From: "Gene Smith" <SmithFrow@worldnet.att.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka FOLDABLES AND STIFFNESS
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 14:26:37 -0000
>How rigid should a skin-on frame be??
>
>Quotations from this newsgroup state that flexibility is a must for
>seaworthiness, recommending not to epoxy lashings not to affect
>negatively this feature.
>
>Others state that a high degree of stiffness is highly recommendable
>even before the skin is on.
Stefano, I will let others speak from paddling experience, but allow me a
tangential observation from the automotive world. This same debate went on
for decades, finally being won by the rigid crowd. I do believe that direct
comparisons would be invidious because the road stays nice and still
(usually) and fails to heave up and down and all the other interesting
things water does. Still, one observation has relevance I think, and that
is that a structure wants to be either consistently rigid or consistently
flexible. The flexy spot left in a stiff structure or the stiff spot left
in a flexible structure is almost invariably the location of trouble.
Gene Smith
getting stiff in spots in Houston