I've been experimenting with two piece and single piece rods and there is not much of a difference with a 4-5 inch deflection over 4 feet. See the URL below for a few pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33398444@N07/6607305091/in/set-72157628651964293

Also good news on the weight front: a 16ft long 3/8in stringer (2-8ft rods with brass ferule) is only 24 ounces, vs my original 40 ounce estimate.

John

: Thanks for the input gents. I ordered my tree stakes from Farmtek
: (they have some nice poly panel products you should check out as
: well). I appreciate the source for the metal. The Rangeley has a
: flat run in the mid third of the boat, so it will be interesting
: to see if the metal connectors have any impact. I'm planning to
: play around a lot with the stringer count and placement and will
: likely try the end result with a tempy skin before committing to
: the final nylon.

: I'm still conflicted w/r/t the weight issue. Wood Rangeley's were
: usually 100-150 pounds, and several accounts suggest that the
: extra weight was considered an asset in that it helped improve
: momentum between strokes and made tracking less suseptible to
: wind shifts. My conservative weight estimate is 90-100 pounds,
: with the stringers accounting for about 1/4.