Matt Broze wrote: > > ... A thinner deck is more likely to flex and > if it flexes it may overstress some area where the flex is too great, > causing stress cracks in the gelcoat or worse. Even a tough vacuum > bagged Kevlar deck will get stress cracks in the gelcoat if it flexes > too much to the outside (putting the gelcoat under tension where it > is folding). A thick heavy deck is a stiff deck even if built with > inferior materials and methods ... Granted, but aren't there better ways of stiffening the deck, such as using light-weight core materials? I have a kevlar kayak with a reasonably stiff (but light) deck. The stiffness comes from arches (made of some sort of core material) that are glassed into the deck. I also used to have an ultralight kevlar canoe with a very stiff foam-cored floor. As with resin, some of these core materials don't add much strength, but they do add stiffness without the weight penalty. Dan Hagen *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Apr 04 1999 - 21:16:29 PDT
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