: I am looking for info on george dyson aluminium baidarkas..
: how have these lashed aluminium craft held up over time?
: how heavy are the frames, lighter than all wood?
: any other comment appreciated...

: generally on baidarkas- how similar to the line drawings of past
: aleutian ones are modern plans?

: cheers

No personal experience with them but I do have George's book and they interest me as well. I saw one at SSTIKS this spring - the fellow said he was the 3rd owner and the the kayak certainly looked in pretty serviceable shape. It appeared to perform well, he used it in a couple of the races. The only thing was a general "saddle" looking sag behind the cockpit - not sure how that originated.

From what I have seen, the original baidarkas had a bit of variation to them as well, some were shorter and wider, some long and very narrow. I suggest you have a look at the drawings on David Zimmery's site arctickayaks.com, it's a rich source of information, including plan drawings of the frames and dimensions. The baidarka archive accessed from the Qajaqusa.org forum site also has lots of info.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it?