Subject: baidarka building foldables by eye vs. from plans (was: books on foldables)
From: RCH3149@aol.com
Date: Mon Dec 04 2000 - 12:47:24 EST
Paul: Offset tables ...
Ralph: ... are actually more interesting than the drawings themselves for the
potential builder since you sort of have to build a folding boat from
measurements (at least it would be highly complicated to build it from the
gunwale down, like a traditionally built skin boat).
Gerald: It is not really complicated and an option for people who like stiff
gunwales instead of other stiffening architecture (e.g. diagonal rods).
Should seriously considered by builders who want to transpose greenland kayak
lines into a folding architecture.
Ralph: Does this imply that you built your boats upside down and without a
predetermined plan "by eye" (or at least measured from a mock-up defined by
the shape of the gunwales), Gerald? Interesting approach, but one I have so
far always discounted for two reasons:
a) If a design is proven and 100% to my liking, then I can take measurements
off the existing hull and draw my plan from that. That way I can make sure
that everything is fair and symetrical before comitting wood to it.
b) If a design is not proven, I would want to build a "cheap" (i.e.,
non-folding) version first and trial it on the water. Then any changes I want
to make can be made to the "cheap" hull. The final version, which then meets
my expectations, could be quickly measured and I could again build the
folding version from measurements and a plan.
Part of my perspective in wanting to use numbers is that I like to simluate
boat designs on the computer before comitting any time and money to wood
(and, to be quite honest, while I would prefer just to stand in my workshop
and cut and reassemble pieces of wood, my daily schedule does not allow
adequate time for this ... however I always have time to fill on the laptop
on my commuter train).
By the way, using deep gunwales (cut from wide boards) is not confined to
building "by eye" (or at least without bothering to prepare a plan first: One
of Otto Hartel's "Grazer Kajaks", the one with the integral "fin" ("Mit der
Flosse"), requires a gunwale board with non-parallel sides and a curvature in
the plane of the original source board too strong to achieve through
"edge-set".
Lorenz Mayr's solution for the fin boat was to use the top and bottom edges
of the original gunwale as the defining lines for a "traditional" thin
gunwale and an additional stringer pair below it, which obviates the need to
expand the shape of this particular gunwale for laying out on a flat board
before cutting. For what it's worth ...
And time for an apology once again, baidarkonauts, this exchange, strictly
speaking, should be taking place on the FoldingBoats list. (Come on, Gerald,
you're subscribed there, I believe.)
Best regards,
Ralph
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