Backsplash V2 Plans

This boat is designed for those who want to explore lakes and rivers which can't be reached by car - or those who like to combine hiking and paddling trips. Boat can be folded together and attached to backpack system and carried like backpack. Backpack frame can also be folded and stored inside boat or stored as one piece on back deck.

Packrafts has inspired me, but I haven't even tried one. Paddling during hiking trips has fascinated me for a long and I started to think about homemade solution. This boat works as backpack during hiking and even overnight gear can be stored inside the boat, but I recommended to pack light.

I buil prototype from 4mm ply - it is ok for daytrips but a bit heavy for overnight trips. I ordered 1.5mm plywood and I try to build another one as really light. 1.5mm ply is really flexible and some parts need extra reinforcement, but it looks interesting. Boat buil of thin material would not be so solid, so it has to be treaded more gently. I think that boat built from 2mm ply would work as extreme hiking boat - 3mm from all round boat and 4mm as day tripper.

When carrying boat as backpack it feels first a bit back balanced, but you get used it quickly.
I recommend pack heavy gear near your back. I made overnight trip with lots of gear and
it was super fun.

I like how it paddles - it's not a long sea kayak, just have to remember not to try paddle it too hard. It is short kayak and it goes fine its speed - extra force just gets you tired up quickly.

It needs two sheets of 2-4 mm plywood + half sheet of 9mm ply for cockpit ring ( cockpit ring can also be build from leftover ply parts by gluing together several layers, but for simplicity I recommend to build it from 9mm.

Cordura is good choice for backpacks fabric. I also used strong "mesh fabric" on backpack, but cordura is also ok for all backpackfabric parts.

Plans include printable 1:1 patterns. Print these patterns to thick paper and remember to set print scale 1:1 while printing these pages! Plans are available on both A4 and letter formats.
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Now Available - a new, bigger Backsplash called BigSplash
Bigsplash is bigger backpack kayak. It can carry 15kg more load compared to original BackSplash.

Use BackSplash plans to build parts which are not shown on the BigSplash supplement.

Plan supplement includes printable 1:1 patterns. Print these patterns to thick paper and remember to set print scale 1:1 while printing these pages! Plans are available on both A4 and letter formats.