two models (one being a high volume variation of the other). Does anyone know anything about this shop?

nope
but it’s strange how many tiny independant boat makers there are. i’ve seen wierd ads for kayaks called ‘extreme interface’ made on Vancouver island (where CD, Necky and Seaward are all from) and noone knows a thing about them. it’s an odd business…

Agreed,
It’s probably the same sort of thing. FWIW, this outfit has apparently been around since 79, so they must be doing something right.

Extreme Interface
http://www.extremeinterface.com/



interesting boats. I’ve paddled them a bunch at the West Coast sympo. not sure how deep their distributorship is.



steve

Maine area?
I believe they are in the Brunswick Maine area. Their hull is a British stlye boat and might be skegless. It was reviewed years ago by Seakayaker magazine and then the hull was named the “Islander” Both of their boats are the same hull, just different decks for different volumes.

Islander?
it was Dragonworks that built this boat. Ed something? They sold to Lincoln Canoe for a while, but are back at it? wow.



I paddled the original Islander and then the ME (medium entry) a bunch back in the late '80’s early '90’s.



it is skegless and quite nice. It’s alot like the Wildy Sealution. cockpit aft of center, thin in the bow, bunch of rocker and 22" beam. pretty dated now-a-days, tho.



steve

Dragonworks Islander
i paddled this boat (Islander) years ago, when it was manufactured in Maine and sold at LL Bean or by the builder himself. it seemed well put together but i found it a bit of a dog with regard to hull design. it was slow underway and sluggish to turn. it didn’t have a skeg back then … i know nothing of the current design however.

I haven’t seen them
at all in this area in some time, but I also have seen them listed in the buyers guide so assumed it was still them.

Not CD
>>i know nothing of the current design however.



NO not a Current Design. they’re made by We-No-Nah.



:wink:



steve

Any chance
that who ever owns the hull rights is just having them built to order and most likely by Lincoln?

that’s
what I thought was happening. at least it was, tho I was @ Lincoln in March and don’t remember seeing the Is.?



steve

That Extreme Interface…
Looks a lot like an Azul Sultan.

Do companies have to pay
Canoe and Kayak magazine to be represented in that buyers’ guide section? If not any chance that Dragonworks is long gone, but never got deleted from the guide as I haven’t seen them advertise or promote them here in the North East in recent years. The last one I saw was being paddled on a nearby lake a couple of years ago and the gentleman said he picked it up for something like $700 from LL Beans as they just wanted to move it.

They had an ad on the same page
There was a small ad on the same page for Dragonworks, Inc. Something about being expedition proven since 1980, made in Maine, etc. So they’re definately not gone, but the outsourcing idea sounds feasible. No email or web contact info was given. I can’t imagine a business not capitalizing on web exposure in this day and age. Must be one definately old school guy running that shop. I wonder what their build quality is like.

wenonah
ya know steve, as i was typing that i thought of the same thing and almost retyped it. then i figured, nah … nobody will get that. good on ya.

or maybe Azul Triumph…
Designed by Barry Bezaire, owner of Extreme Interface…