The goal of the Kayak Building BBS is to promote the activity of building kayaks. It is an open forum for discussing all techniques for building kayaks including but not limited to: strip-built, stitch and glue, skin on frame, and fiberglass. It is a place for people who have built kayaks to post their ideas on how to build them better, for people who are currently building to ask for assistance, and for people who are considering building to ask for advice.
The bulletin board is sponsored by Guillemot Kayaks to assist people who want to build kayaks. It is non-commercial in nature. Although Guillemot Kayaks sponsors the BBS it is not intended as a vehicle to advertise Guillemot Kayak designs or that of any other designer. It exists for the assistance of builders of all kinds of kayaks.
To this end it is requested that discussion be limited to those areas that will help the kayak building community in general. This includes any question about how to do something. There are no stupid questions. Also included are any answers to those questions.
Questions regarding the qualities of various designs for home builders, both commercially available and public domain, are also within the areas open to discussion. Users and builders of these boats are free to post their comments in response to the questions. Try to keep the comments based on personal experience or otherwise supportable evidence.
The designers and commercial suppliers of kayak designs and kits are welcome to post to this bulletin board. Please limit your postings to areas that are of general interest to the readers of the BBS. This includes recommended techniques for building boats, recommended materials, recommended tools and recommended sources for any of the above. It does not typically include recommending your own design.
If a question is posted asking specifically about one of your boats, you are welcome to respond to it directly. Please respond by stating what is good about your design. Refrain from putting down the competition. If your design is truly better than the competition's, please rely on your customers to point that out. If someone states something that you feel is in error or based on a misconception, please feel free to state what you believe to be correct. Respond to questions in a fair manner with a minimum of hyperbole.
Commercial postings are not allowed. Unsolicited postings extolling the virtues of a boat you or your company designed or sells are not permitted. If you want to say something good about your boat, wait for someone to ask on this bulletin board. Do not criticize boats designed or sold by others.
If you are connected to or represent commercial source of kayak designs, you must include some notice of that in your posting. Include a notice with your name or include a URL to your businesses web site.
Classifieds advertising finished boats made by home builders are allowed, however the BBS is probably the wrong place. People reading the BBS build their own boats, they don't want to buy someone else's premade. Classifieds from non-commercial sources offering excess materials, used tools, etc. are permitted.
I will only do so with the greatest reluctance, but if I feel a post to the bulletin board is out of line with these guidelines, I will delete the posting. Please do not force me to do so as it will lower my tolerance level for future postings from the offending party.
In general I will leave it to you the reader, to police yourself. You can figure out if you are straying from the guidelines. If you are unsure, email your post to me first.
Thanks and enjoy,
Nick
Schade
Kayak
Building Bulletin Board Administrator
Guillemot Kayaks.
For question regarding the function of the BBS please refer to this FAQ.