As the following has the potential for starting a religious war, let it be know that I worship regularly at both houses (albeit with more enthusiasm in one than the other). I own a Klepper Aerius Exp. II and a "California" Aerius I, and I own a Feathercraft K1 with a polyester deck and a K1 with the urethane deck. Now a a question about materials and design between these boats. Why did Feathercraft choose plastic for ribs and nose pieces etc. (and polycarbonate at that, rather than the stronger glass filled polyester that Folbot now uses) instead of using wood?. Why not use the high grade plywood Klepper employs? It appears to be substantially lighter and stronger than the polycarbonate. Second question: design. Klepper ribs arch *away* from the deck material and are *in contact* with the hypalon hull. Thus there is little or no contact between rib and deck material, and water that gets into the boat sloshes between ribs but does not rapidly flow from bow to stern. Feathercraft K2s do exactly the opposite. For years they used a urethane coated deck material subject to abrasion wear, yet they designed their ribs to fully contact the deck material above, while their lower edges have large channels, keeping the rib from touching the hypalon hull except at the center and sides, and allowing water to flow fore and aft freely and quickly. This also arches the lower part of the rib upward so the seating position must be kept high to avoid painful rib-on calf bruises. Anyone know why these design choices were made? Anyone know were I can obtain half a sheet of that Klepper plywood to make my own ribs to replace the calf-gouger Feathercraft ones? Thanks, RGM -- Richard G. Mitchell, Jr. (541) 752-1323 phone/fax mitchelr_at_ucs.orst.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Richard Mitchell wrote: > > Second question: design. Klepper ribs arch *away* from the deck > material and are *in contact* with the hypalon hull. I have no direct experience with this as I parted with my home designed skin & frame kayak 23 years ago. However I would guess that hull contact may result in a bit of a bump in the hypalon which could slightly increase drag. It could also be a catch point if running over rocks or whatever in the water. Could it also allow some depth of water to be trapped where it can't be bailed? -- Lloyd Bowles The Mad Canoeist "Keep the open side up!" http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/clearstreets/358/index.html *************************************************************************** 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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