: I think you're jumping to conclusions on what caused your failures.
: The most likely cause was reducing the size of some of the
: pieces. Like others have said, the Yost designs are very lightly
: built to begin with, particularly compared to historic SOF
: kayaks. The next most likely cause was probably poor material
: choice- using a less than prime species or cut of lumber. A
: flat-sawn board with grain runout of any species is apt to break
: more a lot more easily than straight-grained vertical grain
: stock. Sealing the wood can have its drawbacks as well, it's not
: a cure-all. A little more information might shed some light on
: the incident.

: m
As I said, my modifications (to the dimensions) were most definitely a factor in the demise. I also know, for a fact, that water damage was a contributing factor. I'm not complaining or trying to put the blame anywhere, it is simply a lesson learned. I cut too many corners trying to build light... no big deal.

The first piece that broke was plywood, so grain orientation is irrelevant there, simply the size I decided to make the station, which clearly wasn't deep enough. I suspect some water damage to the glue (not a marine grade ply) may have contributed but in that case I believe it's primarily the size. To be honest, I suspect if that piece hadn't broken the others wouldn't have either, based on where the pieces broke while on the car. I'm considering making the aft cockpit station (the one that broke) a solid "bulkhead" anyway as another experiment.

The Gun'ls, stringers, and deck beams are all flat sawn white cedar (rather than WRC) and cut with clean longitudinal grain. They are smaller than Yost recommended. I don't remember the design specs but I want to say stringers were about 1/4" smaller in one dimension and the keel/gun'ls were about 3/8-1/2 inch smaller in one dimension than the design recommended, if I remember correctly. Clearly I pushed the limits a bit too much.

The boat only weighed some 24 pounds or something like that so I got exactly what I hoped... a very light, very nice boat with minimal build time. I sacrificed the longevity of the boat in the process, which I had hoped not to do but it was always intended to be a "temporary" boat for me. Next time I'll make it a little closer to design specs and I think it will work out just fine. Especially with the added effort of sealing things.

Other than cost and a bit of weight, I'd be interested to know what you consider drawbacks to sealing the frame.

FrankP