Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 22:09:04 -0500
Message-Id: <199502210309.WAA26117@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu>
To: baidarka@imagelan.com (Kirk Olsen)
From: hazel.2@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu (Paul W Hazel)
Subject: Re: rib bending - oak?
>>
>>
>> The major question that I have settled on is how to bring the skin
>> together, hold firm and be able to take appart with relative ease.
>> At present I have landed on a split rod with the skin going around it
>> and a tube with a slot sliding over the rod and skin. Any other ideas
>> would be welcome.
>>
>
>Have you looked much at the existing commercial folding kayaks for
>ideas? That is a zipper to close the skin and inflatable baffles
>to tighten the skin.
>
>A couple of years ago at the LL Bean sea kayak symposium George Dyson
>mentioned that someone had built a takeapart baidarka using construction
>similar to the Feathercraft.
>
>For a single I could envision having the back deck and stern unzip and
>have the front permanantly sewn together. But I believe you are
>working on a double.
>
Have you considered lacing it? Make the skin oversize in circumference, then
fold in the extra along the deck stringer (think of a tennis shoe - the
extra material is folded in to become the 'tongue', with a row of eyelets
down each side.) This eliminates the need for a seam that might be difficult
to keep sealed, and would be less expensive than buying those big zippers.
Also, as the skin stretched, it could be pulled tight again. You would
probably want to sew in some kind of stiffener along each side by the
grommets to spread the stress equally along the edge of the fold.
The obvious problem now is what to do about the cockpit area. If the cockpit
rim is made of two bands, wood or aluminum, the skin could be clamped
between them.
Think of the outside band as a giant radiator hose clamp.(I realize that is
a really ugly analogy, but the actual clamp ring wouldn't have to look bad.)
All that is left is to figure out how the frame structure will collapse to
allow it to be removed through the cockpit opening.