: Sounds like comments by this guy are from a persective of someone who can not
: tolerate anything that does not have his input, or is a disgruntled
: ex-employee whose credibility wanes with every shot he takes at a leader
: in the industry. Can Nick put up with all this "grand-standing"
: on forum with such a good reputation? Maybe Nick should read all Leeg
: posts.

Isaiah,
My comment was an expansion on Mike Allens explanation as to why a sea kayak would have a forming bulkhead as a permanent feature, that it could have been a previous employees construction. A feature that would limit access to 30% of the forward volume and reduce the linear space by nearly 50%. Since the designer is responsible for something being a particular way and not some employee making the design I thought the fact that these kayak designs are not tested or built by the designer would illustrate why something could be a particular way. Anyone who's used a kayak for camping wouldn't think of leaving something like that in. Anyone who's paddled for a stretch of time where condensation or wiping the compartment out because a container of apple juice opened up would notice a ring bulkhead that's trapping crud. Saying "well you could take it out" is fine,,but leaving that up to the customer is including the customer in the protoyping loop. That I find insulting for the person spending nearly $1000, and 6months building their first boat,,,especially given the small population of people who develop epoxy reactions and their first boat might be their last or second to last boat.
Sure I'm a disgruntled ex-employee who liked helping people make good stuff and see other folks design good stuff. I'm also a customer who contributed to CLCs education by buying 4 kits at retail. And they did learn some things. And didn't learn others. Fixed wooden footbraces were standard for CLC kits untill three yrs ago,,that's an anomaly for sea kayaks,,a forming bulkhead LEFT inside a completed kayak is an anomaly.

Customers just like to know they are buying a well tested product. Seems like a reasonable expectation.