Re: [Paddlewise] reverse-rocker

----- Original Message -----
From: "cholst" <cholst_at_bitstream.net>

> My old polyethylene Sea Lion was hogged, too, which was one reason I got
rid
> of it. Someone told me the fiberglass original from which the mold was
> created did not have this defect, and that the poly version assumed the
> hogged shape only after it was removed from the mold. So if this
information
> is correct, then it can indeed be a production error -- and a repeatable
> one, at that.

I once saw a Feathercraft K-2 that took on a negative rocker.  It was owned
by any older couple who found the assembly so vexing that they kept it
assembled all the time.  The trouble is that it was left on their roof rack
on a car with not a particularly long roof line.  The double is around 20
feet long.  Eventually the ends sagged from months of such storage giving it
a negative rocker.  To a degree, when placed on the water, the flexibility
of the frame and their weight in the cockpit area brought the rocker back
toward its intended design but not fully as far as I could tell.

BTW, you certainly can carry a K-2 for hundreds or thousands of miles on
your car.  Just don't constantly store it on your roof rack unless you
prepare some way of supporting more of its length.  One fellow who was
forced to permanently store his Khatsalano on his roofrack, hit on the idea
of using an extension ladder as a base for carrying the boat on the roof of
his SUV.  He cut out foam blocks to support the Khats at I think about 6 to
8 places for greater retention of shape and rocker.  It worked quite well
but one day he drove into an underground garage forgetting he had the thing
on his roof.  The rigid solid ladder and its extensive connections to his
roof made it incredibly solid.  Ordinarily in such situations, roof racks
will pop off or straps at the normal two spots will pop off.  But his
didn't.  What gave was his poor Khats and it totaled.

ralph diaz

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