Re: [Paddlewise] Slamming

-----Original Message-----
From: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net <paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net>
Date: March 12, 1999 11:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Slamming



>I hope I am not starting a holy war but I doubt that any hardshell
>manufacturer would want to drop a nice fiberglass kayak off of a factory
>roof.  The gelcoat would break off in pieces and scatter like the
>contents of a large spilled package of Chiclets.  Artistic patterns of
>stress fractures would radiate across the hull, et al.

OH gee Ralph. You shouldn't start a war with so little ammunition. One
experience does not make a universal truth not to mention the cosmetic
nature of stress cracks in the gel coat. I know of no one who ever drowned
because their gel coat had stress cracks. The gel coat has a cosmetic value
not a structural value.  As one who has done the drop test as well as a few
others I can say with some authority that you are a tad off the mark on
this.

No one has greater respect for the strength of folding boats than I but I
have also done a lot of crash and bang on a lot of other materials that
stood up just fine. Stronger doesn't necessarily mean better it just means
stronger.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/






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