Just an added note on redundancy of frame parts and loose connections on folding kayaks. I know of situations in which people with double Kleppers have forgotten to bring a part or two. For example, in one instance, the paddlers misplaced a crossrib and one of the gunwale bars (there are four, two that run from the bow to midship and two from the stern to midship). They just carried on and the boat held up fine albeit not looking quite as fully formed in its outward appearance lines. I myself had the gunwale bar of a K-Light come undone. I was doing a a 5 minute TV segment for a local station show involving me leaving my home, going up to the Small Boat Shop in South Norwalk Connecticut, assembling the boat and going out with friends for a paddle to a nearby island. During the assembly process when I was repeating some steps for a better camera angle, I failed to fully engage a slider on the starboard gunwale bar in the cockpit area. On the water, it came totally loose. I didn't notice until about halfway to the island. I tried reattaching it underway but it was awkward to do. All this meant was that my frame was sagging a bit in the middle on that side but it was not at all affecting speed or performance. I fixed it when we got to the island. But it is forever immortalized on the videotape. Any time I play it I am mortified but perhaps I am the only one who has noticed this. Any body who has ever built a boat or a house or house addition, knows that feeling about the little mistakes one made. You see it glaring at you but others never notice. That videotape is like that for me, like a cavity filling that seems at first to fill your entire mouth. 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 - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Feb 28 2000 - 08:35:27 PST
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