Skin on frame kayak performance

Always, always,always
use flotation bags in any kayak that doesn’t have water tight bulkheads. Just common sense.

Article about skin on frame
Funny but I was just scouring the net a few weeks ago about skin on frame kayaks. I was in search of an article I read 5 years ago about an oceangoing tribe of American Indians and their kayaks. Unfortunately I was unable to find the article. I could have sworn it was an article in National Geographic. Anyway, the reason I am posting is because I remember specifically that the author claimed that well built SOF kayaks are actually superior in performance to modern, rigid kayaks. At least the ones built by this tribe. The claim was supported by scientific analysis of their flexing properties while encountering waves etc. Unfortunately I have been unable to locate this article so if anyone decides to do a little sleuthing and finds it please post.

my plan
my dad is convinced that pvc is strong enough after i was finally able to explain to him that it was 18oz polyester coated in pvc. currently i am planning to build a wood frame version of the yostwerks sea cruiser. i plan to use 1050 senior ballistic nylon 12oz. and i will sew it, dye it, and shrink it. then i will coat it with polyeurathane. My dad is on board with the project now and will help me in building it. He is happy that it should only cost a little over 200$ to complete. i have spent more than that in my other hobby, radio controlled rock crawling, my current rc rock crawler has at least 300-400$ in it. i am not going to sell it though because i can afford to build a kayak over time, even on my allowance as i do a large portion of the upkeeping of the house and yard since both my parents work full time. it looks like some bike trailer modifications will be in order to produce a trailer to haul a 17’-18’ kayak behind a bike.

Congratulations!
You have come a LONG way from the pool toy.

used is an option
If you have time to wait and watch the market, you can find decent used boats on the cheap. I have bought 3 plastic boats (a Necky Looksha 4 and two Looksha Sports) for $500 each, and an odd-ball fiberglass boat (a Japanese make boat that never really made it on the market here) for $600. All good boats.

thanks

– Last Updated: May-27-08 11:02 PM EST –

now i just need a bit more money to start gathering supplies. the funny thing is this greenland style sea kayak will mostly see small lakes and slow, shallow, wide rivers. i also need to clear a workspace in my garage full of my dead grandma's stuff.

Yup, nothing
more annoying than having dead grandma’s stuff cluttering up the garage…

It clutters up my house.One woman’s
history is one husband’s junk.

grandma
was in the garage too for a while in her filing cabinet until the ground thawed. all her stuff got put in our garage after a lit cigarrette started an apartment fire and she was kicked out and put in a nursing home. so now we need to sort through it all and figure out what to keep, what to toss, and what to give away. and who knows when we will get around to that.