> Paul: I see the boat was reskinned by Markus Heise. Any hints on how this skin was
> sewn together. I assume there are no sponsons for tightening, so how is the
> fit?
Marian: The skin has been sewn together using the original seam method, developed by
Austrian
folding kayak builders in the 50's.
It's called "eingesäumte Stehnaht" = hemmed stand-up seam. There is a drawing and a
description in
"The Book" by Lorenz Mayr (which I can't access at the moment so I have to rely on my
memories).
It looks quite complicated. The deck material is folded one or two times and sewn
together with the
hull material. There is also a third material, a thin and narrow piece of cotton
covering the seam.
Hmm, this description is rather useless. I check the Moell skin tonight and come back
with a clearer
description ...
As far as I know, the seam is sewn on the "right side". Most commercial folding kayak
builders are
sewing their skins inside out and then fold them back afterwards. This is rather
difficult with the
long and narrow bow and stern of a greenlandic style kayak. So here, the skin is sewn
"outside out".
You'll get a very flat seam in the inside of the kayak, making it very easy to insert
the frame
halves. On most folding kayak skins with a normal seam, you'll have to fold the skin
to line the
overlapping material with the gunwhales. This is really difficult in a narrow kayak.
On the other side, Volker Born who developed and built two greenlandic style kayaks,
swears by
sewing inside out and reports to have no major difficulties inserting the frame halves.
Mayr, in his book, also dislikes the Austrian hemmed stand-up seam (for reasons I
don't remember at
the moment). There are some real drawbacks to this seam:
- There's always a small amount of water on the deck (the seam is "standing up" on top
of the
gunwhales about 2-3 mm, thus providing a water bed).
- The seam is not considered waterproof. Even Gesa, the original manufacturer,
recommended in it's
catalogue tapering (glueing) the seam. I know of one Moell owner who build a Moell
kayak and sew the
skin all by himself who found the seam seriously leaking. He then put some glue into
all stitches,
since then the skin is waterproof.
I have the same problem with my skin. After some hours paddling in choppy waters, I
have some 20
liters (4 gallons???) in my boat (the canvas itself is waterproof, so is (almost) my
sprayskirt). A
third Moell owner who had his boat reskinned by Markus Heise as well reports no
leaking at all. A
miracle? Anyway, I'll shortly put some glue into the stitches and paddle happily
forever ....
I hope to come up with some close-up photos showing the seam on my boat (I also have
some patterns
of different seams that Markus sent me before reskinning my boat to discuss different
seams. I hope
to get some meaningful photos or scans of them as well). I'll inform the list asap.
Cheers,
Marian
Marian Gunkel
Rostock, Germany
http://www.mariangunkel.de
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