Re: [Paddlewise] assembly and drying times

Sandykayak_at_aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 8/28/99 10:46:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com writes:
> 
> << Total with unassembled boat: 27 minutes >>
> 15 MINUTES TO ASSEMBLE A BOAT!!!      Now we're all going to want to know
> which boat?  How long does it take YOU to assemble and disassemble a K-light?

I said I won't own a foldable that takes more than 15 minutes to
assemble.  So my thumbs up list of boats I know can be assembled in that
time are: Folbot Greenland II, Folbot Aleut, Folbot Kodiak; Klepper
Aerius II, I and 2000; all Nautiraids (maybe one or two up to 20
minutes); Feathercraft K-Light and the ST (perhaps more like 20 min for
the latter although 15 is doable).

The double Folbot, Nautiraid and Klepper can be done in under 10 minutes
by two people.  Will they be able to do so every time?  Probably not but
a little practice can get assembly of them down to that.  My wife and I
can make the double Klepper in 7 or 8 minutes and have been videotapped
doing so at a demo.  We looked decidedly unharried and unhurried and we
had not made the boat in a year.  We were able to achieve such speed
even before I started a newsletter on folding kayaks.

Some boats can be tough at times.  I know that the single Kleppers, the
Aerius I and the 2000, can be a chore when new until they get broken in.
When my book was being announced to an international marketing meeting
of McGraw-Hill, the editors and marketing people at my imprint
(International Marine/Ragged Mtn) thought it would be a good idea for me
to show up and make a folding kayak while they made their presentation
on their coming year's titles of books.  The presentation would be just
10 minutes, so I knew I needed something fast.  I felt that the K-Light
would be be most impressive because of weight and one-bag storage but I
was really not well-versed at the K-Light at the time since it was so
new.  But I knew the Kleppers and decided the 2000 would be about
equally impressive in size and weight. So, I went to the Klepper
importer and said that the reputation of folding kayaks was on the
line.   They fixed me up with a 2000 frame that had been well broken in
and a skin that had been used for in-store assembly a few times and
sparkling clean.  I managed to do the assembly in _under_ 10 minutes at
the meeting.  I lost a minute or so when it came for the editor to talk
about my upcoming book and I stopped to hear the speaker's glowing
words...Gee, I guess I can't listen and make a boat at the same time!
:-)

> 
> However, Ralph, there is another point that bears consideration.  That boat
> in your bag is all wet, isn't it?  You're supposed to let them dry out before
> storage.  How can the pointy corners dry if you've just draped it over
> something?
> 
> Don't you have to reassemble it when you get home, leave it until it is dry
> (could take a long time), and then disassemble it again?  This adds time.
> 


My math involves how quickly I can launch and return to drive off. 
Normally, I would hang around letting the boat dry and just relaxing
UNLESS fellow paddlers in hardshells plan to go for coffee or ice
cream.  In which case I would act like they are, i.e. moving to get
packed up and drive away.

Yes, I would then later have to dry the boat at home.  BUT it has NEVER
involved re-assembling the kayak.  All that needs drying is the skin.  I
pull it out of the bag that night or a few days later and lay it out in
the common hallway outside my apartment (I could do it in the living
room if I like).  I prop up a rib inside the hull at the front and back
of the cockpit.  It dries fairly fast set up that way.  Plenty of air
gets to the ends of the boat.  If you don't have room to stretch out a
15 or 17 ft. boat, stretch out just half of the skin at a time.

Basically the drill upon returning home with a wet boat is to leave the
boat bag(s) unzipped or untied.  Things do a surprising amount of drying
that way.  (With boats with wooden frames such as the Klepper that have
a long bag with a tie at the top, you pull the bag open and roll it down
about half way to expose the frame pieces to air.) Then when you want,
and within four or five days, dry the hull as described above.


ralph
 
-- 
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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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