Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 08:58:22 -0800 (PST)
From: George Dyson <gdyson@cc.wwu.edu>
To: List Baidarka <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: longevity
Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.91.961029085402.12122C-100000@statler.cc.wwu.edu>
Wolfgang Brinck asked (some time ago):
>Does anybody have any longevity figures?
Better late than never:
Over the past 10 years, I have distributed and kept track of the
whereabouts of 15,787 feet of nylon skin material. This covers a
population of about 800 boats, fairly evenly distributed between wood
skeletons and aluminum skeletons. About a dozen I know of have had to be
reskinned, for reasons as follows:
Wear (but not tear) in rental fleet use--3 or 4 cases.
"Hit by a 30-foot Bayliner" near Deception Pass--(skin was intact but frame
had to be rebuilt).
Skin shrunk too tight--3 or 4 cases (severe enough to require a refit).
Catastrophic air freight damage--1 case.
Blown off dock by storm and onto breakwater, Lund, BC--1 case.
Blown off beach and onto rocks, Stephens Passage, Alaska--1 case.
Hit by falling rock from cliff, San Juan Islands--1 case.
Of course, there may be worn-out skins I am not informed of. But it is
_probably_ safe to say that in general, barring act of God or paying
clients, you can expect 5 to 10 (or more) years from a nylon skin. And.
by the way, if you need to replace your skin, leave the deck intact and
just replace the hull. Lace the new skin along the gunwales, and tape the
seams. You save all that work around the cockpit and deck fittings, which
will (almost) never wear out.
George B. Dyson gdyson@cc.wwu.edu
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