Hello,

I have begun work on the folding kayak. Well, I have begun the design stages anyway. As soon as I finalize the design I will post pics.

In searching for good material for stringers, I found a kitebuilding supply site that offers graphite tubing. You can attach the tubing together with ferrels. The idea is to attach 36 to 48" lengths of tubing to make each stringer, and run shock cord through the center of it just like a geodesic tentpole. The whole thing would break down into 48" lengths, and the shock cord and ferrels would hold it together and also keep all the rods from getting mixed up. The same site sells epoxy ferrels, so I could build this thing with no metal parts to corrode.

Now for the problem... what size of tubing do I need? They post deflection results as per a 2-lb test with 26" section of tubing, but it's all greek to me. I want something that will flex, but I also want something that will be strong. I'm thinking about something in the neighborhood of 0.5". Do you think that's too small? Should I go for solid rod rather than hollow? I'm looking at this graphite fishing pole and bending it around and it looks like this stuff is what I'm looking for. The kayak will be 21" wide and 17.5' long, so I don't need to do too much bending of the stringers as with a smaller, fatter kayak.

Anyone got a Klepper that can tell me what they use for stringers?

Any comments?

-Malcolm