On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 10:09 PM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote: > > I know they are tough, tougher than a 50 pound Brit boat is some respects, > but perhaps not as tough as my Nordy, witness it taking out a logging truck > shop's garage door, being blown off my van onto the pavement, belly-first; > direct cartwheels over boulders in the surf, etc. Okay, so an SOF might be > lighter. > All I'm saying is that for about $300 and a week's worth of work in the shop you can have a kayak that will do a lot of what you like to do. If you break it you spend another week in the shop and $300 to make a new one using 14-oz ballistic nylon instead of that wimpy 12-ounce stuff. You can experiment with designs using plastic-wrap and speed up the design/test processes, too. Don't like where the chines are? Change 'em, re-wrap the boat in plastic-wrap and see if they work better that way. Meanwhile, in between paddling your SOF, you could always work on a stripper. But if you let the gals paddle an F-1 you'll probably have to make them boats of their own first. Doing this in a bombproof glass Coaster would probably been more > fun than in a Nordy with a thick, directional keel strip, but an SOF > version > of a maneuverable craft, I don't know. I hate dipping into a deep chasm all > completely rigid and then pulling out completely limp before finishing the > run. I've never seen a limp, abused SOF, but I doubt it would float well. > I dunno about bombproof... my first Coaster cost me $1k and another $500 for Sterling to fix a bunch of major holes. One of them was seven inches long. And that didn't include any gel-coat as I purposely wanted it to look as beat up as possible to deter any thieves who might recognize the boat. This makes me pretty sure that fiberglass boats aren't bombproof. They might be easier to fix but, as you should know, every fix adds weight. > > Not understanding my predilections? Craig, if you could only travel down > the > corridors of my memory... > > Actually I think I do understand your feelings. I have enjoyed reading about your exploits and would love to read more of them. I just want to get you out there this season so I don't have to wait longer for more of the stories. :) I don't want to sound like I'm proselytizing for SOF kayaks here. I'm suggesting it for purely pragmatic reasons: quick to build, inexpensive, responsive to edges and paddle strokes (but not as fast edge-to-edge as your Nordy was), and light in weight. Didn't you buy a S&G kayak last year? Where did that go? Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Feb 25 2010 - 07:40:00 PST
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