> >Wes wrote: > >All the negative rake on the turn of the last century battleships was > >because the bows were actually rams. The designers in those days weren't > >all that confident about gunfire against armor, and designed the potential > >for a ramming battle into the ships. > > I think Folbots may have been designed by some of those guys. I can think of no kayaks better suited for ramming than Folbots. Both of the singles and the double have heavy duty metal protective rails at the bow and stern. These rails start at the boat's end tips and wrap around and under to run along the keel about a foot. If a Folbot were to ram a fiberglass or kevlar kayak it would do it in. You also don't want to hit a Folbot in the stern with your kayak; you confront not only the metal wraparound rail but also all the sharp mechanism for the quite large rudder. And hitting Folbots amidship ain't going to do any damage to them. The air sponsons act as great bumpers to ward off blows. If you are ever around a Folbot that is backing up or manuevering to turn around, give it a wide berth. Who said that folding kayaks were delicate? :-) ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jul 28 1999 - 13:31:58 PDT
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