: Hi

: I quite like the idea, and other than fabrication issues, seems quite
: feasible. Like can you weld a nice jt in thin thin sheet.

: Some issues to contemplate: 1/corrosion corrosion corrosion 2/sharp edges and
: hatches and coamings may mean big slicing hazard 3/ may be quite noisy in
: the waves(I personally would reject it for this)4/floatation is pretty
: important!

: (I believe that many skin yaks have aluminum frames)

: but all can be dealt with in some manner, and an aluminum yak would be
: extremely interesting to see and if you are all inclined please check it
: out and go for it.

Using the stitch and glue analogy to build, one of lthe difficulties will be holding the thin edges together while constructing. You don't have the 3 or 4mm thickness to butt agaist ea other.(Prob more like .030" or .75mm to get rough estimate of 30# skin only).

So 2 simple approaches. 1/ Use 1/2" x 1/2" tabs say every 4-6in, fold upwards and c clamp together, weld the adjacent edges, cut off tabs. or 2/Cut one edge of every panel 1/4-3/8in wider, drill holes every 4-6 in thru both panels, lap the joint(the 1/4 or 3/8), cleco them together, and weld. This sounds like way the easiest. In the middle bottom of the yak, maybe cleco(then weld) in some 1/2in tubing (say 6-8ft long)along w/ the joint to just stiffen up this area for going over obstacles -esp if the bottom is flattish.

(On a side note, someone should give some stitch and glue software to the aluminum aircraft industry to eliminate some of those slab sided aluminum airplanes. One could probably get some nice interesting yet simple to construct shapes and with a rolling curve, resistant to crinkling too.Maybe get thinner skins this way too)

-mick