: It would be tough to do the pop-up in wood-and-fabric or even
: stitch-and-glue, but strip-built techniques would lend itself fairly
: easily to the design.

Berkeley,

Actually it is not too difficult. I did this with both Walrus's that I made. For the skin version I used smaller radius deck beams in the cockpit area. The skin stretched over it nicly. For the plywood version I put a flat deck on but switched to a peaked deak in the cockpit area. It is similar to a Pygmy Queen Charlotte but much lower volume and a sharper peak on the deck. This gives enough room for my 6' 3" brother to barely fit in. I used the coaming design from the West River plans in Sea Kayaker.

In the picture below the skin version is in front the plywood version next and my huge Arctic Tern is in the back.

For a couple of other pics of the Plywood Walrus, check out the South Sound Wooden Sea Kayak Club site at http://www.members.tripod.com/sswoodenkayakclub/nisqually_delta.htm

Another shot of the skin version is at http://www.redfishkayak.com/images/hanks-walrus2.jpg

I plan on doing something similar to what you are asking about. I plan on narrowing the beam of the Walrus by 2" and lower the deck for easy rolling. I'll also lengthen it a little. The result should be a much faster, but tippier kayak.

Mike