Sorry for the slight OT response--where'd you get the 3mm baltic birch? A buddy and I want to build a pair of skimboards for when the lake drops and exposes the sand beaches!

Shawn

: Sorry for the delay in posting, just saw the post. I've designed and built
: four strippers

: My first strip kayak I designed and built at 17.5 feet and 20 inches (looks
: like a Guillemot front with a Looksha rear) and 50 pounds. I overglassed
: inside and outside. Hell, I didn't know what I was doing.
: My second was 19 feet and 19 inches and was 49 pounds.
: My third was 18/20 and 46 pounds.
: My last was 18 feet 19 inches and 43 pounds with the foot pump, too.
: I wanted to use carbon fiber for it's high strength and low weight and ease
: of workability. The trouble was it is beyond merely expensive but I was
: given a roll remnant which changed the picture. Foir the last yak, Rikki's
: It was made of Honduran mahogany with sugar pine pin stripes followed by a
: sweeping and intertwining "ribbons" of purpleheart and holly.
: All heavy woods. The bow and stern have replaceable rub strips (black PETE
: plastic front) white UHMW plastic rear). There's a Bosworth Guzzler 450S
: foot pump on the forward bulkhead, the cockpit is with a molded minicell
: seat and backrest and hip pads that extend forward to reduce cockpit
: volume. No rudder. With that I got the weight down by using 3.4 ox
: triaxial s-glass (the satin stuff) in two layers on the deck topsides, the
: hull outside is 6 ox s-glass with the football of 6 oz s-glass. The inside
: deck and hull are 5.4 ox carbon fiber 2 by 2 weave cloth. The cockpit hull
: and deck underside has a second layer of CF as does around the hatches.
: Also, there a longitudinal series of "stringers" and concentric
: "ribs" made up of CF strips 4 inches wide. The stringers are
: placed under the centerline of the deck, attach the deck and hull
: together, and are at either side of the keel between chine and keel.
: That's 5 stringers. The ribs are 4 inch CF strips that go around the
: inside of the deck and hull to the stern of the rear hatch ( a large
: hatch) and forward of the front hatch (a large hatch). There's a bow and
: stern end-pout of CF chopped fiber mixed with dyed epoxy and fumed silica.
: All deck fitting that I ever use are attached to the deck via s/s t-nuts
: (10-24). To save weight, I didn't fill the inside coats, sanded smooth
: everything inside to look pretty and professional, and used 3 mm baltic
: birch for the bulkheads with CF on both sides and a large fillet of CF
: yarns under a CF tape. All that came out to 43 pounds. Still heavish but
: strong as a tank. The CF really saved on the weight, the Bosworth pump
: really added to the weight but was planned into the kayak at the very
: beginning ( all four have them installed). The rub strips add to the
: weight and I'm thinking to go to the "foamed" plastics. I'm
: consulting with the folks at Ridout Plastics here in San Diego (who had
: their building toasted by the recent brush fire).
: Another thing I found is that a balanced yak really feels lighter then a
: unbalanced yak at the same weight when carried.
: So in recap, I was fortunate to have a large roll of CF to play with.
: Incresing weight savings with same stregth requirements means dramatic
: cost increses. Conversely, to save weight and money means decresiong
: strength. Then again, there will be precious few times when the kayak will
: be stressed by conditions that will break it...any wise and perceptive
: individual will avoid such situations on the water. Most often it seems
: that landing and launches and transport accidents make up the majority of
: breaks and hard hits. So with that, the idea for us was to have a strong
: layup INSIDE the kayak, a oyster shell will slice through however many
: layers of whatever you have so what's the point of all those layers on the
: underside of the hull? Those hits are rare, but rubs and scrapes of the
: keel are guranteed unless you do what Rikki does and gets out in shallow
: water (unlike I who always plows into the beach). This gets me to the
: point where the more you paddle the more the yak gets craped and dinged.
: I'm at the point with my yak that I periodically sand the bottom and rub
: on a 1 oz layer of epoxy and call it done. It's a kayak and not a piece of
: jewlery and that feeling tends to color my thoughts.
: How's that for a meaningless morning babble session? How's the NH coming? I
: have some thoughts about the tracking issues that many complain about
: (also known as a nice and maneueravble yak). Try installing a removeable
: keel strip.