Photo from KOKOPELLI
Originally Posted On: https://kokopelli.com/blogs/stories-from-the-water/your-partner-in-adventure
We exist with the overarching purpose of making it easier for you to get out and explore nature. We’re also committed to cultivating a community of passionate and inclusive packrafters and outdoor enthusiasts. To best understand who we are, let’s dive right into our statement of purpose.
Here’s Kokopelli’s Purpose Statement
“Kokopelli is an outdoor adventure brand that elevates experiences by making it easier to venture further. We create purposeful products that simplify exploration. Our products inspire personal creativity that supports any degree of outdoor pursuit. Our brand aims to cultivate a community that supports awareness and appreciation for the outdoors.”
Since 2012 Kokopelli Outdoor Inc. has designed and manufactured award winning packrafts, inflatable kayaks and stand-up paddle boards that are ruggedly designed to last and purposefully built for ultimate portability and packability. Kokopelli products are sold around the world to avid paddlers, campers, hikers, overland and van life enthusiasts, bikers, climbers, anglers and hunters with the purpose of simplifying and elevating the outdoor experience.
Here’s What it Means to Us
In a Kokopelli packraft, kayak, or stand up paddle board, the beauty and awe of nature are right within reach. When you choose a Kokopelli product, you get the chance to adventure with family, friends, and chosen family by your side without having to worry about things like product quality or ease-of-use.
With quality outdoor and sporting goods equipment as great as ours, you can focus less on annoyances and issues and more on what matters most: the company you keep, the wonder that surrounds you, and the adventure ahead.
Ten Years of Innovation And Counting: The Kokopelli Story
Kokopelli began, like many successful ventures, in a garage, over ten years ago when our founder, Kelley Smith and two grade-school friends set out to (1) Create cool outdoor gear (2) Be approachable and community driven, and (3) Have fun doing it.
We initially just wanted to build the best packraft, period. We’ve been laser-focused on innovation since our inception, and it shows. But expanding upon our original mission (this is a “yes, and” situation, mind you), our product suite now also boasts kayaks and SUPs.
Let’s dig deeper into what makes Kokopelli packrafts different – it starts with our brand pillars.
Our Brand Pillars
Our brand pillars are the bedrock on which our company is built. These values shape everything we do, and it shows.
- Community — We want to be the community you adventure with. To us, building community is about fostering a sense of inclusivity while providing the means for people like you to gather around a shared goal. Whether that goal is a love of packrafting specifically, recreational kayaking, or SUP yoga, we desire to be a trailblazer when it comes to offering you the right tools to explore your passions and venture further with others like yourself.
- Products — Our products are cutting-edge by nature. That’s no accident. But for us, being the best doesn’t come from the desire to be perfect — It’s less about being the “best” for bragging rights or credibility and more about building and creating reliable products that allow you to venture further than you could before. In other words, we build products that directly cater to the needs of outdoor enthusiasts and packrafters like you. Our founder has been intentional about this since day 1, when he set out to build a better packraft – the kind he wanted to use. The kind that offered advanced materials and construction techniques, and provided benefits that were a pipe dream at the time, but now, set the standard for the industry. The way we see it, when you worry less about your gear, you can do more of what you love. Of course, having the lightest paddleboard on the market or the toughest packraft comes with practical advantages too, adding to the convenience of your outdoor pursuits.
- Education —We aim to be a resource for packrafting and outdoor sports education. We know that with a sport like packrafting, there’s risk involved. We aim to be a source of truth – one that those new to the sport can rely on for accurate and informative guidance, tips, and lessons learned from experience.
- Customer Service — We say what we mean, and mean what we say. We stand behind our products and will always have your back, no matter where you are. Good products without the customer service to back them up are substantially less good. Conversely, bad products with great customer service are still not equipped to handle the tasks for which they’re intended. We match cutting-edge products with top-notch customer service to provide you the best of both worlds.
