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From: Mel Grindol <grindol_at_my-dejanews.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 10:15:44 -0700
On Wed, 19 May 1999 11:45:51   Kirk Olsen wrote:
>On Wed, 19 May 1999 dmccarty_at_us.ibm.com wrote:
>
>>Ya'll can even get the color to match the canoe! 
>
>Color matching a Wenonah ultra light?  Ah, the color of kevlar and clear 
>epoxy.

It's beautiful isn't it?  I just love the way it is semi-transparent.  Watch the water lap against the side of the boat from the inside.  :)

>gel coat?  We don't need no stinkin' gel coat.  Why bother with the extra
>weight ;-)   

Principal reason we got this boat: weight.  No wood trim, just adds weight.  No gel coat.  Just an ash yoke with pads that adds 2.5 pounds.  Total weight 44.5 pounds for an 18' 6" by 35" boat.  :)

>Although a bag for car topping/storage is worthwhile, 
To what do you refer?  I would be immensely interested in some form of bag for transport.  Where can I get one?  Inquiring minds want to know.

>kirk
>owner of several clearcoat boats, one from about 1978(aptly named
>the beater)

The plastic 'yaks are the beaters.  They take abuse well.  :)

Mel
---
So have you seen Star Wars yet?  Our tickets are for Friday afternoon. :)


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From: Kirk Olsen <kolsen_at_imagelan.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 14:15:51 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 19 May 1999, Mel Grindol wrote:

> On Wed, 19 May 1999 11:45:51   Kirk Olsen wrote:
> >Color matching a Wenonah ultra light?  Ah, the color of kevlar and clear 
> >epoxy.
> 
> It's beautiful isn't it?  I just love the way it is semi-transparent.  
> Watch the water lap against the side of the boat from the inside.  :)

I've paddled a couple of vacuum bagged fiberglass boats, they are even more
translucent than kevlar.  It's definitely funky to see the water 
through the hull.

> Principal reason we got this boat: weight.  No wood trim, just adds 
> weight.  No gel coat.  Just an ash yoke with pads that adds 2.5 pounds.  
> Total weight 44.5 pounds for an 18' 6" by 35" boat.  :) 

Still heavy ;-)  I've got 2 18'6" by 32" boats that are about 32 pounds 
apiece.

> >Although a bag for car topping/storage is worthwhile, 
> To what do you refer?  I would be immensely interested in some form of 
> bag for transport.  Where can I get one?  Inquiring minds want to know. 

The bag is to stop the UV light from affecting the hull while it's not in 
use.  I can hunt down the address from the 2 covers that I have.  I believe
they were made by "The Bag Lady" from Waterbury Connecticut (but that's off 
the top of my head).  

A quick web search turned up a couple
http://www.connix.com/~wwcanoe/bag.htm supposedly sells the bag lady bags.
http://www.wwworks-canoe.com/canoe_covers.html (which is listed as
  "The bag lady" but their server didn't respond just now)
http://www.cookecustomsewing.com  looks like it would have covers, but the
   ones they feature are tripping spray covers.
http://www.greenval.com/boatcovers.html   has a kayak cover and covers for
   a few Swift designs.
 
kirk

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From: Hank Hays <lhays_at_canby.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: (rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 17:17:34 -0700
>>Mel Grindol wrote:
>> Principal reason we got this boat: weight.  No wood trim, just adds 
>> weight.  No gel coat.  Just an ash yoke with pads that adds 2.5 pounds.  
>> Total weight 44.5 pounds for an 18' 6" by 35" boat.  :) 
>
>Kirk Olsen wrote:
>Still heavy ;-)  I've got 2 18'6" by 32" boats that are about 32 pounds 
>apiece.

Still heavy, a couple guys I knew back in Wisconsin were making 18'-6"
competition cruisers at 21 lbs, over 20 years ago.  You had to put your own
seats in, but still......  (I don't have one of their boats).  Admittedly
comp cruisers are pretty minimal compared to a Minnesota II tripping hull.  

>The bag is to stop the UV light from affecting the hull while it's not in 
>use.  I can hunt down the address from the 2 covers that I have.  I believe
>they were made by "The Bag Lady" from Waterbury Connecticut (but that's off 
>the top of my head).  

The discoloration that I've seen is usually surface UV degradation of the
Kevlar fibers themselves.  It's not considered a problem (I've had no
troubles with it) because as soon as the surface color changes it inhibits
further degradation of the rest of the fiber.  Not a problem if the boat is
stored indoors.  Anything to keep the UV off the boat would do.  Something
tight that didn't flap in the wind would be best.  

Hank Hays
Lightning Paddles
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From: John Fereira <fereira_at_albert.mannlib.cornell.edu>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 99 14:51:41 EDT
> 
> On Wed, 19 May 1999 11:45:51   Kirk Olsen wrote:
> >On Wed, 19 May 1999 dmccarty_at_us.ibm.com wrote:
> >
> >>Ya'll can even get the color to match the canoe! 
> >
> >Color matching a Wenonah ultra light?  Ah, the color of kevlar and clear 
> >epoxy.
> 
> It's beautiful isn't it?  I just love the way it is semi-transparent.  Watch the water lap against the side of the boat from the inside.  :)
> 
> >gel coat?  We don't need no stinkin' gel coat.  Why bother with the extra
> >weight ;-)   
> 
> Principal reason we got this boat: weight.  

Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
lightest boat possible?  Except for the few minutes that might take
to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
make a measurable difference for most paddlers?

