I've sewn a fair amount of kayaking and outdoor gear over the years, and I'm pleased to note that one of the latest developments in apparel is that your standard fabric store around the corner is now beginning to carry uncoated nylon. In my local area, that is Jo-Ann Fabrics, also known as Cloth World. Even better than that, I have lucked out on the $1 a yard fabric section at Walmart and bought many yards there. It's not there all the time and selection varies widely - but for that price... Following are other fabrics-for-outdoor gear sites on the Net that have a wide variety of fabrics for sale. I'm personally desiring the solar screen fabrics, and the ones that are highly reflective for night paddling - when time and $ allow, you know how that goes: http://www.justmakeit.com http://www.fabrics-outdoors.ca http://www.frostlinekits.com http://www.fabricline.com In case you're new to sewing with ripstop nylon, I'll also advise you to be sure to sear all cut edges before you sew. Stuff frays like crazy otherwise, but it's also not difficult to sew. Use a small size (9 or 11), brand new needle on your machine. Natalie *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I've been thinking about this Toksook vs Big blade vs Greenland paddle debate. How can we combine the lift of a Greenland paddle (sweep and scull) with the drag of a big blade (forward stroke)? Ever notice the winglets on the ends of aircraft wings? The 767s, Airbuses, even the 747-400 have them. They minimize the vortex coming off the end of a wing by preventing the flow of air over the end of the wing. Energy loss in vortices is like energy loss in wakes in boats - you want to get rid of it. When I worked as an engineer in an aerospace company, an aerodynamicist described the winglets as walls that make the air think it's flowing over a longer wing. This is like increasing the aspect ratio without increasing the size of the wing. Perhaps we could add a "winglet" (bladelet?) to the end of a big blade and have the water act as if it were a longer, higher aspect ratio blade. That way we'd have more efficient lift like a Greenland style paddle without losing the advantages of the shorter big blade. Now I thought further of this on Saturday, while competing in a down river kayak race (in a WW kayak; better than last year I didn't place last!). This came to me as a local woman hotshot DR racer sped by me in a carbon and kevlar DR boat weilding a carbon wing paddle at unreal stroke rates. The wing paddles are efficient because they combine the drag of a forward stroke with a lift force on the end of the stroke. The wing shape generates lift in the direction of boat motion as the paddler swings the paddle out from the kayak as it reaches the hips. Now the wing paddles I've seen all have a turned end - sort of like a winglet on the end. Could this be an accidental or planned attribute to contribute to an effective higher aspect ratio? Now wing paddles have a dubious reputation when used for rolling. This could be because, like Greenland paddles, they are better fully submerged and most paddlers are used to having the paddle plane on the surface when sweeping. Since they're unsymmetric, they don't seem to be ideal for sculling, since there's probably a lot of difference between the force generated in stroking one way versus the other. The curled leading edge would probably generate a lot of drag on the reverse stroke in sculling as well. Perhaps a solid cross section would improve things? Could some paddle expert speculate on the possible advantages of creating a blade that has some of the aspects of a wing blade (including, perhaps, winglets) in designing a better paddle? Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Natalie Wiest wrote: > I've sewn a fair amount of kayaking and outdoor gear over the years, and > I'm pleased to note that one of the latest developments in apparel is that > your standard fabric store around the corner is now beginning to carry > uncoated nylon. In my local area, that is Jo-Ann Fabrics, also known as > Cloth World. Even better than that, I have lucked out on the $1 a yard > fabric section at Walmart and bought many yards there. It's not there all > the time and selection varies widely - but for that price... Supplex nylon feels nicer than regular ripstop (though there is a ripstop Supplex), and the finer weave types are bug proof. Mountain Equipment Coop Rad pants, legendary in these parts, are great (though they aren't brand name (i.e. Dupont) Supplex, just a similar material. The Supplex shirts are also good, but they have too many cooling holes (like the opening across the back) to keep the bugs out. I like a Supplex shirt under a bug shirt. They are cool enough and the cloth protects you in areas where the mesh of the bug shirt gives the critters a chance at you. Similar clothes are available from REI, North Face and other companies. Look around. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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