Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to make my first folder. Probably a Baidarka type since I want it for expedition use. On the Yostwerks site the recommended aluminum poles are 3/4" with 5/8" inserts. I live in a country where metric is used and the poles recommended to me were:

* 20/2 (20mm diameter with 2mm wall thickness) with 15/1 for the inserts, or

* 16/1.5 with 12.8/1.9 inserts.

Both are 6063-T5

A few questions:

1. Is there a big difference between 6063-T832 (recommended on Yostwerks) and the 6063-T5 I can purchase here?

2. The inserts for the 16mm seemed to fit beautifully (with the 0.2mm clearance). Of course the inserts for the 20mm would be looser (with the 1mm clearance). On Yostwerks looks like the two options are 0.6mm and 0.16mm clearance. Can anyone suggest which sounds like the better clearance for the inserts of the two options I got?

3. As far as pole thickness the 16mm sounds nicer because it would be lighter. Would it be strong enough? On Yostwerks the 19mm (3/4") is 1.25mm or 1.47mm thick, so maybe the 16mm with 1.5mm thickness is sufficient? The 20mm (closer to 3/4") is 2mm thick - maybe an overkill?

4. Is the insert thickness significant, since the 15mm insert for the 20mm poles are only 1mm thick?

I think those are my questions for now.

Thank you very much!