This is a response to the sectional sea kayak thread posted by Rene Milo. I own an Aleut Sea II double sea kayak made by Valley Canoe Products in the United Kingdom. I bought the sea kayak with two sectionalized bulkheads in it. This means that the kayak separates into three different pieces, and no you cannot bolt the bow and stern section together to get a shorter kayak. Sectional sea kayaks are laid up like other kayaks except they will strengthen the hull more. When the kayak is finished some demonic person comes over and cuts it apart into pieces then the sectional bulkheads are fiberglassed into place. Valley uses six stainless steel bolts and lock nuts to secure the bulkheads to each other. It is important to use lock nuts because at Canoeacopia Stan Chladek and Nigel Dennis talked about using their one person sectional sea kayaks on a trip to Easter Island. At one point during their paddle they had to head into shore because a kayak was coming apart. Sea Kayaker Magazine had an article a few years ago about turning you kayak into a sectional. The author ended up using around twenty bolts for each sectional bulkhead. With six bolts in use it does not take a lot of time to bolt the kayak together. The looks you get while transporting your kayak around in pieces are priceless. So that can make up for the cost of each sectional bulkhead that is put into a sea kayak. When I bought mine the cost was $350 per bulkhead. Good paddling, Don Dimond *************************************************************************** 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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