Ian,

I think that George giving poor reviews of kayak building books is similar to (not exactly the same as) Ford putting a story in a trade publication saying Chevy and Dodge make dangerously unsafe trucks, there is bias and it is coming from someone who is in a similar business and MIGHT stand to make a profit from it. The information may be worth looking at, but I wouldn't trust it without question.

I have built kayaks using both methods, and so far both seem to be sufficient. I almost didn't check out George's methods because of his personality. I definitly would NOT EVER want to do business with him. Even if he proved that his kayaks were superior to all others, he has offended me enough (through some personal attacks) that I would never want to contribute to his business. If he was in desperate need, I would help him, but I would QUESTION that he would do the same for me, judging from the bitterness that he has displayed towards me and others. I know this is saying a lot, but I am going on attitudes that have been projected from him. I may be totally wrong, but I an looking at past experience with him. I pity him, but the condemnation that he gets he has brought on by himself. It is sad how he has tried to hurt others business, by posting condeming reviews. If the reviews are true he should provide REAL evidence to back it up. If he were putting those reviews out there to protect people, I would believe that he would try to provide this evidence, it is the humane thing to do. I see glimmers of hope in him occasionally, but they are few and far between. He seemed very critical of simple things like spelling and math errors, yet he has made his own mistakes on this board, as we all do.

I almost didn't post this, because I don't want to tear anybody down, but I hate to see him bashing people like Nick who are out there providing a service like this wonderful BBS, for the kayak building community.

Mike

: Then you should design the test procedure and publish data!!

: Nick and others have given you a perfectly safe system to build a boat. They
: did not say it was the ultimate way!! So along comes George who doesn't
: make his data available and takes cheap shots at other builders and you
: want Nick and the others to do some research to check the theory and make
: this data available?

: You should be looking at George's ideas as suspect simply because they are
: not backed up with data which demonstrates the assumption that all other
: boats are "DANGEROUSLY INFERIOR".

: I think you will find that from a strength point of view the other boats are
: infact, inferior. Are they dangerously so?? I think that if you buy this
: assumption with no data or experience to back it up, I should maybe sell
: you some playoff tickets to the Vancouver Canucks games! (They didn't make
: the playoffs so I can give you a good deal.)

: Here is an analogy for you; there are two karate clubs in my town. The other
: one held a tournament and invited our club. It was a good tournament and
: we did well. In the newspaper the next week an article, written by the
: other clubs instructor, said that the other club took second place and
: that our club also did well, taking 30 medals. What they left out was that
: our club took FIRST place!!! This other instructor has now sent letters to
: all the students from our club who did well, inviting them to join his
: club!! So the tournament was simply an attempt to raid other clubs by
: someone who can't get their own students.

: I think this is what George is doing. He gives all the facts that prove his
: point but he doesn't show that there was a problem to begin with!! He
: posts in kayaking discussion lists, bulletin boards and on Amazon in an
: attempt to raid followers from others. It is a lot easier than going out
: conducting tests, collecting data and writing a book!

: Is it ethical?? I don't know, but from other discussions on this board,
: ethics aren't a major concern to George.

: Just my 2 pennies worth

: Ian