: Until just a couple days ago, I had totally forgotten there was the
: inflatable builders manual too. I thought the Sonnet 16/18 info
: under the folder main menu was all the information available and
: they were still works in progress. After re-discovering the
: yostwerks main page link to the inflatable manual, the Sonnets
: do look really interesting.

: I have enough material on hand to build either at this time and
: have not started the build yet(getting my second garage in
: order) so I still have time to change my mind. However, my main
: concern is how well the Sonnets actually work. I had a rather
: poor experience in a low price, commercial pure inflatable a few
: weekends ago that leaves me smarting about building an
: inflatable rather than a more rigid one like the Sea Tour.

: To describe my experience: A couple weekends ago, myself, a friend
: and one of his friends went to one of the local lakes. My friend
: and I had never been kayaking before and his friend is just a
: casual boater who takes his kayaks out when he camps at lakes.
: There was a steady 3-4 north wind. Me and the two guys I was
: with(in 8.5-9ft plastic kayaks) traveled north, against the wind
: down the length of the lake. I had to paddle a lot more than the
: other two but overall, it was pretty decent. We assumed going
: back the other way, with the wind, would be a lot easier for me
: not having the wind against me. Boy was I wrong, that thing just
: did not want to track with the wind at all. If I got up to any
: speed at all, it would want to turn. I think I spun out like
: eight 360s just trying to get that thing back to where we
: started. Once we made the turn for the ramp where we started and
: I was back into the wind a bit, it started tracking just fine
: again! I got to try out one of the plastic kayaks and it was, of
: course, immensely better and I was hooked(along with my friend)
: on getting a kayak. I would rather have a folding one because I
: do not want to buy a roof rack for my car at this time.

: I guess my main concern about a Sonnet would be how rigid it is
: compared to the Sea Tour. Also, the Sea Tour feels like it would
: be something I can build since you build the frame and then skin
: it. Psychologically, with the Sea Tour once I have that frame
: built, all I have left to do is skin it. On the other hand, with
: a Sonnet, you do not really have anything boat-like until you
: finish the skin. I have to say, cutting and gluing the skin is
: the most intimidating part of this project to me and the Sonnet
: appears to be more technical from the start in that regard.

The Sonnet isn't completely just inflatable, it's tube braced so it stays semi-rigid.

It's a very interesting design, I'll build one one of these days.

Bill H.