Christian Wagners: ... I planned to make a north alaska retreival kayak,
similar to Peter Copellas boat.
Ralph Hoehn: Folding or rigid? (Sorry, I don't recall and don't have access
to the forum at the moment.)
CW: I remember that I have seen tube bending devices at my local hardwear
store, so I'll try to bend the frames out of aluminium túbing.
RH: Have you read "Baidarka" by George Dyson? He has a good description of
bending frames.
CW: They will be connected to the stringers by ordinary cable binders.
RH: Are you intending to assemble the frame before putting it into the skin
then?
CW: For the hull material I found polyurethane coated polyester (It was dead
cheap, so I didn' t look any further for a nylon fabric).
RH: Polyester has the advantage of not shrinking and relaxing depending on
ambient humidity. By the same token, it does not stretch much at all, which
makes it difficult to make it conform to the frame ... heat shrinking?
CW: ... coating is way too thin to be durable enough ... Does anybody have a
cheap idea how to waterproof the fabric (one side is still uncoated)? I
thought about a thinned 100%silicone sealer for windows?
RH: Silicone will not have much abrasion resistance. Peter used Hypalon
(undiluted). There are various rubber based roofing sealers, which may or may
not be as durable as Hypalon, but seem to work well enough. Check the
baidarka mailing list archives, there were some good threads on coating
materials. I have Peter's boat at the moment and so far I cannot fault the
abrasion resistance in any way! It's a great little boat!!!
Best regards,
Ralph
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