Do you remember back in the late 80’s seeing some strange floating objects on the water. No? Its ok, you didn’t miss anything! This object was sailed or rowed by mainly German people. The boat was ugly and strange but it was foldable and was actually floating and that was the only good part of it. They called it Banana Boat, obviously because of the shape.

Usability is one thing design is another but  you have to combine both to have a good product. The banana boat had or better to say has (they are still in production) just one. The usability.

This week I came across two designers Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies who took folding boat concept to another level. They made a boat designed for lakes and canals.

The Foldboat is made of one single sheet of plastic and folds into an easy to carry pack.
 

There are two versions one which folds and one which flattens for easy storage and transport.

Conclusion: Foldboat has both usability and design.

Aleš

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This post was written by our friends from Sailvation.

Skippers situation...The charter holiday is coming up, a new cruising area, a new crew and again another boat type…. The excitement is huge but traveling to the base, packing, many questions from the crew, all that can be stressful and oh dear, better not forget anything… Usually the flight departs very early morning hours and after several hours you are finally at your destination…tired and exhausted.

New cruising ground, a new country, should I change the money at the airport or better later, and no sight of the arranged transfer from the import to the marina. Finally you arrive at the charter base!!! Many things need to be organized, first the paperwork needs to be done, provisions need to be bought for the whole week, security deposit or better a deposit insurance?, where to store the luggage until the boat can be boarded and oh dear, 35 degrees of heat and completely overdressed. The boat also hasn't been cleaned yet and the crew starts asking more question and anyway doesn't understand why it all takes so long to start sailing.

But finally the long desired moment comes and you can enter the boat. Oh no stop…first you have to do the hand over. Up to one hour long explanations about the function and usages of the equipment on board. The staff is in a hurry as they have to hand over another 15 boats and anyway they expect this all to be general knowledge.
All information about engine start, navigation instruments, sails, anchor, engine, fuses, electric panel, showers, toilets, etc etc, all this needs to be memorized..where again was the gas valve for the cooker?

It looks like an eternity until it’s all done and you can leave the harbor to start your charter holiday.

After many years of work at charter bases we witnessed this scenario over and over again….. That's how the Sailvation project was born. We wanted to find a way to support the charter skipper and make his life easier. So we found a solution to provide him with all technical knowledge, which is necessary to have a stress free and safe sailing holiday up front.

Our DVD's and technical handbooks allows you to get familiar with all the technical aspects of your charter yacht up front and in a quiet environment, at home in front of the computer or television. The DVD shows step by step all important points of a boat hand over. Our sample yacht is a Sun Odyssey 42, but can be used for other of the more popular choice boat models, like Bavaria or Beneteau for example,  as all information is kept general.

Enjoy a hand over from home in your mother tongues and refresh your existing knowledge. Or invite your crew for an evening and make them familiar with the boat and usage of the equipment as well. Very useful exercise...

For the ones who don't like to travel with a laptop, it is possible to download the Sailvation DVD on their iPhone or iPad (we do offer downloads for all those formats), or simply purchase the technical hand book with short text and 200 pictures about the onboard technical details.

Please also DO take advantage of our cost free downloads with all sorts of useful information about everything to do with your charter.

Make your charter easy and have a look at our shop at www.sailvation.com, where we also offer technical and troubleshooting downloads for free. A service for anybody who loves sailing.

Enjoy a stress free sailing holiday and sail safe with Sailvation.

We could tell you ... it's the toughest race on the planet ... 24 hours night and day..across 39.000 miles, 4 Oceans and 10 countries ... on the most advanced race machines in history ... coming soon