City dwellers with small apartments and limited storage can now own a kayak that folds up into a suitcase-sized package perfect for toting on your bike or public transit. The Oru Kayak originally debuted on Kickstarter in 2012, and every few years since then, they’ve released an updated model, with their lineup including the casual Beach LT for day trips, the Bay ST for longer days and the Coast XT for rugged conditions in surf and wind.

Earlier this year, they returned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a limited edition design in collaboration with 1% for the Planet with a custom green tree print, and now, they’re offering another limited edition: the United by Blue style.

The Oru Beach LT Kayak: United by Blue edition has all the same features as the standard Beach LT, but with the addition of a seamless graphic print in either orange or navy blue. The collaboration is a natural fit considering that United by Blue has spent the last few years organizing volunteer ocean and river cleanups using Oru kayaks, and lots of urban kayakers donate their time on the water in a similar manner.

The origami-inspired folding design of Oru’s Beach LT folds from flat and compact into a standard-sized kayak in under five minutes, while the more complex models take 10 or 15 minutes to assemble. As anyone who’s ever owned and transported a kayak can imagine, the ability to fold such an unwieldy object is a welcome innovation, especially if you don’t have a garage or basement to store it in, or a vehicle of your own. But the design isn’t just for newbies – it was made for everyone from the weekender to the fisherman in mind, for short trips or multi-day excursions.

Get your exclusive UBB x Our Kayak Undercurrent Pack at the United By Blue website, or check out the other offerings at OruKayak.com.

You can’t exactly fit a canoe through a narrow staircase in an apartment building, let alone take it on the metro, so for many sporty city dwellers, owning one may seem out of reach. Many canoes are so bulky, you can barely find enough space for them in a suburban garage. Playing with an origami canoe made of paper one day, Ghent-based designer Otto Van De Steene wondered whether a similar folding method translated to a sturdy, seaworthy material could help him get out onto the water more often. The result is ‘ONAK,’ a portable canoe that folds down to the size of a suitcase.

Working at an outdoor recreation store, Van De Steene had seen plenty of other portable canoe designs that he found lacking. “You have the canoes that have really good performance on the water – they’re fast, but they’re quite heavy and take an hour to assemble. Nothing to do in an evening after work.”

The Oru folding kayak had recently debuted, offering an intriguing possible solution, but Van De Steene thought its corrugated plastic construction could use an upgrade, and chose a custom-made polypropylene for his own design, explaining that it’s lighter and stiffer, improving the boat’s performance. About ten times as strong as standard polypropylene, the honeycomb-core composite material is also highly durable and fully recyclable.

“By making hundreds of paper models and fifteen real prototypes, we also refined the design of our patent pending hull. This was a huge challenge due to the limitations of origami. We opted for a narrow and fast canoe design that keeps its momentum very well, while still being delightfully easy and stable to maneuver for beginners.”

The Onak may not fold down quite as small as Oru, but putting it on wheels makes it easier to haul around. From its compact 47”x15.7”x10” roller case, it expands to 183” long by 33.5” wide, and can carry about 440 pounds. There’s enough room inside for two adults, a child and gear. The process of assembling or packing up the portable canoe takes about ten minutes.

With just a couple days left on its Kickstarter campaign, the Onak has met its goal, but you can still snag one for significantly less than retail cost if you back the project in time. It’ll sell for about $1450 with two paddles once it hits the market.

Sailing along in a canoe or kayak is an excellent way to spend an afternoon outdoors, but have you ever thought of everything you’re missing in a conventional boat? The solid bottom prevents you from seeing some of nature’s most amazing creations that exist in the water on which you travel. A transparent canoe or kayak, however, would give you a whole new perspective on the watery world.

(all images via: See Through Canoe)

The see-through canoes/kayaks are even lighter than their wood or aluminum counterparts. Being made of the same material that is used to make bullet-proof windows, they are tough enough to withstand even the most brutal of conditions. And just like the glass-bottomed boats of years past, these transparent vessels let you see what is directly beneath you in the water.

The canoe version weighs only 40 pounds and provides 100 percent visibility on all sides, including the bottom. You can check out the aquatic life below you as you wait for fish to bite, or simply take a long and luxurious tour of a lake to see characteristics of the area you’ve never before been privy to.

