Blast from the WAY past (1974 perhaps), my father-in-law who is 90 years old wants to sell his Kleeper Arius II. It really is like new, all the parts down to the little Kleeper flag, booklet, benches/backrest- skin in tact no sign of dry rot, has been kept inside a house ALL these years.
He’s used it ONCE- just once. CRAZY! Is there a market for these? Location, Space Coast Florida.
Originally purchased in Denver, CO
Yes – there is but new folding kayaks are available from Klepper, Butterfly, Nautiraid and Trak and possibly a few others. So pricing is the key. And you never posted a price.
For the highest quality “big boats” today the new retail pricing is going to be around $3500 to $5700 and buying one that is 50 years old would certainly drop the value to some extent from that level. How much I don’t really know, but I import and sell the Nautiraid kayaks and canoes, and one of about the same size (17 foot+) goes for about $3700 new, ( + or - some $$, depending on features, a rudder or lack of one, materials it’s made out of, inflatable air stabilizers and so on. )
If you hold out for top dollar it usually takes more time to sell then if you drop the price. No different then homes, cars, power tools or snowmobiles. So you should post a price and understand the way to go about it is to try local sales FIRST and if you don’t sell it then post it over a much wider area, knowing that the cost is going to have shipping costs added, so that effects the level you can reasonable ask for someone to pay for it AND to pay for shipment to their address As a rule such a package takes around $240 -$350 to mail or ship across the country. So for sales over more then about 200 miles away, and maybe up to 3500 miles away, a Top Dollar Value goes over the top when shipping costs are added.
If you don’t get any interest inside a reasonable time, PM me and I may be able to help you sell it. Maybe I can put you in touch with some people that may want such a kayak. Even if I fail it can’t hurt a thing to put the word out.
I charge nothing to help with contacts.
Thanks so much for your in depth reply! Honestly, I just want it to go to someone who might appreciate it. While I appreciate the engineering of it, I like my kayak simple, I just want to dump in the water and go. It really is pretty cool and amazing to see put together, hopefully it will find a home.
Good suggestions from szihn. I would add that you should be sure to spell the maker name correctly: “Klepper” (not “Kleeper”) to assure that any folder afficionados don’t miss any posted ads when you get them on line.
There is a market for these – unfortunately the main folding kayak forum closed down several years ago (I bought and sold several through it myself). But there are several Facebook groups for folding kayak fans and that would be a good place to post what you have.
Here is a link to one “Folding Kayaks” in which I am an active member. There are often members seeking kayaks for sale:
Thanks Willowleaf, just a typo- I’ll change it.
