June 6, 2025: The second mushroom boat cleared open water testing. In August, I’ll attempt to paddle it 22+ miles across the Catalina Channel, from Two Harbors (Catalina Island) to Cabrillo Beach, with an escort boat for safety.
The new boat weighs 107 lbs and is sealed with shellac and beeswax. It’s grown from wild Ganoderma polychromum mycelium I harvested near my studio, propagated on 520+ lbs of a hemp hurd substrate packed inside a fiberglass mold. It grew over 6 weeks and dried for 3+ months. Growing the mycelium between layers of cotton textiles added enough strength to create a monolithic structure capable of sea travel.
It’s 3 feet shorter than my first boat but 50% larger by volume for more buoyancy and stability. The added keel improves tracking and gives the boat enough rigidity for open water. The 20% of the volume lost to shrinkage while drying this material was accounted for in this design so my body fits much more comfortably. The boat weighed exactly the same before and after paddling for a few hours in the ocean (decomposition is not a major concern for my day-long crossing.)
I can sustain a 2.5 mph pace through Pacific swells. It’s slower than a conventional touring kayak, but reliable and seaworthy.
My paddle is made from spruce and persimmon wood, stained with jumbo gym (Gymnopilus ventricosus) mushrooms cultivated in my lab.
In the fall, I’ll share a digital compendium for building with mycelium, and the boat will be included in my exhibition in Pasadena with Fulcrum Arts. More soon.
🎥: Jordan Freeman
Thanks to: Patrick J. Reed, Robert Novak, @fulcrumarts, cousin Laza Panich, James Anderson (paddle fabricator), Phil Ross & Open Fung, Julie Beeler, Ochi Gallery, and the Pasadena Arts Alliance for their support.
Fulcrum Arts’ programming is made possible with the generous support of the Perenchio Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, J. Paul Getty Trust, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the Wilhelm Family Foundation, and the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.
