Message-Id: <ab7a2891000210041617@[132.177.128.6]>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 09:14:44 -0500
To: baidarka@imagelan.com, rose001@ibm.net
From: prl@hopper.unh.edu (paul labrie)
Subject: laced-up connection (was: Re: rib bending - oak?)
>The more I contemplate the idea of using a laced up connection the more it
>seams (play on words) to be a great idea. If the inner "tongue" is sealed
>with velcro, possibly twice over without any strain on pulling it apart.
>The lacing then would pull the skin tight. I like it.
>
>picture:
>
> ________________ _ _ __________________________
> ___||_| |_||_____
> |___________ |
> _****_______|
>
> || lacing holes that would pull skin tight using appropriate
> material (???)
> ***** velcro possibly two overlaps.
>
Neat! but is the picture upside down? (seriously!). Assuming this
is being done on the deck skin of the kayak, I would envision something
that would look more like this (I hope my drawing makes it through email!)
____________________
_________/ ******
_______________ __ __ _______________
_______________||__| |__||_______________
...in other words, just a simple flap over the seam to be laced.
The minuses that I can see about the tongue-in-groove design (assuming I
interpreted it correctly) is that it would require you to fasten the velcro
joint first then lace up the seam second. Could you really fasten it under
tension? My guess is that the thing would be 1) difficult to fasten and
2)if you did get it fastened, would ultimately bunch up when finally laced.
Finally, how watertight would it be? Wouldn't water just kinda pour into
the seam??
With a simple flap, you would take care of the tension by first lacing up
the seam. Then, simply fasten the flap. The flap would cover the laces
and would, perhaps, be more watertight (there may be some more watertight
alternatives to velcro as well).
I'll pass the two designs by my wife, Sharon -- she took care of lacing the
nylon fabric on my baidarka & taught me a lot about how to position
stitches to pull up the fabric, how to manage the cloth in the tricky areas
around the bow and stern, etc. etc. I hate to think what the boat would've
looked like if I had just attempted it myself.....
I think the idea of a removable skin is neat. As I've mentioned in the
past, even though the wood on my baidarka is epoxy-encapsulated, I still
fear for the long-term life of the boat. For that reason (among others) my
next baidarka will be all-aluminum, ala George Dyson's designs.
- paul -
paul r. labrie paul.r.labrie@unh.edu
university of new hampshire ---------------------
telecom center voice 603.862.3684
durham, nh 03824 fax 603.862.4545