Folbot Greenland II

Through a gator-infested river in Guatemala to Belize and north to the mighty St. Lawrence river of Ontario, Canada, the Greenland II never let me down.

The Greenland II design always caught my attention. In the early nineties I called Folbot in South Carolina requesting a ready to ship two seater. The kind lady on the Folbot end stated that a blue Greenland II was indeed available. Two days later, I picked up the kayak at the Miami International Airport cargo area. The fine craft arrived with me in Guatemala that same evening.

The first order of business was to fabricate a comfortable backpack to carry the skin and rib assemblies of the foldable boat along with scant personal effects. The completed pack facilitated multiple adventures with friends and family on day trips and week long expeditions. I became adept with the assembly and disassembly within a couple of exciting uses.  

The dual cockpit kayak traveled very well in two bags, the pack that I fabricated and a second duffel to lug the aluminum frame members along with the stowable double paddles. Seeking a little gain in comfort, I later purchased two soft seat and back assemblies through Folbot which greatly improved my endurance on the water. After several day trips, I compiled a list of essentials and nonessentials (luxuries), to accompany me on a far flung idea for a future endeavor.

To shorten a longer story, the sophisticated little voyage maker carried me the length of the Motagua River in Guatemala with many sightings of gators, turtles, and snakes. Later it supported me on a multiple day jaunt from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, to Belize. That escapade cost me a night in jail in a forgotten small coastal village named Barranca, Belize. Lesser outings include the lakes and rivers of south Texas and ultimately the Adirondacks and that grand Saint Lawrence River of the fourth coast.

True she was, even after twenty years of hard use. My next vision on the water, to kayak from the lower locks of the Saint Lawrence through the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'll need a new Greenland II to achieve this.

Seaworthy, faster than it looks, carries a boatload of cargo. And you could jump out of a helicopter with it disassembled.

I live next to Lake Superior and paddle this boat solo on the lake whenever there’s open water available. (Personal record so far is an ambient air temperature of 10°F.) The first time I put it in the water, the hull speed was a pleasant surprise. My brain is incapable of imagining what it will take to capsize this boat.

I have owned three canoes plus a Klepper Aerius II, a CLC Chesapeake 17, a CLC Mill Creek 13 and an Old Town Next (so far …) The Greenland II is among my top two of all eight for paddling pleasure. With the addition of a Folbot sailing rig I bought later, it stands alone among all of them for versatility.

Stable, easy to assemble, durable, easy to paddle.

We have had the Greenland 11 at least 5 years now. We have not used as much as we would like. We find that it is difficult to find put-in areas and to find out what kind of water we are dealing with.

We have had it out in the bays in Newfoundland, even in heavy wind we made good headway. We've paddled the St. John River at the height of Fredericton, NB, very successfully. 

It is a pleasure to steer. We've put in above the dam and had the sail on her and she is quite stable no hint of wanting to flip and she just flies above the waves. Wonderful boat. Now that we are retired we should get more use out of it.