On Thu, 5 Jun 2003 21:44:10 -0400, jwd_at_acm.org said: > So, I got to wondering about the pros and cons of going with a > skin-coat hull (or hull and deck) configuration. What do Paddlewise > people think of the idea? Any direct experience with it? Moving the summary to the top for brevity: I like having skincoat kevlar canoes, I store them in a bag and that works well. I would have no qualms about owning a skincoat kevlar or carbon/kevlar kayak. I've heard and experienced too many problems with skincoat over all carbon, the recent thin gelcoat over carbon works well and I would recommend it over skincoat all carbon. I LOVE being able to carry my boat with one hand. Long version: I've got 5 skin coat boats, 4 kevlar canoes and one carbon surf ski. The boats gain stiffness from having a foam core. The foam core is done as a diamond shaped insert in the bottom plus 4 inch wide ribs. I believe, on the lightweight canoes, there is one layer of kevlar on the sides, 3 on the bottom and 5 on the bow and stern. The surf ski does not appear to have a foam core insert in the bottom laminate but does have internal walls adding some rigidity. The oldest boat is a 1980 vintage tandem racing canoe. It was the last year of non-vacuum bagged boats from Wenonah. That boat is nicknamed "the beater". It's been highly abused. Twice it's been paddled straight into fixed objects (accidently) with enough force to throw the bow paddler over the front into the water. The boat was also used frequently and kept on our car which was parked in a wide open parking lot about 200 days a year - lots of potential sun damage. The boat is still water tight but it's REALLY ugly. There are some 15' scratches that compress the foam core. I've put a couple new skin coats of epoxy over the bottom and it's holding up surprisingly well. I keep my 3 newer skincoat kevlar canoe in travel covers. The covers only come off when the boat is in use. I get in and out of the boats while they are afloat and do my best to avoid hitting anything. Scratches are highly visible and deep ones go right into the weave. The more interesting example is the surf ski. This boat is skin coat carbon. It's dying. It's 19'6" and weighs about 24 pounds. There wasn't enough resin when the boat was laid up so there are lots of pinhole leaks where the resin did not saturate the carbon fabric. Additionally the internal support structures and the rudder mount were made from wood and wood inside of a sealed object hasn't worked well long term. The boat takes on about a half gallon of water every hour that it is paddled. Last fall I pulled over for the hourly draining of the boat and chunks of wood floated out with the water. At some point the boat is just going to sink or break. I accept that. My most recent boat is also carbon fiber. It came with a thin gelcoat coating. Thus far no leaks at all. But it's heavier, about 30 pounds for a 21 foot boat. The outrigger canoes which I've been paddling are extremely light, the canoes are from outrigger connection and Current Designs (http://www.outriggerconnectionworldwide.com). I think the singles are under 30 pounds. All of the ones that I've used have come with a very thin gelcoat finish. I treat the boats like they are eggs. I've seen one of the amas dropped 2 feet to asphalt and it crumpled like a hard boiled egg would. The carbon fiber 6 man outrigger arrived yesterday, I haven't seen it yet to see what the layup is - it' 185 pounds for a 45 foot boat, versus 385-400 pounds for the traditional layup. We bought our "family" canoe as a skincoat kevlar boat because my wife was accustomed to the skincoat boats and she hated (eventually refused) to help lift the fiberglass canoe. Don't underestimate the advantages of moving a 30 pound boat from the car to the water. My wife would paddle more if she could maneuver her boat without assistance. I know she could use rollers and a cart but she has seen the lightwieght boats and that's where she wants to be... Kirk -- Kirk Olsen kork4_at_cluemail.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 - 06:34:25 PDT
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