1

Imagine if I mentioned I was building a strap on baby seat that would mount on the deck of my kayak so I could carry my baby with me. Imagine if I also mentioned I really liked drinking when I kayaked and thought drunken rolling with a baby was fun. Folks would be all over me like feathers on a duck. Rightfully so. What I just said was dangerous. Not simply dangerous to me, but to my baby. Criminally dangerous to many of you.

Now imagine if you knew that kayak designs were inadequate, and that people were going to die as a result. Wouldn't you be crowing this as loudly as you could? Just like the baby that's going to die in the above paragraph?

I'm not saying I agree with George on his conclusions about the designs and building plans of kayaks being deathtraps. In fact I don't. But, I do respect his vocalization of what he believes, that the vast majority of designs and plans are dangerous, if not downright deadly. Wouldn't be the first time a single voice was right, and the masses were wrong. I believe he is wrong, but I'm not so arrogant as to insist it's impossible that I'm the one who's wrong.

2

There is one point that George harps on that I totally agree with. In fact, it seems most people on this bbs agree with him on it. That is, the total lack of glass layup information from the people selling plans. The #1 topic of conversation on this board has to do with figuring out if an *alternative* method of glassing from the one, single, method described by the plan/kit seller as adequate for all uses of the kayak.

Think about it. We all are constantly deviating from the plans on this point. That's because the plans _are_ inadequate. I have never seen a set of plans or a book that goes into glass layups for different uses and abuses of a kayak, and I've seen a lot of them. They give one lay up method, claiming it's adequate for everything. Clearly the builders on this bbs don't agree with that.

We've all been there, staring at the plans and trying to figure out if our beaching conditions are rougher then the plan seller was thinking of when he said a single layer was adequate. We've all looked at kayak plans and wondered if the boat was strong enough for our uses. Especially the people that do paddle in the seas, wondering if a deck really can survive ocean waves crashing down on it.

Then we build the boat, and wonder if be built it well enough. Nothing was ever mentioned in the book or plans for determining if you actually laid the epoxy and cloth well. Just a description of "do it this way, and it's fine." That's not adequate for person who's building their first boat and never worked with epoxy fiberglass and wood. Hence that nervousness on the maiden voyage, the gasp the first time the boat hits a rock, and the frantic inspections that follow.

It's pretty sad in my opinion that the place I had to go to find information on layup strengths and evaluating how well I built a kayak wasn't a kayak kit or plan seller, but an epoxy manufacturer. Gudgeon Brothers provided me with some charts showing the different strengths of various layups, and a method for determining if I had laid the fiberglass and epoxy correctly. This isn't in any kayak building book I've ever seen, or set of instructions that come with a kit or prints. Heck, CLC was downright hostile to the notion of deviation and inspection.

Honestly, I think George is right in that the kit makers and plan sellers do us a disservice by not telling us how to test our layup methods and skills, and not giving us some information on what we need in building the hull for our uses. A Guillemot destined to cross the ocean has very different layup needs then a Guillemot destined to paddle around a quiet pond. Take a heavily built kayak to the pond and you just have a heavy boat. Take an underbuilt kayak out into the ocean, and you may well die from it.