A friend is a light boat fanatic. He has, for example, a 38 lb Kevlar Seda Swift. When paddling in waves the boat flexes like a fabric boat. The deck can be flexed with a finger. He does not use it loaded on expeditions but does paddle rough water. He swears it is plenty strong enough. How light is too light? Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Jerry wrote; >A friend is a light boat fanatic. He has, for example, a 38 lb Kevlar Seda >Swift. When paddling in waves the boat flexes like a fabric boat. The deck >can be flexed with a finger. He does not use it loaded on expeditions but >does paddle rough water. He swears it is plenty strong enough. > >How light is too light? > I have a sprint kayak made by Hudson Boatworks of rowing shell fame. It weighs 18 pounds (carbon fiber and honeycomb) which still seems plenty strong. The boat has weathered five years of hard use (loaned out to racers so you can imagine). I believe Richard Culpepper tours in his sprint boat and I think I could tour in mine so long as I didn't use it for heavy duty surf landings etc. I had a 17' canoe (also carbon fiber and honeycomb) also built by Hudson that weighed 21 pounds before the rails and seats were put on. It survived a lot of whitewater. Still in use so far as I know. Jack Coughlan of Hudson told me that he thought he felt he might take out a couple of more pounds in the details (seat etc.) but not a lot more on the laminate. Mind you, we did no destructive testing to see what it would stand. ETC,. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Web site address, 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.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
735769 wrote: > > Jerry wrote; > > >A friend is a light boat fanatic. He has, for example, a 38 lb Kevlar Seda > >Swift. When paddling in waves the boat flexes like a fabric boat. The > deck > >can be flexed with a finger. He does not use it loaded on expeditions but > >does paddle rough water. He swears it is plenty strong enough. > > > >How light is too light? I once was walking down Fifth Avenue with someone from Feathercraft when we ran into an old friend Don Betts, a well-respected boat designer from Brooklyn (Yeah...Brooklyn. Do you have a problem with that, buster!). In making the introduction I said that Don believed any boat over 30 pounds was too heavy. Don corrected me, saying "Oh no, that would be much too high! Try 25." ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Tue, 7 Sep 1999, Gerald Foodman wrote: > A friend is a light boat fanatic. He has, for example, a 38 lb Kevlar Seda > Swift. > > How light is too light? It's only too light when it breaks.... I've got a 19'6" 28 pound surf ski that has survived 2 Finlandia Challenges (by previous owner) plus regular use by me. It's just a carbon layup and probably has some foam core in the hull. There's negligible flex in the hull. A friend builds a 17' 25 pound greenland style skin/frame kayak that is plenty strong. His extra sturdy baidarka, built for a 250 pound friend, came in at 32 pounds. The 38 pound Seda you quote sounds "heavy". I would expect a spectra boat would come out very light but those are mega pricey, something about the spectra being so light it tended to float in the resin instead of being saturated. I vaguely recall the weight of a competition spectra layup whitewater C1 being about 10 pounds. (I would be happy to be corrected on the weights and limitations of building with spectra). kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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