I think just because it is too heavy. You need a certain amount of cloth and resin on both sides of the foam to resist punctures and dents. By the time you have gotten that far, you have basically laid down enough resin and glass to be strong and stiff enough to be a kayak without a foam core. The reason is that kayaks are small. The glass does not have to be that thick to maintain a kayak shape. Adding the foam just adds weight. If you are making a big boat without foam then you might lay down enough glass to be reasonably puncture resistant bit it is not stiff enough. So you have to lay down a lot of glass just to get thick enough to be adequately stiff. In this environment, the foam can save weight because it boosts the thickness without adding so much weight. You can see a little bit of foam being using in big kayaks like doubles in limited areas such as the flat bottom in the wide part of the boat because of the demand for stiffness. On Mar 15, 2007, at 9:02 PM, Doug Lloyd wrote: > Why are not more kayaks made with foam core/glass construction? *************************************************************************** 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 Mar 16 2007 - 01:05:12 PDT
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