I must have missed the original somehow. I have a high end Kevlar/Carbon Fiber reinforced boat that had a wave break on the deck and, literally, fold the deck, almost destroying the boat. Ocean going sea kayaks need strength and rigidity in the deck. Carbon fiber is rigid but won't withstand impact. The way most of the Kevlar boats are made, the lay-up is so light that it is too flexible leading to gelcoat cracks. Eventually these cracks will lead to water seepage and blistering besides possibly damaging the underlying fabric. Applying carbon fiber to reinforce a light Kevlar lay-up does not help because the flexibility of the Kevlar can cause the carbon fiber to break. All the above from personal experience with my boat, a Necky, Tesla NM. Mike Brown *************************************************************************** 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 Mon Jun 30 2003 - 12:00:12 PDT
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