My brother's boat got a hole through the side when he side-surfed into pointed bow of my boat (I wasn't in my boat at the time). I guess this counts as a failure, but then again it was stressed beyond the design spec. I don't think it is neccessary to design boats for such unusual conditions. I don't think many boats would have pulled through unscathed. Float bags made it so my brother could paddle home, so I guess as a system, the boat did not fail.

I think most home-built boats are over built for the use they are put to. I don't think this is a bad thing. The penalty is dragging around a few extra pounds. The advantage is, some construction mistakes can be made without endangering the paddler.

> Could we maybe hear from Nick and John Winters and other builders
> with a lot of boats under their belt? I tend to agree with Brian.
> I think double glassing your boat is overkill. There's no need to
> be concerned about catastrophic failure in a normally constructed
> stitch and glue or strip kayak. I beat the hell out of my stitch and
> glues in all kinds of rough water and have never had a problem. These
> boats are certainly as rugged as the high priced fiberglass boats
> from the major manufacturers. My boats always seem to tip the scale
> at just under 40 pounds. I can't imagine a full sized wooden kayak
> weighing in the 20 pound range. That might be why you got your failures,
> George. Did those boats have balsa cores? Your website offers what
> seems to me to be unbelievably ultra light weight kayaks. I am also
> a mechanical engineer. But you don't have to be an engineer to realize
> that as a general rule of thumb, as your vessel gets lighter it gets
> more fragile.