On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, Sisler, Clyde wrote: > This past Friday I went to a wooden boat show in Portland, ME USA and > they had a couple of what I would guess (having never seen one before) > were wood strip kayaks. Wood strips running lengthwise with a thin > dacron (I think) covering. If the boats where in Platt Monforts display, wood ribs and stringers with kevlar strand between the supports, they were most likely skinned with dacron. If they weren't Monfort hulls, canvas, nylon, or polyester are the most likely skin coverings. > They looked so fragile but were probably very strong although I would > guess they flex a lot over swells. I would be afraid to step into > (through) one and would constantly worry about ripping the shell. How > do you beach them? I'd probably do a wet exit to keep from damaging > them when landing. Depending on the fabric for the skin they can be extremely durable. The 26 oz heat shrinkable nylon was being used as the filter material for paper pulp factories originally. I've heard a few good anecdotes and stories about the durability of skin/frame boats. One person left their boat outside on a picnic table, cockpit up under a drainspout. After a large storm they discovered the ends of the boat touching the ground, after draining the boat there was no damage. Another person had a tandem aluminum framed kayak on their roof and they drove over the bow rope. The bow of the kayak was pulled all the way down to the hood of the car. The only damage was a bent Yakima rack. My personal favorite story is someone was out paddling saw a cigarette boat headed at them. They were hit by the boat. When they rolled back up the kayak was still watertight, there were propeller screw marks on the deck, and one or two internal frame members were cracked or bent. The person was able to paddle back to their car. > I paddle Maine with lots of rocks so I prefer a tank :-). I've personally run skin boats up onto rocks and baranacles at a brisk clip. Thus far no damage. A friend, who may now be subscribed to this list, intentionally runs his skin boat up onto shore and rocks to see how much abuse it will take without being damaged. His Greenland style kayaks weigh 24 lbs, hardly a tank. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Mar 23 1998 - 14:59:32 PST
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