Re: [Paddlewise] Your expertise needed again

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, John Winters wrote:

> >The question I was interested in the answer to was do these scratches make
> >a detectable difference in the performance?
> 
> At the end of a long day it does make a difference but I doubt if many
> people can get in a scratched boat a tell it has more resistance without a
> smooth boat to compare it with.
> 
> I have this little story to support the point. Some years back a person who
> owned one of my canoe designs came to me asking if I had redesigned the
> boat. He said that a friend had bought a new one and it was faster than his
> old model. He said he tried the new boat and there was no question it was
> faster.
> 
> Now the interesting part. Both boats came from the same mold and weighed
> within five pounds of each other. The only difference seemed to be the
> badly scratched bottom of the old boat.
> 
> So, can you tell the difference? Maybe not. But, on the other hand it
> exists and maybe so given the proper circumstances.

Those were glass boats, weren't they, John? The ones that aren't supposed
to be subject to performance-impairing scratches?

> >No question that glass hulls are prettier. Although it's rare to see the
> >multicolor effects that Perception and Dagger do in plastic done in glass.
> 
> Hmmm, some people would not consider that "better" aesthetically. :-)

Point taken. Somebody must like it. Steve Scarborough, maybe.
> 
> As the Devil once said, "Pretty, but is it art?"

Was he talking about kayaks?

Steve Cramer                     
Test Scoring & Reporting Services      Sometimes you never can 
University of Georgia                    always tell what you 
Athens, GA 30602-5593                      least expect the most.


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