Last night i was looking at the boat CHad recomended "The Betsie Bay, Arctic lite". I liked the construction techniques imployed to save time, like using plywood instead of steambending. But i really like the idea of stapeling the skin onto the frame instead of sewing it on. This company uses stainless steel screws to built the frame and Monel stainless steel stapels to attach the skin.

Larry Pardey wrote "The Hull, details of cassic boat construction" I read this book a few years ago , but i remebered something about not using stainless steel on wooden boats. So i looked it up and there it was on page 175.

"Stainless steel generally is not used on wood boats because the acids in some woods (especially oak), combined with salt water, seems to cause stainless steel to pit and corrode faster than ordinary galvinized mild steel."

This book is 500 pages long well writen contains alot of info on yacht building most of which would not be of use to kayak builders but the Appendix in the back of the book has alot of info on woods used in boat construction and info on marine adhesives.

MY QUESTIONS:

1 Does anyone have any experience with this corrosion problem ?

2 If this is a real problem were is the best place to get bronze screws

and stapels ?

3 Does anyone have experience with this method of attaching the skin of the

kayak with stapels ?

4 Can you see the stapels after you finish the skin with a sealent ?

5 What would be the best sealent to hide the stapel heads ?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments.

Stephen