Re: [Paddlewise] sand and grit (was something else)

John Somers wrote:
> 
> John Somers wrote:
> > for me also.  I am concerned about the wear on the boat's skin when sand
> > gets between the frame pieces and the covering fabric.  Then the flexing of
> > the boat over time could wear holes through the skin.
> 
> Ralph Diaz wrote:
> "You may be worrying too much.  The hypalon hull is incredibly strong
> stuff.  I have seen such damage only rarely, just once really.  And only
> the patch that an owner put on later but I did not see the damage
> itself...I suspect it wasn't as bad as he thought.
> 
> ralph"
> 
>         Thanks Ralph.  Your input is invaluable, supported as it is by lots of
> experience with folding boats plus the input you get from so many other
> paddlers of folders.
>         My caution is based partly on a different experience I had, actually with
> a kayak dolly.  I used a commercially available dolly with an aluminum
> frame for a mile and a half portage across Matagorda Island. We pulled
> several loaded kayaks through sand and wet marsh across the island.  Then I
> found the sand and seashell grit had cut deep grooves into the aluminum
> where the wheel hub sleeves rode on the axles.  That abrasive potential
> from the sand stuck in my mind as something to avoid.

Yes, my comment is based on observation over 10 years of owning my own
boats, getting lots of sand in them that never really gets out.  As well
as looking at 100s of other boats and talking to hundreds and hundreds
of owners.

Listen, it is fine to baby your boat.  It certainly won't do any harm. 
But not babying it will not mean immediate demise or a short life for
it.

When Sandy Kramer was here and paddled my K-Light she was astonished
that I didn't wash it when I was ready to put it away.  Said she would
tell the gang on me. :-)  But I will tell on myself.  I wash the boat
every so often, a couple of time a year.  And same with the others in my
fleet.  They all are fine.

Someone mentioned that the Germans are very concerned about things like
this.  They are.  The instructions in German that come with Kleppers say
varnish once a year.  The US literature doesn't (or didn't) say that. 
As far as I can tell the boats on both sides of the Atlantic wear at
about the same rate.  I have had wooden framed folding kayaks for 12
years now.  Not once have I ever varnished.  I did buy a can of varnish
early on to have it around.  Guess what?  When I went to use the varnish
for something else, it was solidified in the can.

But please do varnish, please do put rugs down, please wash the boat
everytime you paddle.  It won't do harm and certainly will add life to
the kayak well down the road.  The skin on my kayak will last about 25
years from what I can see.  I will be 75 years old by then.  You know
what?  I think a worn out kayak skin will be the least of my worries
then.  The frame probably will not last the 50 or 60 years that it is
should otherwise last.  Probably just 30 or 40 years.  So I will be
around 80 or 90 at the time.  I am not going to worry about that.

Here is the the weak point in hypalon.  It can't be dragged for too long
of a distance on gravel or asphalt.  If you are carting an assembled
folding kayak and don't lift the far end off the ground and it starts
rubbing on the surface of the sidewalk, parking lot, or whatever
surface, you will put a hole in at that end for sure inside of a few
hundred feet.  If you paddle a hypalon bottome boat in whitewater over
gravel bottoms where the boat is constantly dragging and being pushed
hard by the current, you will put a hole in the skin for sure.  But
coming up on rocky or gravel beaches and just hitting a rubbing a few
feet will, at most, scratch it up like it would the gelcoat on
fiberglass.  If your boat is driven by a heavy surf on to a steel tie
rod planted in the sand and sticking out, you will likely get a hole in
it.  Something real sharp and being thrown on to it with great force,
will do damage.  But not much else will.

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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