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Tom Yost = Excellent design *Pic*
By:Chuck in Pa
Date: 12/31/2004, 5:50 pm

:In fact, Chuck of Pa. holds the record for building
: a Sea Raider folder in just 10 days, and did a beautiful job.

For the record, I only had it seaworthy in 10 days, but truly finished in a little more time. Still a lot less time than the 6 months my stripper took.

I can't say enough in praise of Tom's building method. Considering I estimate I put about $350 into it (and that's on the high side, I still have enough HDPE for another kayak) and only a few days of rather enjoyable work.
The work is as fun as making a wood kayak, but you are never working on any part long enough to get bored with it. And making the skin was far eaier than fiberglassing. Vinyl cement is really amazing stuff.

I doubt the skin is as strong as a klepper's, from what i've hear, and i don't think the frame is as durable, but for a tenth the price and at least twice the performance, I'm happy. I set it up and took it down the other day and found that set up could easily go below half an hour with a couple practise runs and take down only took me 10 minutes. That's less than it takes to get the kayak on and off my car.

Costs:
$70 for PVC and vinyl (I bought extra for airbags and such)
$110 for 4'x8' sheet of HDPE delivered to my house
$150 for aluminum tubing shipped from texas.
$25 for rivets/riveter, and welding on my angle aluminum coaming.

If you have any questions for me please post them her or email me at: titaniumchuck at yahoo dot com
-Chuck

P.S. Thanks again for your help Tom.

Messages In This Thread

Skin-on-Frame: Tom Yost - Building a Folder *Pic*
Lloyd E. Peterson -- 12/31/2004, 1:01 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Tom Yost - Building a Folder *LINK* *Pic*
Tom Yost -- 12/31/2004, 3:02 pm
Folding Boats: My Experience
Lloyd E. Peterson -- 12/31/2004, 9:39 pm
and my experience with folders ;)
Robert N Pruden -- 12/31/2004, 10:42 pm
Tom Yost = Excellent design *Pic*
Chuck in Pa -- 12/31/2004, 5:50 pm
Re: Tom Yost = Excellent design *Pic*
Tom Yost -- 12/31/2004, 9:17 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Tom Yost - Building a Folder
george jungle -- 12/31/2004, 1:18 pm
and more "eye candy" *LINK*
Frank Eberdt -- 12/31/2004, 2:20 pm