Hi All, I'm thinking of taking the plunge and building a skin on frame kayak. I've a Klepper single and really like the skin on frame feel and it's touring capability, but would like to try something lighter and more responsive and non-folding. Building space limitations give me an 11' length, 12' at a push, so I was thinking of a playful boat along the lines of a North Alaskan Retrieval, or Robert Morris's Recovery take on the theme, with a 24"ish beam. My next limitation is one of building skill and experience (ie complete beginner) so I've been looking at different construction methods to make life a little easier for a first timer. I found the pics of Tom Yost's fine kayaks on Hendrik's site where a mix of aluminium tubes with plywood cross ribs, stem, stern and coaming combine to form an effective frame that looks simpler to build than traditional methods. Am I right in thinking the joints can effectively be made by epoxying, for initial positioning, followed by lashing for strength and longevity? One route I could take is to take my Klepper single as a model. It's 4.5m and deducting 1m would give the length I'm looking for. It has sponsons of around 50mm each side, which I wouldn't have, bringing the beam to around 0.62m. Am I correct in thinking that if the seat position remains the same reducing the length by the same amount each end would keep the kayak balanced or am I over simplifying? Would you expect ¾" tubing to be ok with the bend required for 11' length and 24" beam? Is there a standard way to work out the size, shape and positioning of ply ribs and lengths of stringers? If I were looking to make equal changes to length and beam in a design, say 25%, I'd expect to make the width of a ply rib 25% less and the length of a stringer 25% less. It seems more complicated if one dimension changes, in this case beam, whilst the length remains the same. Alternatively if anyone knows of a source for Retrieval / Recovery kayak plans based on aluminium and ply rib constructionâ^À¦â^À¦â^À¦â^À¦ Any advice gratefully received. Cheers Andy *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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