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Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
By:Dean Trexel
Date: 9/3/2001, 1:09 pm

The recent mention of Mr. Roberts sent me back to his site to see what new rants he may have added. I see he has finally added a section on real-world failures of wood-strip boats. Long ago on this board George claimed that the 'standard' lay-ups were extremely unsafe, and I asked him a couple times for even a single instance of wood kayak failures leading to a serious predicament for its paddler. Funny that the only instance he has come up with is a collision between Nick and Eric that resulted in a puncture.

George added that in the year 2000, 7-10 woodstrip canoes and kayaks were punctured (or worse.) I find this data of little value. George's main example is of 2 of a group of 3 woodstrip canoes hitting the same rock and being destroyed. As far as I know George has never built a wood-strip canoe. His hobby is building and paddling kayaks, as is the hobby of most of us here on this board. We want to know how many of those 7-10 punctures involved kayaks, because there are a heck of a lot more barely-submerged objects in rivers that canoes paddle on than the bigger water that most of us kayak on. Puncture a canoe in a river and assuming you have your required PFD on, even if you can't swim, you will drift to shore. Having your canoe 'holed' is a great inconvenience, of course, but not the life-threatening predicament George says all of us are facing when we push off in our standard-layup kayaks. Also, I have known many a Grumman aluminum canoe to get holed, so saying that a few wood ones have been holed does not necessarily make wood canoes less safe than other kinds of canoes.

I still need data to show that I have a greater risk of being injured/stranded/swamped/sunk/swept-out-to-sea in my standard-layup wood kayak as compared to an off-the-shelf fiberglass kayak. Until then, I don't believe that my kayak is the death-trap George claims it is.

Dean

Messages In This Thread

Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
Dean Trexel -- 9/3/2001, 1:09 pm
Hey come on Folks Knock it off
!RUSS -- 9/5/2001, 8:34 am
Re: Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
Ian Johnston -- 9/3/2001, 9:12 pm
Re: Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
Rehd -- 9/3/2001, 9:15 pm
Re: Hi Rehd.
Ian Johnston -- 9/3/2001, 9:54 pm
Re: intervention
LeeG -- 9/3/2001, 10:35 pm
Re: Hi Rehd.
Rehd -- 9/3/2001, 10:29 pm
Re: Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
Rehd -- 9/3/2001, 3:30 pm
Well said and enough said. *NM*
Roy Morford -- 9/3/2001, 4:13 pm
Re: Mr. Roberts and real-world failure data
daren neufeld -- 9/3/2001, 2:34 pm
Re: real-world failure data
Don Beale -- 9/3/2001, 1:25 pm
and on paddles...
Dean Trexel -- 9/3/2001, 1:20 pm
Re: Rather than bashing George...
Don Beale -- 9/3/2001, 2:59 pm
Re: Rather than bashing George...
LeeG -- 9/3/2001, 5:12 pm