The idea that a thick gelcoat might be structurally useful is one of my pet peaves. Gelcoat serves two purposes: one cosmetic, it lets the boat have a color; the other is protective, it keeps UV light away from the structural part of the layup. It is not strong and does not provide good abrasion resistance for its weight. While making a layup thicker will make it stiffer, additional gelcoat is not a good way to do it. While gelcoat may add stiffness, it is brittle and will fail more severely than other methods of increasing stiffness. While gelcoat does provide some abrasion protection but only in a very weight intensive manner. If you really want abrasion resistance, the best way is to add more cloth, not more gelcoat. While this means that abrasion may cut into the cloth, so what. Glass or synthetic cloth added for abrasion resistance will be able to absorb abuse while maintaining higher strength better than gelcoat. Additional cloth would be stronger and lighter even if it is not as stiff. The reason for using thick gelcoat is simple: it takes no skill to spray in additional gelcoat and it is cheaper than cloth. You don't need highly trained (read expensive) labor to do it. A uniform thin layer sufficient to provide color and UV protection takes skill and the people who can do this are probably better paid over at the local autobody shop. More layers of cloth not only costs more in materials, it requires more skilled labor to achieve worthwhile results. Thick gelcoat is just a way to inexpensively manufacture a kayak that is strong enough for most uses. On Friday, June 6, 2003, at 06:00 AM, Dave Kruger wrote: > Their justification was that gelcoat provides no > structural benefit to the boat, and going without it saves 5-8 lbs of > essentially useless weight. [snip] > Now I know that finishing the boat's exterior with gelcoat doesn't > improve the structural rigidity of the craft. [snip] > > Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jun 06 2003 - 06:09:37 PDT
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