: The boat won't be competitive btw, will end up being

: Why the wet blanket, Bill? The factory lists the weight as 15-20 kg; thats
: over 10 pounds of slop and I've never know a manufacturer to over-estimate
: the weight of their kayaks. For a 19 foot by 17 inch kayak I'd expect a
: careful builder, using typical weight savings techniques, could build a
: ski within 10 percent of the molded boat weight. Heck, I know of a former
: "contributor" to this forum who could build a kayak of those
: dimensions under 30 pounds.

: Give me a good reason why 4 pounds is a significant difference in boat weight
: when paddler weight can vary by 100 pounds between boats.

: Mike Scarborough
: Friendship Kayak

Mike,

Most of the competitive skis weight in the mid 20 lb. range, nearly impossible to build it as a stripper and get it stiff enough to use and get the weight that low. They are very fragile though, certainly not up to the strength of the average stripper kayak. (there's a picture floating around the web right now of a guy with a 3 piece ski, broke it up in the surf, snapped off both the bow and stern almost to the cockpit)

Bill H.