: Mick,

: You are partly right on both accounts.

: The construction has a more recent history than "traditional"
: kayaks, it only dates back to 1923. But then we should call it a Skene,
: because that is who came up with the design. It has a tradition, a lot of
: Walruses (Walrii?) were built back in the 20's. The Skene shape is taken
: from one of the kayaks in Adney and Chappelle's "Bark Canoes and Skin
: Boats of North America". Is is not an Inuit kayak, but it came from
: studying them. It has a place in history, just a different place then the
: Inuit kayaks. On my latest version of it I am almost back to the
: dimensions of the kayak in Chappelle's drawings. Following the book will
: give you a good chance to exercise your decision making skills, because
: there all so many things left up to the builder. I have gone far beyond
: the choices in the book on my latest version.

: As for size, the kayak can be made so that isn't a problem. The total max
: width of all the wood at the toes is 1-1/2" (3/8" * 4), but the
: min width could be as low as 3/4", depending on where the top of the
: trusses meet the sheer. My trusses contact the chine in the toe area,
: giving me that extra foot room. I have also modified the floor in the
: cockpit area to get me much closer to the skin, and help lower my center
: of gravity. I felt the need to do this because I have narrowed the beam to
: 20.5" and lowered the deck to 6" at the back of the cockpit. In
: my much smaller version, my size 10 feet are quite comfortable.

: Oh, by the way, my Snow-Roof over canvas (the idea you poo-pood last year
: ) has been working fine for the past year or so, it scratches much less
: easily than my stitch and glue kayak.

: Just a minor rant ,
: Mike

: P.S. How come you weren't at R2K???, and when will we see your surfyak?

Hi Mike

Both you and Bill are totally correct in that it would(is) easy to modify the approach to give as much room as possible. Especially for anyone here. I just have the highest respect for all your abilities and kayaks. I was just looking at the approach and seeing that there was room to grab and that it was so different compared to the traditional even though they look the same.

And as far as recent tradition - can't argue. The use of the trestle or truss is a really good point and all kinds of other connections could be made.

I just can't remember denigrating the snow roof idea. I know that I didn't know what the product really was in some of the early posts. Anyway it sounds like a great great alternative idea for skin yaks and excellent that its working out so well. I'll gladly take the hit.

And my kayak project is quite unusual, but on a slow smoulder.

-mick