Message-Id: <v01530501ad8a50be9a9d@[206.163.122.57]>
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 23:59:36 -0700
To: baidarka@imagelan.com
From: teleport.com!tahnee@imagelan.com (Tahnee or James)
Subject: Re: Frame question: aluminum vs. wood
Philip Wylie raised many questions about my posting that I would like to
answer here.
>Why is a 6.6M Aluminum Frame- Nylon Skin Baidarka- harder to stow gear
>inside and why are these craft not able to be fitted with watertight
>hatches and bulkheads to keep gear dry and "the paddler safe"?
>With ceadar or teak floor ribs running the length of the Baidarka and
>with two hatches, why is it harder to stow gear???
Any boat with internal ribs--whether wood, aluminum, or
whatnot--has a series of crossways obstructions that get in the way of
pushing bulky items into the ends of the boat. Adding floor boards that
run the length of the boat will further intrude into the usable volume for
storage and may have the unfortunate potential of raising the loaded center
of gravity compared to a boat which can store the heavy things right
against the bottom.
Why a skin boat is not easily fitted with bulkheads is obvious when
you consider the difficulty of fitting a waterproof cross-sectional wall to
a flexible skin when the longitudinal strength members that support this
skin would necessarily pierce this wall in several places. Why bulkheads
are useful is because they can very substantially limit the amount of water
that will swamp the boat after a blown sprayskirt or a swim. The less
water sloshing around inside your boat, the more likely you will be able to
successfully recover from a capsize that results in a swim. There is a
device sometimes used called a sea-sock which will serve many of the same
purposes as a set of bulkheads, but it has the drawbacks of being extremely
uncomfortable to wear in warm or even moderate weather and of giving
practically no easy stowage space there in the cockpit with you.
Furthermore, as it is a separate piece of gear from the boat, there is a
chance it will not be set up and ready for use just when it is needed. A
kayak that is built with waterproof bulkheads always has this safety
feature available.
>Moreover, are we to assume that the some 100 or more aluminum frame &
>skin Baidarkas constructed and floating are all suffering from inferior
>watertight hatches an bulkheads??
I have never, ever seen any skin-on-frame boat of any kind that had
waterproof bulkheads (see above). Furthermore, there needs to be a
distinction made between "hatch", which signifies an opening in the deck
that can be closed with a watertight cover and generally provides access to
stowing cargo in the boat, and "cockpit", which refers to the opening in
which a paddler sits and which may often also be used for passing cargo
below. Just about all skin boats have "cockpits", but very, very few have
"hatches". The watertightness of a cockpit is governed by the integrity of
the sprayskirt and the cockpit rim or flange, and is seldom if ever truly
water-proof. A well-designed hatch, on the other hand, can be perfectly
waterproof, even after hours of playing in the surf. As the opening for
the cockpit is larger than the openings for my hatches, I do use the
cockpit for loading some of my bulkiest gear such as my crab-cooking pot
and frypan, which go right in front of my feet against the front bulkhead.
But all of my personal stuff such as clothes, sleeping bag, tent, and camp
stove gets put inside the nice dry compartments fore and aft under
waterproof locking hatches.
. . . a good craftsman should be able to enjoy the flavor of
>both mediums of consruction material. Aluminum may not be as romantic as
>wood but it speaks of superior strength, durablilty and just as much
>precicision craftsmanship and is more than a worthy subtitute for wood.
I do and have used aluminum where I felt it is appropriate for my
boat building, most recently for the construction of a retractable skeg for
a kayak whose original fiberglass skeg was not strong enough. (Did you
know you can "carve" foil sections out of thicker aluminum sheet with a
power plane and an angle grinder?) There are places where aluminum is
appropriate. However, I take issue with your contention that aluminum is
stronger and more durable in every way than wood. Wood generally has much
better fatigue resistance over time with constant flexing, wood is easier
to work with and repair than aluminum (a kink in an aluminum tube or
section is a pain in the ass to fix, whereas scarfing in a new piece of
wood to repair a crack in an ash gunwale is relatively easy with epoxy
glue--personal experience with wrecked whitewater canoes I have repaired),
wood is not subject to galvanic corrosion in saltwater, and it is still a
lot more pleasant to work with in my opinion.
>I have owned canvas cedar canoes and they are beautiful and graceful to
>look at. But maintain them? Forget it!
You shouldn't confuse the care and upkeep required of a
traditional late 19th century boatbuilding style with modern wood/epoxy
composite construction. Modern wood/epoxy construction requires about the
same amount of upkeep as a fiberglass boat, i.e. virtually none. A wood
framed skin boat can be a different story, especially if you are building
it as a replica or semi-replica. The many slender ribs of a traditionally
built baidarka are somewhat fragile, comparatively, though it is important
to remember that the original boats were re-skinned very frequently which
gave the opportunity to replace strained or cracked members. Wood and
canvas boats can be built much stronger than some native prototypes,
however, with white oak ribs and the like. I have a favorite South
Greenland style kayak with oak ribs that I have used in the surf without
any problems for three years. In another year or so I will probably
replace the skin.
I am willing to put up with this kind of upkeep because 1) I like to work
on and fiddle with boats anyways, 2) Aboriginal type kayaks are really
cool and worth a little effort, and 3) I probably spent less to build the
entire boat than you would spend on hypalon paint alone for a Dyson 6.6m
Baidarka.
Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that Aluminum-framed Baidarkas
are all bad. For one thing, they _are_ way strong and really, really
durable. They are based on the shapes and designs of boats from one of the
most sea-faring peoples in history. They are and have been used for many
notable voyages, and many paddlers enjoy the way they work. They are
certainly much cooler than a mass-produced, store-bought plastic or FG
boat. I think that anybody who likes the concepts and techniques behind
the Dyson style of neo-baidarka should go for it and build themselves one,
and I would be happy to see more people building their own. But they are
not what I would choose for myself for kayak touring for many of the
reasons stated above, and I have other types of boats I enjoy paddling for
my daytrips.
--James McMullen