> I'd never though about converting the Guillemot design to skin-on-frame.
> It would undoubtably be a beautiful boat and one that I would have a hard
> time resisting building---

> But I'd have serious reservations about it's ability to take the high
> point impact loads that collisions with river rocks produce. Is there
> anyone out there with skin-on-frame experience who could comment on this?

Well I have not built a skin/frame boat but I have built several whitewater fiberglass squirt kayaks. Usally one that is meant to stand up to rocks is around a 5 over 7 layup. That is a 5 layer deck lay up of glass(6-10oz) and polyester(5oz), and 7 on the hull.... I would worry about the frame causing stress points when scaping over rocks. In a boat that the hull is consistant, the forces will be more evenly spread out.

I would definitley agree on the point of a longer boat being a liability in tight situations in rapids. Also a safty factor to consider in whitewater is the compression strength of the boat if it gets stuck in between a rock and the current. All that said if you go back and look at the evolution of whitewater boats there was a lot of long plastic before the short tupperware boats you see today.

Jay, I assume unless you timed your trip with a hurricane, parts were pretty scrapy. I live in Radford and am familiar with the section from here to WV. I have heard really good things about the section through Fries VA but never been there. Was the section above claytor scrapy? I am only familiar with Foster's falls section, and I can imagine that right now. Did you paddle Claytor Lake?? If so I hope it was in a loooong, fast plastic boat:)

Years ago I think many boats were made from fiberglass molds pulled from the plastic boats of the day, It might be possible to find one of those floating around for a boat that would be suitable for rapids and tripping if you want to go the non wood route....