Many Kevlar boats, not "any."
It is easy to lay up an S-glass/Kevlar boat that is a little lighter than Royalex, and only a little less durable. But the bigger the weight advantage you want, the bigger the durability gap.
If you take the example of decked boats, some composite boats have pretty much equalled the durability of poly boats. My old Phoenix Fiberlastic was hammered mercilessly on eastern and western rivers, and now survives, more durable than poly, which could not have withstood decades of sun exposure so well.
Use Kevlar or polyester, not glass.
Wear and stress on glass might produce fibers and shards which would be irritating to the person on the pedestal. Kevlar is an excellent “inside” cloth.
A "boat meant for use"
I think it’s a pretty strong statement to say that no boat made for use should fold that easily. Many of Wenonah’s canoes, which are every bit as light (and every bit as delicate) as a Bell in KevLight are among the most popular lightweight canoes out there, and there’s no shortage of such boats that are in fine condition after being used really heavily for many years. “Use” does not necessarily mean paddling in fast water with rocks or logs.
Sorry, omitted word
I should have said ‘tripping use’ as the context wasn’t clear enough.
I agree that ultralight boats do have their purpose and can easily be used regularly for years on end. However, I don’t believe they are appropriate trippers, despite that fact that some do use them that way and get away with it scot free.
Oh good. That makes sense now.
Good point.
NM.
Jim
i figured it was the slowest
of the stock boats.
virtually all of my racing is in a C1 cruiser – savage river
the magic would only be used on rougher coastal water courses along the Gulf of Mexico.
i’m guessing with 1.5 to 2 footers rolling, an advantage probably won’t be that much faster. maybe i’m wrong on that one.
also, it’s the only c1 stock boat i’ve seen for sale in Florida lately.
thanks
See the definition, not the jargon.
Merriem-Webster defines Hydraulic as:
1: operated, moved, or effected by means of water
2 a: of or relating to hydraulics b: of or relating to water or other liquid in motion
I in no way implied that there was whitewater involved. Pin your boat against a piling in the Mississippi River, which is the epitome of non-whitewater, and watch it get torn in half. I was using the word for its formal definition, not the whitewater slang for huge and gnarly water feature.
Water is powerful and any pinned boat faces certain doom when the “hydraulics” of water are involved.
moving water equals certain doom?
I just flat out don’t agree with the above post.
pinned boat equals doom
The whole point of my earlier post is that kayakmedic claimed Bell’s ultralight boats are not durable because of an experience with a pinned boat breaking gunwales and tearing.
My point is that the post doesn’t relate anything to Bell’s construction. Bell’s 2 piece aluminum gunwales are the stiffest and strongest aluminum gunwales that I know of. Try putting a set on a boat and you’ll understand how bomber the design is, but even the best won’t hold up when pinned. Any boat that is pinned in current is bound to have something break. That doesn’t make paddling in current dangerous, but it is why we are all taught to be on the upstream side of a swamped boat.
opinion
– Last Updated: Dec-13-08 12:34 PM EST –
I never much liked Bell's Kev/Crystal/Lite laminate. It is a serial attempt to approximate WeNoNah's laminate performance and weight that never quite got there, when, all the while, Bell had a vastly superior carbon/kevlar laminate.
The early KC hulls had a gel coat but no outer. Just a little flimsy. The recent skin coated hulls are sturdier, but need a Bag lady bag to reduce UV degradation. Another issue was, back in the last century, Bell didn't have an oven to heat and shape foam cores. The result was that for their foam cores sprang back towards flat when the wet-bag vacuum came off. This resulted in flattened bottoms.
The combination of aluminum rails and wooden seats and thwarts has always struck me as strange. Why add items that require maintenance to an otherwise maintenance free hull?
Lastly, wet-bagged boats have more internal flaws and lower fabric to resin ratios than infused hulls, whoich are lighter and stronger all things being equal. BlueWater, Nova, Placid, Savage and Swift currently infuse, so....?
But, please remember that there is probably a reason Ted and I tore the blanket back when the century died.
That last comment
went right over my head Charlie. “…tore up the blanket…”?
Jim
divorced/split/separated
Ahhh…
It all makes sense now. Have to add that one to my lexicon.
Jim
I thought…
the correct phrase is, “split the sheets”, not tore the blanket. ;=} Nothwithstanding proper idiomography, thanks for the tutorial on this subject. It’s valuable info as usual.
for you its sheets
For Charlie that would be a blanket. He is up north. We too like to sleep cuddly.
the real question is…
is the blanket cotton or a quick drying synthetic? Your life could depend on it!
Wjen I got divorced
my wife “split the towels”, leaving me with no matching sets.
And I cannot tell you how that offends my sense of decorating style.
Jim
Aluminum and Wood
I personally don’t find the combination of aluminum gunwales and wood thwarts/seats to be “strange”. Every Royalex canoe I’ve ever seen that was equipped with vinyl gunwales (also maintainance-free) had wood thwarts and seats, so “strange” seems to be the industry standard. Anyway, wood gunwales require a lot of care and are prone to rotting (I’m not saying I don’t like them) and replacing gunwales is a huge job, but seats or thwarts rarely rot-out and if they do they can be replaced during your coffee break. Since I’ve yet to see my first non-wood bench-style seat in a canoe (other than in all-aluminum or all-plastic boats), I wonder what framing material you would recommend. maybe the plasticy stuff they use to frame modern windows? That might work.
quick drying cotton!
How did you like the snow!
Do you own a shovel?