: True, but he didn't want a folder. He wanted a wood-strip Black
: Pearl.

: The added bulkheads add some weight but the biggest weight culprit
: would have been the stainless steel bolts. Metal's heavy. We
: figured making a sub-30 pound, one-piece Black Pearl into a
: sectional would have added about 10 pounds onto it. Still, 40
: pounds for an 18+ foot long sea kayak isn't bad. Let alone one
: that's wood that you could take with you on international trips.

Some thoughts:

The bolts on the bottom are the ones with the most strain, the top ones only have to handle force under negative gees, not a common thing in a boat. It may be lighter to have wood components (GRP reinforced a/r) holding the sections together at the top (and maintaining alignment) with a single heavy-duty bolt at the keel. There are another design compromises between lots of bolts all round the circumference and less bolts combined with stiffer bulkheads to reduce weight. Bulkheads will be lighter if made of thinner material with a stiffening frame. And obviously the fewer sections the lower the total weight . . .