After a year and a half of building the Pueo, we’ve finally had the chance for a real photo shoot! Trevor Clark was kind enough to come and jump in the water outside of Portlock/China Walls with his gear. This was his first time shooting outrigger paddlers. We think he did an awesome job.
We’ve only updated the homepage so far, but look for some new pictures on the rest of the site soon.
We apologize to anyone who left a message over the last week and has not heard back. While we are not always able to answer the phone at Kamanu Composites, we pride ourselves on promptly returning all voicemails. However, due to a glitch in our voicemail transcription service, every phone message from December 12th until today has been automatically deleted without ever being heard. Our phone is working properly again, so please call back if you’ve tried unsuccessfully to get through to us.
We would like to send out an open invitation for the blessing of our new V-1 canoe design, the Aukahi. The event will be held on Friday, December 11th at 5:00 pm at our Kailua facility.
After years of talking, numerous designs, and months of final adjustments we are ready to begin limited production of our new V-1. There will be several Aukahi’s available for immediate sale, and orders will be opened up at the same time. In addition to the blessing by Uncle Bobby Puakea, there will individualized stroke analysis sessions with John Puakea, a grand opening of the Kamanu Outlet, as well as food, music, and videos. Everyone at Kamanu Composites will be available for discussion, feedback, and suggestions. If you will be able to attend, please RSVP to info@kamanucomposites so that we can plan accordingly for the food. We hope to see you there.
The lease on our shop was signed just hours before a trip to Tahiti for the Super Aito in 2007. Literally, the very first thing that went through the doors of the shop was a V1; straight from Tahiti and broken in three pieces.
Kamanu Composites was founded on the dream to build canoes, and after that trip, a rudderless V1 became a part of that dream. In Tahiti we saw an intensity and passion that we believed stems from the traditional V1 and we hoped to bring some of that back to Hawai’i. However, our dream to immediately build a V1 quietly faded along with our memories of Tahiti. The V1 we brought back remained untouched in the corner of the warehouse as Kamanu Composites grew up around it.
After some time we decided to develop a V1 of our own design. We’ve done numerous iterations of computer aided design, built and tested two working prototypes and even had the final prototype broken in half by a truck. Months of final design, shaping, and refining have been done and now our V1 is finally approaching completion. Molding is now in process. Below are some photos of the final plug.
The first several demo canoes should be available at the HVA race on September 12th.
Prices, availability, and a name will be announced at a later date.
We cut through over 100 feet of carbon fiber and s-glass every day at Kamanu Composites. All of that cutting unavoidably results in a fair amount scrap material, most of which we have no use for. But you might. If you are ever in need of some small pieces of either carbon or s-glass, please stop by the shop.
Almost. Here at Kamanu Composites we work in a big quonset hut that tends to heat up very nicely under the sun. The surface of the building often reaches 115 degrees F making certain areas of the shop nearly unbearable. So we’ve decided to paint our building white. We’ve seen our neighbor paint his buildling with success and now our government recommends it! As summer closes in on us it seems like there is no better time for a big weekend painting session. All of us in this shop will sweat a little less.
As the 2009 OC-1 season comes to a close, we’d like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support throughout the last year. The extreme dedication of the OC-1 community has been evident from the first race of the season through to the last. We went from huddling in the rain waiting for the weather to clear at the Pa’a Thanksgiving Race, to duking it out on the Maunalua Bay lake that was the Koa Nui Race, to putting our heads down and battling the wind for 32 miles in the Solo. While the nation goes through the worst recession in memory and Hawai’i barely makes it through a season of dismal OC-1 racing conditions, the paddling community has persevered. We truly appreciate it every time someone calls (we apologize for not always answering the phone, but we promise to call back as soon as we get your message) or stops by the shop. We know that purchasing a canoe is a huge commitment, so we truly appreciate every person who has supported Kamanu Composites in these hard times. Let’s hope that the 2010 season has a little more wind (in the right direction) and that the world economy begins to recover in time for all of us to enjoy that season.
Kamanu Composites is looking for some technical skills this summer. Two possible positions or area specific projects are up for consideration. Ideal would be college students looking for interesting summer work.
1) Engineer: Looking for some experience with CAD (solidworks or similar preferred). Mechanical Engineering coursework a plus. Possible projects include part and mold design, process control, quality control, heat curing systems, or anything related to composites manufacturing. Depends on interests, experience, and usefulness to the company. Hands on experience desired, or a willingness and ability to build things.
2) Programmer: Looking for a python hacker. Web development experience a plus. Project would be development with django framework for internal management software and public website. Also could get involved with documentation and shop workflow. The goal is to make the company more efficient.
For both positions: Must be able to work independently and be confident in solving problems given time and resources. A desire and ability for hands on work is highly recommended.
Email keizo@kamanucomposites.com with resume and any questions.
Julie Borsetti joined Kamanu Composites in March of 2008 as a spray artist. Part of the job description was to introduce some ‘real’ creativity to the designs of our custom canoes. Having had no prior experience with the materials and spray techniques we use, she was able to become proficient at the basics in a short amount of time. It wasn’t long before she started accomplishing color combinations and layouts that have never been done on a canoe before. Many of these can now be seen on the water and in the hands of customers. Here are a few of our favorites.
Unfortunately Julie has moved to the mainland, but we would like to thank her for what she has contributed to the company. She has helped shape our company and established a standard of what’s possible for future customers.
In the past, as paddlers, it’s always been frustrating to see canoe manufacturers with websites that are years out of date. So one of our goals in starting up a canoe building company was to keep a website with frequent updates. Now that it’s been almost a year since this website has been updated, we find ourselves in the same position we had hoped to avoid: just another canoe company with an inexcusably static website.
There are all sorts of reasons that could be stated in defense of ourselves and the other builders. We advertise in print, so it’s not that important to advertise online. There is already a waiting list, so why bother to update the website. Updating the website takes time and money, which is better spent investing in our product. We don’t have any good photos to update the website with. The list of excuses goes on, but really none of them make the situation any better.
However, one thing is for certain, we no longer look at other manufacturers websites with that same frustration – it’s more a feeling of sympathy and respect. We’ve found there’s a very long list of tasks necessary to build this business (or any business for that matter) and updating the website has only come to the top a few times. We would like to change that and will be doing our best to make it happen.
–Kamanu Composites