> Is anyone aware of where I could find plans for a folding kayak?
> Feathercraft makes a beautiful kayak that packs into a backpack, but the
> cost is way out of my snack bracket and after the zero customer service I
> got after purchasing a rudder from them, I'm toying with the idea of
> building my own. (I'd prefer a Greenland style boat.) Is this a bit too
> ambitious?

I bought my plans for a 12 1/2 foot folding kayak from Clark Craft. I think they were $28. The plans are quite detailed, but I am building it first as a rigid (non-folding) boat to see if it handles well for me. If I like it I'll spend the extra time to make the hardware necessary for making it `fold'.

The method of securing the frames in place which is detailed in these planse, it seems to me, could be adapted to just about any skin on frame design that has plywood frames.

The design I bought uses a skin that is sewn to size. The skeleton is assembled in 2 parts, which are inserted into the cockpit area of the skin, aligned, and locked together, tensioning the skin. I have seen pictures of other boats where they assemble the entire skelton and then shove it into a skin which is sewn shut at only one end. the other end is closed up by using a heavy duty zipper. This seems to be an easier way to do things.

The easiest way to design one of these things would seem to be to make a rigid frame ( no fancy tensioning mechanisms) and cover it with a skin that you can tighten with drawcords. Paul Jacobson