Greetings! Saturday, March 21st was another meeting of the Kayak Builders of Southern California on the front lawn of the Southwind Kayaks store in Irvine. Our group has no real *membership* per se, and consists of anyone who builds, or thinks of building, or is remotely interested in building their own kayak. Our touchstone is a web site maintained by Rick Rubio and Jim Gabriel located at: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/btreecs/> Builders at Saturday's event showed several plywood stitch-and-glue types, and a few skin boats. After the showing and talking, the group proceeded to the Newport Aquatic Center at North Star Beach on the Newport Back Bay. This is a shallow slough-type area perfect for a relaxing and interesting paddle. Go north and you're in a relatively secluded environment great for bird watching. Go south and you will enter the Balboa/Newport harbor areas with tons of fancy (and not so fancy) sail and powerboats, restaurants and watering holes, and sightseeing possibilities quite different from the other end of the bay on a sunny summer day. But I digress... On Saturday, March 21, I made the first launch and paddle of my own wood strip kayak. It has been about seven months of on-and-off work to get to this point. I won't say it is finished, yet. I have some cockpit outfitting to attend to, and few more coats of exterior varnish, but it was a thrill to see my boat finally out in the sunshine, at water's edge where she belongs; finally pushing-off and paddling her for the first time! The design is a "Panache" by Rob Macks of Laughing Loon: <http://equinox.shaysnet.com/~robm/index.html> It has an overall length of 18 feet, 5 inches, beam of 22-1/2 inches, and is made of western red cedar and sitka spruce, using System Three epoxies. My initial impressions of handling are that it tracks extremely well without a rudder, as long as you are not in a crosswind. The boat is definitely subject to some weather cocking (fairly strong wind conditions on Saturday; about 20 knots at times) and I was paddling without any ballast like camping gear or whatever, so she presents a fair amount of windage, especially on the bow. Also, I found seat placement to be important to maneuverability. Sit too far back and she was reluctant to turn, sit farther forward and it was not a problem. I worry about this a little for when I am carrying full camping gear and more of the rocker is submerged. Time will tell. I am not interested in a rudder if I don't have to have one. Initial stability was delightfully tender, and secondary seemed quite solid, though I really didn't push it too far. I didn't want to go over in the shallow muddy low tide conditions on my first day :-). I'll save that experiment for another time. Carving the turns definitely helped, and I'm sure when I have proper interior outfitting for my thighs and knees I'll be more comfortable with that. The boat is fast with little effort, the deck stays dry, and overall feels very seaworthy. In an area of small reflected waves from the concrete "cliffs" in a narrow portion of the harbor I could feel the "confusion" though the hull, but no condition of the day, be it high gusty wind or wave (maximum less than a foot) made the kayak feel less than fully composed. Since I mostly paddle the off-shore coast with real currents and waves and wind, I will again have to say, "only time will tell..." but I think this is going to be an excellent boat for my channel-crossing, island-hopping, beach-camping plans. On that note, the kayak has fore and aft bulkheads forming hatch-accessible storage areas big enough for a three week trip even carrying my own drinking water. The capacity is awesome. Finally, I will *eventually* write a more complete tale of construction and post it to the Kayak Builders of Southern California web page. The photos from Saturday will go to the developer today, and be sent to the web site by the end of the week, so look for the pic's sometime next week. Thanks to everyone who has offered support and advice over the past several months. And thanks to everyone Saturday who had such nice things to say about my kayak. I truly appreciate your encouragement. >///:>Chris Hardenbrook<:\\\< Sunny Southern California *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
>On Saturday, March 21, I made the first launch and paddle of my own wood >strip kayak. It has been about seven months of on-and-off work to get 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. 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. I paddle Maine with lots of rocks so I prefer a tank :-). *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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/ ***************************************************************************
Clyde wrote: snip 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. I paddle Maine with lots of rocks so I prefer a tank :-). Common misconception. I paddle a skin boat (Baidarka) with a balistic woven nylon skin which is coated with a polyurethane resin. I took a sample of skin and tried to cut it open with the corner of a wood chisle and was only able to make a little scratch in the resin. The frame is made of yellow cedar, red cedar and white oak. It looks fragile but it isn't. I can stand on the deck and bounce up and down. The boat will flex and twist on impact and avoid damage where a fiberglass boat would break. (I know because I've busted fiberglass boats and watched several friends do the same.) My skin boat weighs only 33 lbs. and is more responsive than any fiberglass or plastic sea kayak I've paddled. I built the boat in Corey Freedman's shop (Spirit Line Kayaks http://www.skinboats.com) near Anacortes Washington. He hears this "fragile" stuff all the time. If you see one of his demonstrations you will be a believer. One of my friends watched Corey unload a trailer full of skin boats at Bowman Bay by throwing each boat to the ground. They bounce. I paddle the Washington Coast and inland waters with lots of rocks also, so I prefer my skin boat. :~) Rex *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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