Hello there,
I'm the bloke who came up with the idea of the folding beams and
given my current state of health I have sometimes wished I hadn't
since I haven't produced the goods! But we will get there as they
say. Rob has organized another chap to build the hulls which will be
a big help and I will concentrate on the beams.
Although simple they incorporate some triangulation and it is my
opinion that they will be both lighter and stronger than
conventional beams. As a bit of background, I originally intended
the idea to use on a Wharram Tiki I was dreaming of building. This
was before I knew about Rob's great proas. Mind you I still like
Wharrams - what self respecting ageing hippie doesn't?!
It was decided at board level at Harryproa to test the folding
mechanism on an Elementarry as this was cheapest for us plus it
would be useful for some but not all people wanting to get their
feet wet, as it were, with a proa. So, yes, Elementarry would be
simpler with demountable beams for a lot of people as well and it
will be offered in both formats. But given that none of us are
highly focused hot-shot businessmen, it's firstly for our own
testing/experimenting purposes. The system will really come into its
own with the larger sizes - a camper and Harrigami.
Nice to see so much interest.
Cheers,

Jim