So much chatter on the net over Mohawk and their move, I can’t sift through it all. I am looking at buying a used Mohawk Intrepid 16. I am trying to also figure out what is the appropriate price range. The owner says it is made out of kevlar, though I am not sure they ever made the Kevlar canoes.
Anyone in the know eho can help?
JCE
Have you seen the boat? Probably
Kevlar would be exposed inside, and would have a color ranging from very light tan to light brown. (Kevlar darkens with sun exposure.) If you are familiar with hefting canoes, a Kevlar canoe will usually “heft” lighter than you expect.
I don’t think they did make Kevlar boats before the move, but I don’t know whether I have enough old buyers guides to settle the issue.
If you want a Kevlar boat, don’t settle for an Intrepid. There are better used Kevlar canoes on the market. If you want an Intrepid, that’s ok, it’s an adequate all purpose hull, but don’t pay a Kevlar price if it’s a glass boat.
Mohawk Kevlar Canoes
Mohawk did make canoes with kevlar in them. They only substituted one layer of kevlar for fiberglass in the hull and called it a Kevlar layup. They were lighter than the comparatble fiberglass hulls, but were still heavy and not very strong compared to Wenonah or Mad River, but the least expensive “kevlar” canoes you could buy.
Interesting. Besides being lighter than
an equivalent layer of glass, it would have made the boat harder to split in a big hit. Probably a boat should be at least half Kevlar to be called “Kevlar.” In fact, half Kevlar inside, half S-glass outside is a classic whitewater layup, much better than all Kevlar.
Kevlar " Mohawk" XL 15
Once upon a a time long, long ago Western Canoeing, a Canadian company, obtained the right to build kevlar canoes using the Mohawk XL layup and sell them under their Clipper name. I custom ordered one of them (probably sometime in the early 1990’s) and still have it. The hull is identical to the Mohawk XL 15. I had hoped that it would be significantly lighter weight than the ABS Mohawk, but it turned out to be about the same weight, so it was a bit of a disappointment in that regard. It was also very expensive for that time. My Clipper has a white gel coat covering the Kevlar cloth. I’ve never seen another one like it, and I do not have any idea how many of them were ever built by Western Canoeing. The company is still in business in Abbotsford, BC, so you could contact them for further information at www.westerncanoekayak.com or 1-866-644-8111.