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Anyone have an Oru Kayak?

M

MichVandal

Well-known member
Thanks to the pandemic, we are now RVers, and with all the small lakes we have in Michigan, having a kayak would be pretty cool. But being RVers means space is a big problem. The age thing means weight is also a an issue.

So we are looking into folding kayaks (aka origami kayaks), and of the two companies that do that, Oru seems to be the best. Finally spoke to someone who owns one, but I'm also looking to see if anyone else has one and how they like it...

We are looking at getting either two Inlets or one Haven (two seater) and when I add all of the costs up that comes out to almost the same thing.

If you are wondering what I'm talking about- https://www.orukayak.com/

I'm hoping that some of our contributors from Minnesota have tried these things- you have a lot of small lakes, too.

PS- I'm aware of the other portable kayaks out there- skin on frame and inflatable. Our needs combine to need a folding one.
 
We got an Intex. definitely not meant to take on a hike. Little slow in the water since it's not fiberglass, but we like it. Stable on the water as well.
 
dxmnkd316 said:
We got an Intex. definitely not meant to take on a hike. Little slow in the water since it's not fiberglass, but we like it. Stable on the water as well.
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Intex? Or do you mean Inlet? If it's Intex- do you have any more details of what that is- as I've not come across that in any of the portable kayak searches we've done.

If it's Inlet, we don't intend to hike with it- just use it at the close by water bodies.

edit- never mind- I just did a search to see that it's an inflatable. As we learned about those early in our travels, they were less than appealing.
 
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Huh. Can't say we've found any reason to dislike them so far. Same with my sister-in-law and her husband.

what didn't you like about them?
 
dxmnkd316 said:
Huh. Can't say we've found any reason to dislike them so far. Same with my sister-in-law and her husband.

what didn't you like about them?
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Weight mostly. They tend to be about twice the weight of the foldable ones. Getting old sucks sometimes. You even mention hiking is a pain.

Looking into them a little more- there are three types- the cheap basic blow up ones, a mid rage that has a bladder, and the expensive ones that are well made. the first and second have some significant drawbacks, whereas the third are the same price as the Oru's but significantly heavier.
 
MichVandal said:
We are looking at getting either two Inlets or one Haven (two seater) and when I add all of the costs up that comes out to almost the same thing.
Click to expand...
When my retired parents got their kayaks (non-folding), they asked the outfitter about tandems. He replied, "I won't even sell 'divorce boats' anymore."

Get two singles!
 
Kepler said:
No but this made me read up on them and now I need one.

Thanks, Obama.
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So to be more open, there's a second company that also makes folding kayaks- https://foldupkayaks.com/ but they seem pretty cheap. Then again, you can get two for the price of not even one Oru. And in some ways, the TuckTec seems better- a lot easier to clean since it's a smooth sheet, and water can't get into the corrugations of the coroplast. Seeing some updated videos, they have addressed some issues- like the clamps come apart during use due to the cotter pins not being able to really hold the clamps.

Right now, we may get the Oru Inlet at REI, but we have some time before deciding.
 
MichVandal said:
Weight mostly. They tend to be about twice the weight of the foldable ones. Getting old sucks sometimes. You even mention hiking is a pain.

Looking into them a little more- there are three types- the cheap basic blow up ones, a mid rage that has a bladder, and the expensive ones that are well made. the first and second have some significant drawbacks, whereas the third are the same price as the Oru's but significantly heavier.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, the Intex Explorer K2 we got feels fairly well made and at less than 20% the cost of a Oru (I think i ended up getting it on sale for under $100), it was an extremely good deal.
For the weight, I can carry it myself. With two of us it's no problem.

The ONE thing I don't like is that being so wide (and stable!) is that you have to keep the paddles up to not hit it. Minor inconvenience compared to spending 10x on a nice traditional kayak.

Obviously I don't think I'll talk you out of the Oru, which is fine. Get what fits you best :-)

LynahFan said:
When my retired parents got their kayaks (non-folding), they asked the outfitter about tandems. He replied, "I won't even sell 'divorce boats' anymore."

Get two singles!
Click to expand...

Lol, we got the K2 tandem. I can see where it gets the name, but once we got the hang of it we had no issues.
 
walrus said:
Buy an Old Town and be done with it.
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If we had space, and strength to get it on an off our Escape, a hard kayak would have been bought a long time ago. But when going camping, having that is really hard to do. Which is why we looked into an inflatable first, and now are very interested in a folding one.
 
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