--
John Fereira
jaf30_at_cornell.edu

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From: Hank Hays <lhays_at_canby.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat weight
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 17:15:24 -0700
John Fereira wrote:
>Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
>lightest boat possible?  Except for the few minutes that might take
>to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
>make a measurable difference for most paddlers?

Does to this paddler, and to lots of other non british heavy weight freaks. 

Hank Hays

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From: <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat weight
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 06:53:26 -0700
Hank Hays wrote:
> 
> John Fereira wrote:
> >Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
> >lightest boat possible?  Except for the few minutes that might take
> >to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
> >make a measurable difference for most paddlers?
> 
> Does to this paddler, and to lots of other non british heavy weight freaks.
> 
> Hank Hays


I guess a lot depends on how far you have to carry it.  And the
condition of the launch area.

I used to have a Klepper Aerius I Exp. which I loved dearly and saw me
through lots of dicey situations.  But it weighed 62 pounds dry and, at
the end of the day, with its canvas cotton deck soaked from wakes and
waves, the thing weighed considerably more.  Try lifting that off a
beach or up on to a dock and up a ramp.  I finally got rid of it and
bought a Nautraid Raid 1, which weighs 51 dry and exactly the same wet,
as its heavily coated polyester deck absorbs zero water.  Quite a
difference.

The same goes, of course, for the boat in its bags.  When I can't leave
a folding kayak assembled somewhere, I have to bring it home to my
walkup brownstone and carry the bag(s) up several flights of stairs. 
Which would you pick to deal with at the end of the day, a 62 lb. boat
in very heavy canvas bags or a 51 pounder in lighter bags?

Now I am even more into lightweight.  I also have a Feathercraft K-Light
which weighs just 34.5 pounds and goes into one very well designed
carrying bag.  Around here in NYC you see many of them used by people on
public transportation; one weekend day last summer I saw 8 of them being
carried into a popular launch site over the course of the day.  It is my
choice of boat to leave assembled in one storage spot that requires a
longish walk to its dock (the Nautiraid also stays assembled since I
have a second spot as well, albeit the one where the walk is somewhat
less).  If given a choice between leaving a folding kayak assembled,
i.e. having a storage spot, why bother assembling the thing if you don't
have to.

I've finished up testing a new model of Nautiraid with an aluminum
frame--a first for Nautiraid--called the Nautiraid 416 ALU.  It weighs
just 33 pounds and is a foot longer than the K-Light; it comes in one
bag that is not as bells n whistles as the K-Light's but okay.  The boat
assembles easily (you make the entire frame outside the skin and slip it
into the skin via a zippered stern deck; this is an assembly concept
Nautiraid introduced on two models about a year ago or so).  These
smaller boats do just fine for most paddling situations.  You only feel
a difference if you are with very experienced paddlers who are
determined to go fast.

Nautiraid also has long had a small double, the Nautiraid II Touring,
which is 15 feet long (its cockpit area is the same as on bigger
doubles, i.e. the same amount of room between paddlers) and weighs 55
pounds with wooden frame.  It is now getting that same aluminum frame
treatment as the 416 and I extrapolate that this will bring the weight
for the double to around 50 pounds!!  It is an awfully tempting choice
of double.  (The rub with these particular Nautiraids is that the
Touring series and the 416 have hulls that are not made of hypalon on a
polyester core as are most foldables--including other Nautiraids
models-- but rather a PVC coating over polyester.  They are not as tough
as hypalon but they are not tissue paper either and now do have
keelstrips in high wear areas.  The upside is that the hull material
makes them so much lighter and if treated with a modicum of care will do
just fine.)

For disclaimers, I do have a casual affiliation with folding kayaks.
:---)
(that's a smiley emoticon with a Pinnochio nose)

ralph diaz



> 
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-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: John Waddington <waddinj_at_recorder.ca>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 22:41:30 -0400
John Fereira wrote:

> 
> Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
> lightest boat possible? Except for the few minutes that might take
> to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
> make a measurable difference for most paddlers?



I don't know about everyone else, but an old neck injury (or maybe its
just my old neck :-) ) makes the loading and unloading weight a major
consideration.

John
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From: Kirk Olsen <kolsen_at_imagelan.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 11:04:08 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 19 May 1999, John Fereira wrote:

> Why is there such a preoccupation amoung paddlers to get the absolutely
> lightest boat possible?  Except for the few minutes that might take
> to unload and load the boat from a vehicle does a pound or two *really*
> make a measurable difference for most paddlers?

A pound or two won't matter.  Ten pounds "feels different" to me, I also 
rarely paddle with a loaded boat and regularly enter races (canoes, touring 
kayaks, and surf skis).

As for measurable I've never done timings.  Also I doubt the majority of
this list could be quantified as typical of "most paddlers".

A friend decided against buying my Bell Magic from me because the 39 
pound boat felt so much heavier (while paddling) to him than his usual
28(?) pound singles boat.  Anyone interested in a 1 year old carbon/kevlar
bell magic solo touring canoe...

kirk
(in New England)


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From: Wes Boyd <boydwe_at_dmci.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Boat bags: was Storm Kayaks(rambling off topic)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 20:22:49
At 10:15 AM 5/19/99 -0700, you wrote:

>So have you seen Star Wars yet?  Our tickets are for Friday afternoon. :)

I haven't, but my doctor canceled all his morning appointments so he could
catch the 10AM show. Just what I want, have him getting exuberant about
light sabre fights while cutting a lump off the side of my head . . .

-- Wes

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