: Very elegant solution Paul. I may convert at some time. (From Jacobson I to
: Jacobson II - a little like converting from one branch of Baptists to
: another) I may also convert to an entirely different religion - the Al
: purists.

If Baptists are still practicing full body immersion, I should think you would not want to associate that particular faith with kayaking. Unless you are thinking of wet exits.

As for the "pure" Alumin-ists, lets just say that some of their high priests lust after your gold, and would have you sell your soul to obtain their precious metal.

I was thinking of you while I was playing with this. You should be able to slip these internal ferrules inside the pipes you already have, giving even more strength at each joint. You can leave on the existing connectors, as these will not interfere with them, or replace sections of pipe as they wear out ( IF they wear out) and the systems should be compatible.

: There are two difficulties: - where you have the ends of the larger tube not
: joining (because they sandwich the plywood section) you will have a dimple
: where the skin drops down.

The frame should fill that out, or I can glue on a scrap of 1 inch pvc to fill the gap. I would only need to consider that on the bottom. If I use 3/8th inch plywood for the frames a "dimple" on the deck would be barely noticeable.Certainly these would be far smoother lines than those one would have using standard plumbing connectors, and yet those don't seem to be objectionable. this should be a fairly minor matter.

: - You will have 5 pipes per stringer instead of 4... trying to get all those
: 24 pipes into a golf bag is already hard. You will be at a total of 30
: pipes.

Golf bag? assuming I have 5 or 6 pieces per stringer, or 36 with 6 stringers, I can just connect pairs of them, and get only 18 short pipes, which I guess I would have to disguise as tubes for separating my clubs. For 18 clubs I'd need two golf bags and a partner. Hmmm, maybe I could get the spuse to carry half the load by claiming thery were her clubs. Now there is a thought!

You acquainted with any golf courses which let you put in a kayak on the water hazards -- either to play your own ball, if it floats, or to retrieve those lost by other unfortunate duffers? With all those tubes already in the golf bags I'd just need to throw the skin in the golf cart. And once it was set up I could tie it to the roof of the golf cart. Now you've got me started.

But wait. If I started paddling on a golf course water hazard, would I have to count those paddle strokes in with my score?

: Neither problem is insurmountable - just helping you brainstorm.

: The problem I am wrestling with is how to lace up the kayak without wrinkles.
: At least without underwater wrinkles. It worked great with my greenlander,
: but this thing may require either seams or wrinkles.

Avoid the wrinkles and go with darts, which are short "seams" along the length of the hull which remove excess fabric. I clothing construction you would sew the dart and then cut away the excess fabric. For a boat I'd leave the excess fabric, flattening it on the insde of the boat by ironing it, and then sewing over the triangular area it defines, so the folds are held tightly to the skin.

Or, I might cut away the bulk of that and just leave a small triangle, say 1 inch to a side, at the point of the dart.

The seams and stitching will be sealed by your waterprofing material.

: I have been spending the last week helping my pretty put up wall paper and I
: have wrinkles on the brain.

Wrinkles in the grey matter are supposed to be indicative of increased knowledge, as indicated by the growth of new cells which have to bend in on the terrain.

Here is another "wrinkle" for you to ponder:

If you are not using prepasted paper, you can use the excess wallpaper paste and strips of newsprint to concoct paper mache, which you can plaster over your kayak frame after it has been wrapped in plastic -- like you did with your saran wrap test. After you get a nice thick layer of paper on there, slip it off the frame and let it dry thoroughly. You may need to make a slit in the paper mache boat to get it off the forms, but that can be repaired simply with a few more layers of paper mache. Once the paper is hard and dry, lightly sand it and cover it with a layer of fiberglass cloth on the inside and outside. You'll have the only paper boat in the neighborhood -- maybe the only one in the state!

PGJ