Dyson designed baidarka's are very cool , the aluminum frame takes a lot of work. I've built a couple of Aleut all wood framed replicas - well almost replicas in that I used canvas to replace the sealskin and nylon string to replace sinew lashings.

I think that the wood framed Aleut type has more spirit than the aluminum framed baidarkas. The wood and canvas combo has a very organic feel on the water where as the nylon/aluminum is kind of dead they are tough though.

More on Inuit kayaks at arctickayaks.com

: Kinda got the surprize of my life when I saw a skin-on-frame baidarka (Dyson
: design) atop a car sitting outside a local C-store last week--an unusual
: sight in Mid America. Was wondering if anybody on this bbs stopped in
: Concordia, Mo. last Wed? Nice looking boat--wish I had had time to stop
: and talk and take a closer look. Tom