On Friday, February 28, 2003, at 01:13 AM, Matt wrote: > No aluminum kayaks that I can recall. Have you ever paddled a Grumman > Canoe? > Cold and noisy. I also had to stomp the bottom back out after taking > one > rental down a shallow river once in the 70's. It is about the last > (usable) > material I'd choose for making a kayak hull. I'll speak up in defense of the old Grumman canoe, having put a lot of miles in with one myself. They are noisy and cold, but aluminum is a practical material for them. They can be left outside for years with absolutely no degradation. They can handle a huge amount of abuse without complaining. You can run them full speed up onto a beach every time for years without problems. My father dropped a tree on his. It needed to be bent back into shape, but it was and is fine. It once got a crack from some impact, but welded up as good as new. His Grumman is 30 years old and has been stored outside most of that time. It easily has another 30 years of use in it and will probably go on for another hundred. Grumman-style aluminum canoes will never be the "best" canoe for any particular water conditions, but they are decent boats for a wide variety of conditions and they will still be around long after "better" plastic and FRP canoes have died. I'm not about to advocate making an aluminum kayak, but I could see one filling a niche. I doubt they would be cost effective to mass produce, but someone handy with a welder could make a decent kayak that would last for ever. Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Feb 28 2003 - 06:22:21 PST
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