: How does the oil finish that many skin on frame
: builders use work over the long term? I am concerned mostly about the pine
: stems and the ash ribs on my boat-in-progress, and not so worried about
: the yellow cedar gunwales and deck beams. . . .
: In his Sea Kayaker article, Chris Cunningham recommends
: two light coats of varnish, or oiling. I know varnishing might be serious
: heresy for some skin boat owners but I want this boat to last long enough
: to hand over to a grandkid in about 5-10 years.

I built a rigid frame for a planned folding kayak almost 4 years ago. I wanted to use it to test the design ( size, handling characteristics, skin coatings, etc.) before devoting time to making the hinging hardware for a folder. It has been outside, mostly unprotected from the weather ( rain, snow, etc.) for all that time. The frames are of 1/4 inch plywood and the stringers are of Cedar. (Western Red Cedar, I believe, or should that be spelled "rehd"?)

I used epoxy for gluing several joints and also used a single coat of epoxy to cover a good portion of the frame. I finished covering the frame the next day with some varnish, so parts of the frame were varnished, and parts were epoxy covered. Within a year the difference was extremely apparent. The epoxy covered parts looked like new, and the varnished parts looked very aged. After three years the varnish was in bad shape, and the epoxy still looked about as good as when I cut the wood. Of course my memory may have faded about as fast as the epoxy coated wood, and kept me from noticing any changes there, but the difference between varnish and epoxy was dramatic. Forget varnish. Forget oils. Use epoxy resin.

I didn't try a penetrating oil, but it seems to me that this would be very suitable for a boat which used a cotton-canvas skin coated with an oil based finish, and not very suitable otherwise. I think you would get oils leaching from the wood overtime that would stain a synthetic skin, or a skin finished with latex paints. If you were going to use a neoprene, hypalon or other rubber based coating on the skin you proably would not get any staining, but if you were going for the high tech skin, why not go for the high tech wood finish?

The varnished plywood was partially delaminating. I coated that, and some areas of the stringers with a white, topside boatpaint, and that seems to be a rather durable finish for the last year and a half, at least.

: Another question. Would carrying a skin on frame over a few weeks on a car
: rack have a marked effect on the shape of the boat? I am wondering about
: taking it on a long haul to Alaska, which would involve about 6 weeks of
: cartopping. Bad idea or not? I do have another boat I can take. Thanks to
: all.

Heck, cloth-covered airplanes fly a lot faster than you'll drive, so transit problems should be solvable. You might want to cover the cockpit so that you don't get airflow in there which will turn the thing into a big balloon.

As for support for the boat, nothing could be simpler. Think along the lines of creating a simple strongback for supporting the boat during transit, much as one is used during construction. Bolt a 8 foot long 2x6 to your carriers, and along the length of the 2x6 you can attach 3 to 5 (or more) wooden cutouts that will pad and cradle your boat. Cover these with scraps of carpeting, and position them so they coincide with the location of ribs or frame members on the boat. With several well-padded contact points along the length of the hull, and with the 2x6 giving additional support over about half the length of your boat you should have no problems. You should use a bow and stern line attached to the boat, but not too tightly, as safety lines should everything come loose. The reason these are a bit slack is to allow for some flexing as you travel over bumps, etc. Have two bow and two stern lines on the ends of that 2x6 -- and you CAN tighten these securely. Ropes, nets, straps etc. wrapped over the boat and around the 2x6 will hold the boat securely to it.

Hope this helps

PGJ