Over a long number of years and various situations (Including treacherous ones,) I reached a place I needed to repair and re-canvas my kayaks. That was 15 years ago. This past winter I made some additional canvas repairs and wanted to share in these posts several points and tips and photos showing where the wear has occured along the many years. I hope this will be of some interest to anyone building a new folding kayak today.
Looking at this picture compared to original plans that have now surfaced on the web, I'll tell you from the get go, for better or worse, my kayak shape is a little different than most, not round but more streamlined at the ends. Also, I long ago lost the protective wood strips that are screwed or glued on the bottom-side and top edges of the kayak and have not seemed to suffer as a result. Any internal blocks of wood that were meant to keep the ribs in place have long ago vanished, and my kayak stays together on the water with friction alone holding the ribs in place. I now love the beauty and simplicty of a kayak assembled with just a few materials, and no hardware.
Here is a great website showing plans for constructing a folding plywood kayak. I will add comments and pictures here as a suppliment to the good work already done by others as time goes. http://www.vintageprojects.com/boats/folding-kayak.pdf
I will post pictures that show where the canvas has worn, so you can know where protection or reinforcement is needed. I will also show where the plywood cracked in an ill-fated white-water venture (crazy brother) and how I repaired it. I hope to show a few construction tips that make assembly easier.
Any emails with questions will speed the posting process along faster.
Greg
