I'm still not sure if a 3-piece frame will have enough strength. There's not a lot of glued area holding the longitudinals in place at the bulk heads, then again perhaps I think it needs more strength than is really necessary. After reading about a couple catastrophic failures of factory-produced 3-piece composite kayaks, it makes me wonder...

Adding a separate skin to the frame makes a lot of sense; figuring out how to skin three parts without seams in undesirable places is one thing I see no way around if skinning each piece separately.

I've also thought about a wood-framed folder, using a hooked scarf to join all the long bits. Designing a wood-frame folder sounds more like an engineering thesis topic than a relaxing past time....

Of all the possible solutions, a decent roof rack seems like the best option even if it means finding a way to circumvent some budgetary hurdles. Maybe not as ambitious, but I'd rather be paddling than trying to solve problems with construction.

: A friend and I were toying with ideas like these, and I figure the best
: solution is to build a three-piece frame with a one-piece skin. This
: eliminates the need for bulkheads. The skin should still fit in your
: cockpit piece.