Much like yours, our journey is far from over…Ten years has all gone by so quickly…but you know what they say about time flying by when you’re having fun…
Perhaps more importantly than how long we’ve been making the most innovative packrafts is what we’ve learned along the way:
- We learned that packrafters are passionate, but the packrafting community can be, in a word, exclusive. So we set out to build the inclusive community that we wanted (Be the change, right?!)
- In addition to developing the best products through constant innovation and building a community of purpose, we also set out to provide safety education, so that our users were truly prepared for the physical challenges and elemental realities of the sport.
- Lastly, we knew that to back up the excellence of our products, we’d need to provide exceptional customer service and support.
The above tenets, community, product, education, and customer service, make up our four brand pillars. Think of them as the foundation upon which we build everything else we do.
Discover the Kokopelli Product Family
What started as a mission of innovation: building the best packraft, quickly morphed into something much larger. We have so much love and respect for the OG packrafters among us. (After all, our founder backpacked and packrafted way before it was even a widely-known activity. That’s why continuing to redefine what the “best” packraft is still is a primary focus for us.)
In addition to ultralight packrafts, we also provide other inflatable boats, including kayaks, not to mention the lightest paddle board currently available, bar none.
Here’s an overview of the Kokopelli product family.
Kokopelli Inflatable Packrafts
Kokpelli packrafts are made with cutting edge materials, making them some of the lightest and most durable on the market. There’s a reason for this; since Day 1, creating packrafts with superior design and usability has been our raison d’être.
Whether you’re bikepacking and need the ultimate space-saving model or are looking to camp out and stay a while and want something more durable, our packrafts deliver the capability to adventure further, whatever that means to you.
Our packrafts are multifunctional, meaning they can handle:
- Flatwater
- Rivers, Class I-III
- Intercoastal Waterways
- Protected Bays and Inlets
- Fjords
We know that no two people are the same, and neither are our packrafts. We offer four distinct Kokopelli packraft series:
- Adventure Series: Ideal for Class II rapids and calm waters.
- Lake Series: Ideal for lakes and flatwater.
- Whitewater Series: These handle up to class IV rapids and can navigate rock gardens.
- X-Series Kevlar®: These are the ultimate in durability for the roughest of waters, with Kevlar® up into the sidewalls and the raft floor.
Kokopelli Inflatable Kayaks & Backpacking Kayaks
Our portable, inflatable kayaks allow you to explore uncharted waters without having to carry around a bulky full-size boat. But make no mistake: like our packrafts, our kayaks are purpose-built, and can handle more than lowkey recreational kayaking.
Similar to our packrafts, our kayaks are a distillation of our never-ending quest to innovate in order to provide users like you with the best product possible. That said, we offer three unique kayak models:
- Moki-Lite: Ideal for flat open waters, touring, and ocean paddling.
- Moki I R-Deck: Like the Moki-Lite, but with a removable spraydeck for those rainy days.
- Moki II R-Deck: Like the Moki I R-Deck, but with an extra seat for your best pal.
Kokopelli Stand Up Paddleboards
Meet the world’s lightest and most packable stand up paddleboard (SUP): the Kokopelli Chasm Lite. Rigorously developed, this paddleboard can be deflated to the size of a sleeping bag. And at just 12.9 pounds, it’s easy to carry around with you on just about any excursion, long or short.
Live Out Your Best Adventures With Kokopelli
Ours are the tools that open up immense and perhaps previously unrecognized opportunities for you:
- They’re light and portable so they never stand in the way of your desire to go the extra mile – literally.
- They’re durable, so you know you can trust them to stand up to the adventures you throw at them.
- They’re rigorously and meticulously researched and developed and purposefully designed using cutting-edge materials.
In other words, Kokopelli packrafts and other watercraft are impressive. But the possibilities they open up to you to venture further into nature are even more impressive.
Ultimately, we’ve made Kokopelli packrafts, kayaks, and stand up paddleboards tough enough to help you battle the elements and opening you up to the possibilities that await in nature.
We’re here to be your partner in adventure. Ready to heed the call? We’ve been waiting. Let’s venture further together!