The transparent kayak is even more portable – at just 26 pounds, it is light enough for nearly anyone to transport. And best of all, it folds up to backpack size, making it ultra-portable. Of course, it is also transparent to allow you to check out all of the underwater features as you paddle along.

The only downside to enjoying a day out on a lake, river or lagoon in a kayak is that while you can take in all of the beautiful scenery above the surface, you can’t see underwater wonders like fish and coral. But transparent kayaks and canoes give you the best of both worlds: unencumbered views both above and below.

Molokini by Clear Blue Hawaii

Described as a hybrid canoe/kayak, the two-seater Molokini by Clear Blue Hawaii is made of durable polycarbonate, the same material used to make bulletproof glass and jet canopies. The Molokini comes with dual flotation bladders and a removable lightweight aluminum frame system. Tests in Oahu have confirmed visibility on a sunny day and in non-turbulent water conditions reaching up to 75 feet below the surface of the water.

Foldable, Inflatable Clear Kayak

Not only is this kayak entirely transparent, it’ll also fold up small enough to fit in your backpack. The one-person kayak is capable of carrying up to 300 pounds and unlike the clear canoe, can be used in ‘challenging’ water conditions.

Clear Floor Kayak

This slightly less pricey option combines the looks of a conventional folding kayak with a clear floor that will still give you beautiful views of the water below.

Smokin’ on the water… that’s how hot these cool canoes, krazy kayaks and bodacious boats are! It’s amazing what a little tech know-how and a vivid imagination can do when whipping up wild watercraft. Here are 15 that’ll really float your boat.

Pedals, Not Paddles

(images via: Life In The Fast Lane)

Trampofoil, Hydro-bike, HydroSlide, Hydrothopter, Aquaskipper? Any of these ring a bell? They may not exactly be commonplace but these odd names indicate that the field of human-powered watercraft is a wide one indeed. In many ways, these spindly contraptions recall the early days of powered flight: jury-rigged construction, home craftsmanship and in many cases, every finished model unique unto itself. Here’s a video of the Aquaskipper in action:

Folbot Refuses to Fold

(images via: Atcha6 and J.R. Burch)

The name Folbot is familiar to most anyone who read a comic book or magazine sometime in the last 50-odd years. In fact, Folbot has been producing and selling their iconic folding boats and kayaks since 1933. Sturdy, lightweight and with decades of incremental improvement behind them, Folbot is a hydrodynamic success story in every way.

Canoe Say Chopsticks?

(images via: Pink Tentacle and InventorSpot)

Wood was the original building material for humankind’s first boats and Shuhei Ogawara, who works in the Fukushima, Japan, city hall forestry department decided to go back to basics when designing a home-made canoe. Ogawara added an environmental twist to the concept, however, by using only discarded wooden chopsticks from the city hall cafeteria – 7,382 of them! The result is a snazzy-looking canoe 13 feet long that weighs 66 pounds. No telling if an hour after launching, Ogawara wants to build another canoe.

The Glass-Bottom, Sides & Top Boat

(images via: Clear Inflatable Kayak and WanderMelon)

Ever dipped a clear glass in a swimming pool? See how it virtually vanishes? Now imagine the glass is an 11-foot boat – and you’re inside! Constructed from lightweight aluminum tubing and clear polycarbonate plastic, the $1500 Molokini is rated at 425 lbs carrying capacity. Sailing over tropical reefs in one of these must be like scuba diving without getting wet.

The Saga of the Sleeping Beauties

(images via: Modern Mechanix)

Motorised Submersible Canoes (MSC for short) were developed by Great Britain’s Royal Navy in World War II. Essentially a one-man submarine no larger than an average canoe, the so-called “Sleeping Beauties” were used in daring raids against Japanese shipping in captured ports such as Phuket, Thailand. Though the operators were equipped with scuba gear, piloting one of the battery-powered subs just beneath the ocean’s surface for up to 40 miles must have been a miserable experience.

