Re: [Paddlewise] Stiff or Flexible?

Richard Kemmer wrote:

> Glen,
> I'm no engineer, but I do have preferences.  One is for flexible
> skin-on-frame boats.  Built a baidarka in a workshop and absolutely love it.
> Before "modern" sea kayaks became the rage, built Folbot kits and loved them
> too.  There's no experience like paddling a boat that lives with and works
> with the sea.

Know what you mean, having paddled hardshells and Folbots, one-on-one. 
Different esthetics -- sometimes I really like the flex, and sometimes I want a
rigid shell under me.

> Held my tongue through the previous discussion, because I know nothing about
> building glass boats.  Still, based on experience with skin-frame craft,
> have a hard time understanding the preference for weight and stiffness.
> Would think that a kayak, even without a frame, would be like a
> skyscraper -- where appropriate flex actually adds strength to the design.

I have been intrigued by the many thoughtful posts on the "stiff vs flexible"
issue, and share Rick's interest in whether there is any *hard data* to show
that one is really superior to the other.

I suspect such data would be very difficult to acquire, though the efficiency
of dolphins, porpoises, and the like may suggest the issue is worth exploring.

I bet the US Navy has data, though I also bet a "flexible" submarine is an
engineering impossibility, sans genetically "expanding" a whale and equipping
it with a conning tower and living quarters midships (midwhale?).  <vbg>

Who got data?  We all have beliefs on this issue.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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