Re: [Paddlewise] (Paddlewise) Plastic is Perfect!???????????????? not!

Like Chuck points out the plastic boats may be more shatter resistant in warm
weather, but they scratch and peel and generally get rough and fuzzy much more
easily that fiberglass boats.  I bash the heck out of my Romany and land it on
boulder and cobble beaches without really worrying about it.  If I get a little
crack or scratch I seal it with gel coat or expoxy, and if I get an honest to
God hull breach I might have to put a patch on the inside as well.  A heavy
fiberglass layup will take much more abuse that most people realize.  As long as
you are not a cry baby about the little bit of scratching and cosmetic damage
that happens from landing on a rocky shore having glass is no big deal.  If you
want to slam dance with the boulders in the surf zone the impact resistance of
tupperware might be a benefit, but in that case I would be more concerned with
how brittle my bones are than with how brittle my boat might be.

Bill Newman

I once had a strap break that was holding down the front of two kayaks on my car
while on the highway at full speed.  With no lines on the ends of the boats (yes
we all know better than to just strap the middle, but most of us do it anyway)
the boats stood up tall and proud and tore the rear bar rain gutters and straps
and all from the car.  The kayaks hit a maximum altitude of about fifteen feet
and then tumbled down the highway.  It was New Years day in Traverse City
Michigan (20 F?) so the in the cold the tupperware boat shattered to pieces with
a two foot long section of the bow sepearating from the boat.  My British heavy
a P&H  explorer had the bow and stern tips ground down a little and some spider
web cracks along the keel and the side next to the bulkhead.  It was still fine
to paddle and about six months later I got around to sealing the gel coat and
putting a patch on the inside along the keel.  Did I trust the structural
integrety of the boat after the accident and minor repairs?  I crossed Lake
Michigan in the that boat without any problems before adding the patch..  Now I
know why the explorer has the funny little ends - to protect the deck from road
rash whilst tumbling down the freeway at 70 mph!

Chuck Holst wrote:

> >>
> I however revert to the "ram it full speed up the beach to keep my feet
> dry approach" once I have gotten a couple of scratches in the gelcoat
> anyhow.
> >>
>
> Me, too. Gelcoat, being harder than polyethylene, doesn't scratch as
> easily. Though I try not to scratch my fiberglass kayak unnecessarily, I
> don't think I really treat it that much differently than a polyethylene
> kayak when launching and landing. Take a look at the photos of seal
> landings and launches in the British sea kayaking books -- those are
> fiberglass boats they are using!
>
> >>
> Of course if I had a rotomolded plastic kayak I'd do the same thing to
> try
> to minimize the fins and curly-Q's that fuzz up the plastic and disrupt
> the
> smooth flow of water around the hull by sticking up into it. If I put a
> scratch in fiberglass it scrapes away some material rather than plowing
> it
> up into the boundry layer where roughness can really add a drag penalty.
> >>
>
> Most of the scratches on my three-year-old fiberglass hull are less than
> the thickness of a fingernail.
>
> >>
> Not only are they likely to be different than the designer intended but
> once
> they come out of the mold they aren't the same as others out of the same
> mold.
> >>
>
> One reason I sold my old Sea Lion was that it was hogbacked -- shallower
> in the center than at the ends. Every Sea Lion I looked at had this
> "feature." I was told this was a product of the molding process, and
> that the original plug did not have it. Also, I know someone who has a
> permanent dent in the deck of his polyethylene kayak where he bungies
> his water bottle.
>
> >>
> I tried unsuccessfully to find the newsletter article I read a few years
> back about the roof rack with four kayaks on it that slid off the roof
> of a
> car. Given the reputed toughness of plastic the occupants we surprised
> that
> even though it was one of the middle kayaks on the rack it was the
> plastic
> kayak that shattered and the fiberglass kayaks suffered either only
> minor
> easy to repair damage or some scuffs. If I recall correctly the plastic
> kayak was way beyond repair and offered in the newsletter to anyone who
> might want it for use as a planter.
> Some of my customers had a simialr experience.
> >>
>
> I think it was Bill Newman who once told me about a similar incident
> during the  winter. Bill?
>
> Chuck Holst
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