Re: [Paddlewise] wide folding kayaks, design restriction?

> From: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
>
> Julio MacWilliams wrote:
> > 
> > I have brochures from feathercraft, folbot, Klepper, and Nautiraid.
> > Most boats are between 25 inches to more than 30 inches wide, except for
> > the Khatsalano which has 22 inches of beam. I am still waiting to see
> > a commercially available folding kayak with 21 inches or less of beam.
> 
> There was one in recent years, the Nautiraid Greenlander.  It was under
> 20 inches wide if I recall correctly.  It was almost unpaddeable and the
> company basically recalled it.  The company eventually replaced it with
> a newer model with the same name and a 23 inch or so beam.  It has never
> seriously been marketed but I understand that Seda, the Nautiraid
> distributor in the US, intends to re-introduce it.  It may have some
> changes too.  I plan to test it at some point. 


Ralph, do you remember what the beam width of the Khatsalano without sponsons
was?  I don't think they sell it any longer and now have two different 
thicknesses of sponsons.  I don't know if this has been suggested so forgive
me if it has :-) but Dan might want to spend some time in both (a lot of
time) to see which one he'd rather spend three weeks touring in.   As far
as size issue, don't backpackers head off into the woods for weeks at a
time?  I would think the KhatsalanoS would have at least the equivalent of
two large packpacks worth of room ?  The Khatsalano S was one of the boats
we used on a multi-day trip to Horn Island off the Mississippi coast (story
and pictures at http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/hornIs.html )  Bob had some
difficulty in paddling the Khat in some windy conditions, if I remember
correctly (or it could have been currents but the problem was lessened when
he repacked the boat and redistributed the weight).  Would folding kayaks
be more sensitive to weight distribution than a similarly designed hardshell?
In other words, would the folding kayak paddler have to be much more careful 
about weight distribution for paddling efficiency?  

Your suggestion about a web site for PaddleWise and a place to put info like
your boat-packing information (as well as a whole lot of stuff! :-) is an 
excellent idea.  I'll work on that and see what I can come up with and get
back with PaddleWise.

Cheers!

Jackie
 
                                 _                        _   _
       _   _                     \\                      / \0/ \
      / \0/ \                     \\                        "
         "                         `\         
                               ,sSSs,\,      
                  )\w/(       ,sSS..)/{)    
                  <<..>       sSSS_v)/ \   
                   )<*>      sSS[(\_]___\
               <(_/_o_o_     'sS[_`-+---+)  
           \----+-------+-------'---`-----\-------------')
 ~~~~~~~ ~~jf ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~\~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
        o                                   \
              o                             \\     o      o
                                             \\  o
           o                                  `
                 (\                                o
          o   >jf:-)       o
                 (/                               o

***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
***************************************************************************