Brian wrote; (SNIP of George's post) : >That's the theory I hear a lot - along with, "plastic is slower cause energy is >used to flex the hull." Does anyone know if it has been tested? And if so, how >much faster is MUCH faster? Say, for example, what is the resistance >difference between a Current Designs Solstice (glass), and the plastic version >of that, the Storm? Is the glass twice as fast? 10% faster? 3% faster? Is >it possible that the difference people feel between their old plastic boat and >their new glass boat is due to the fact that they happened to have a slow hull >design in the plastic and now have a fast hull design in the glass? Perhaps >because when they bought the plastic, initial stability felt more important, >and now with improved skills other things feel more important? Poly boats do have more resistance due to the surface finish (rough center seams etc..) and propensity of scratches that are proud of the hull surface and often have hairy projections. The increase in frictional resistance coefficient is roughly 3%. Not a whole lot but there nonetheless. I know of no reason why a poly boat can't have as good a shape as an FRP boat. I don't know why they don't. The one thing that makes poly boats less responsive (probably is the thing most people notice) is the weight and, in particular the heavier ends. Makes the boat less "lively". The flexible and often distorted bottoms also erode performance but I am not sure by how much. I am awaiting a program to study that. Not sure when I will get it as it is much delayed. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri May 22 1998 - 07:10:49 PDT
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