Solo Submarining

(images via: Elite Choice and Innespace)

Consider the Innespace Dolphin and Seabreacher to be modern descendants of the wartime Sleeping Beauties. Both craft – the Dolphin is slightly smaller – are driven by a rear-mounted electric motor and can swim, leap and perform limited acrobatics like real live dolphins. One wonders what actual dolphins think of Innespace’s robo-Flippers… all this writer can think of is a certain scene from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

The Corvette Corvette

(images via: Elite Choice and Serious Wheels)

The Corvette Stingray was named after the corvette, a “a small, manoeuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft,” and the stingray, a marine vertebrate related to sharks. Now Bo Zolland has doubly returned the compliment with his stunning 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Boat Design. The boat features gullwing doors and can be ordered with a choice of engines including 496 HP or 502 HP Mercruisers, an LS-9 marine or a Volvo Penta Diesel with up to 550 HP. Seats 5 and would look fairly amazing on a trailer behind an actual ’63 Vette.

Fresh Sea Air

(images via: Flying Inflatable Boats)

Like a little air with your sea, or vice versa? You get plenty of both with the Flying Inflatable Boat, or FIB as it’s called at the company website. The FIB is one of those inevitable inventions – once the concept of ultralight aircraft was proven and standardized, extending the idea to create a flying boat just seems obvious. What better way to explore far-flung tropical islands, pop in to isolated fishing spots, conduct search & rescue missions or, as the company website recommends, “fly into your favorite restaurant”… which hopefully isn’t on the upper floors of a Manhattan skyscraper.

Walking On Water

(images via: WaveWalk Kayaks and Webshots Outdoors)

Kayaks are not normally recommended for the balance-challenged but the innovative WaveWalk kayak puts a new spin on things. Evoking the stable design of the much-larger catamaran, WaveWalk kayaks are so stable they can be stood up in and fished from – a trick even the Eskimos did not know.

Guitar Boat Plays Sea Sharp

(images via: Walyou and Zimbio)

Say you’re an Australian singer who’s looking for a new angle for a music video, and you’d probably be Josh Pyke. The strummer created a larger than life replica of his favorite guitar and starred – aboard the seaworthy axe – in the video for his song “Make You Happy.” Since you’re probably wondering what the guitar boat looks like in action, here’s the video:

Josh Pyke’s “Make You Happy”, c/o Ivy League Records

Wood Too Float

(images via: JeffBridges.com)

If boats can fly, cars can certainly float… Ted Kennedy may have been wrong about that but Jeff Bridges has hit the nail on the head with a series of custom carpentered car-boats. WHY he does this is unknown, though as an attention-grabber it’s hard to beat a floating Ferrari.

The Spider That Ate San Francisco

(images via: Fun President, Lectronic Latitude and SFGate)

More like a Water Strider actually, the Proteus catamaran skims across the surface of the water much like nimble insects on sun-dappled ponds – without the need for surface tension to hold it up. Explains Ugo Conti, co-founder of Marine Advanced Research, “Proteus is the prototype of what we hope to be a new class of water vessel – the Wave Adaptive Modular Vessels, or WAM-V’s.” Testing on San Francisco Bay should confirm whether Proteus and its ilk really do have the spidey-sense needed to cross entire oceans. Stay tuned!

Waving Ahoy

(images via: InventorSpot and RJ3SP)

Another odd boat is the Suntory Mermaid II, a wave-powered boat… which sounds impossible, like a wind-powered airplane, but it’s the real thing! The three-tonne catamaran sailed over 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan in early 2008 with ocean waves being its only source of motive power. Mind you, it didn’t break any speed records but it didn’t have to – just arriving at its destination was the whole point of the exercise.

Modern Day U-Boat

(images via: Trends Updates and Tuvie)

The term “U-Boat” stands for unterseeboot – undersea boat; or submarine. The Ammonoq is also a U-Boat though it carries no torpedoes. Cruising at the surface it’s much like any other boat, though the smoothly curved glass top will attract second glances. The Ammonoq really comes into its own when it submerges. The crew of 3 can spend a surprising amount of time beneath the waves thanks to the onboard rebreathing unit and individual regulators. Find a pretty place to explore? break out the tanks from storage and go scuba diving. Fun in the depths – with no annoying depth charges.

Absolut Canoe

(images via: The Object Works)

Everyone’s familiar with the long-running series of Absolut Vodka ads but this unofficial one may have floated on by. It’s the Absolut Canoe – no connection with the clear liquor but clearly inspired by it. Though only an artistic concept by The Object Works, it would be interesting to take the Absolut Canoe out for a spin… would the experience leave one shaken but not stirred?