Lew,

Actually, the best way that I know of to get an ultralight kayak is to make a skin on frame kayak. The Alaska Recovery kayak is similar in size and weighs about 13 pounds. Or you could measure offsets from your Walden, build the basic forms, put stiners on and skin it. I have suffered a back injury myself, so I try to keep my kayaks as light as possible without sacrificing strength. The best strength to weight ratio that I know of is with skin on frame kayaks. Try a nylon or polyester skin for light weight and excellent strength. Dacron for even lighter weight but less durability. A spruce frame will also give you an excellent strength to weight ratio.

I think what you have suggested will work, but you would get more strength for that weight with a skin kayak. I would think that your layup would be somewhat fragile at that light weight.

Let me know if you want to check out the skin on frame option and I could point you to more information.

How do you intend to use this kayak?

Mike

: I have a wonderful Walden paddler (35 lbs), but a recent back injury makes
: this difficult to move around. So i would like to use it as a form to do a
: kevlar/graphite clone, hoping to get it down to about 15 lb. A Walden
: paddler is only 10 ft long and about 27" wide. I have been studying
: the Moran kevlar canoe book all winter. I have thought of wraping the
: walden in polyethylene or aluminum foil to protect it. Any thoughts on
: this also on materials and sources would be appreciated. thanks lew