SOF SOT

Advice
#1

I’m looking for a skin-on-frame sit on top but am having a hard time finding anyone who makes one

#2

I am sure you are.
As far as I know no one makes one. Not ever aware of any true commercial SOF boat manufacturers.



There are custom builders, schools a couple of us that offer kits and that is about it. I have never seen a SOF SOT. I hear people talk about building one but I have never seen one.

#3

Cape Falcon
Brian at Cape Falcon was thinking about making one but I don’t know that he did - he got sidetracked into making wacky SOF surf boats. You might think about modifying an existing SOF design (a Yost maybe) with a SOT type cockpit - then you could be the first to have one…

#4

They sell them at
the wooden bicycle store.

#5

wouldn’t that be…
Wouldn’t that just be a framed inflatable kayak? Not sure if Aires uses frames, but they came to mind first.

#6

it was working
I just want you to know, it was working

#7

SOF SOT
Making the hull would be easy enough. I have no idea how you’d make the deck though and I’ve built a bunch of SOF’s. Would I think need to be a composite boat with a different material for the deck.



Bill H.

#8

skin on frame SOT
How about the Feathercraft Java or one of their other SOT’s? Combo frame with partially inflatable skin. Pricey but I’ve heard it outperforms many rigid boats and it’s completely portable (as in pack it up and take it on a plane.)



I’ve owned a couple of Feathercrafts (regular sit-ins) for a while and can vouch for their quality, durability, performance and customer service. And the boats are 100% hand made in their shop in Vancouver (I just dropped in to check it out when I was visiting there on vacation last week – they even loaned me a new model I’ve been eyeing to use one morning paddling around the city docks!)

#9

The Airis
is completely frameless, instead having a “woven” inflation chamber (for lack of a better term) that allows you to inflate the boat to a ridiculously-high PSI and makes it nearly as rigid as a hard-shell boat. Even without the frame, though, this would be my vote for something that might fit the bill. I had one briefly a couple of years ago and it was a great boat, but I ended up selling it because it turned out to not be quite what I was looking for. It was also kinda slow, but the newer models are longer and seem sleeker, so that has likely changed.



Otherwise, I think the closest you’ll get to a SOF SOT is the Feathercraft Java or Gemini. Or the Uno, if you can find one; it’s a smaller version of the Java that is no longer made.



Also, Feathercraft, Nautiraid, and some other folding kayak manufacturers make tandem boats with a very large, open cockpit area (so that the seats can be configured for either solo or tandem paddling). These may work, too. I had a Nautiraid Grand Raid which was almost like a SOT as far as ease of getting in and out.

#10

I Am Sure…
some of the SOF builders will be spurred on by this “challenge…” I would love to see how they deal with the scuppers. :wink:



Anyway, If I see another scupper pro TW for under $500, I would be on that in a heartbeat rather than trying to build one. Having build a couple of Greenland SOFs, I think the money (around $250-$300 per boat) and, more importantly, the time involved would not make it “cost effective.” (Speaking as someone more interested in using the equipment than building/making it.)



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