Yeah! What he said.
Alas, solo boats aren’t an option. When one starts to look for a design that poles, paddles, portages,even sails well, it’s going to be a compromise.
And this is all hypothetical anyway, I don’t have the money for a new boat. I was just looking at the bottom of my (1984) hull, the two patches of worn-off nylon at each end are now connected along the length of the keel line. It’s hard to get more than a couple thousand miles out of a hull these days.
And what Daggermatt said soaks in: I’m not old enough for kevlar yet. I’ll be out in the shop applying another fiberglass patch…
Hey what about…
One of Ed Haydens boats?
The Souhegan is only 32" wide but I was quite impressed with it’s stability when I tried poling it a bit on the Salmon.
The Coho is what Carp is poling. A bit more beam amd length. Might have more room for your gear.
Kaz builds solid boats. More light and strong than pretty.
http://www.gis.net/~johnkaz1/tandem.htm
hey otherMatt
You may want to try the ABS/acetone mix. I made skid plates for my encore with them. They’re holding up real well, even seal launching, and they’re quieter than glass. Patched a hole in Aarons whitesell, it firmed up the sponginess in the hull.
Kevlar
The gear is what weighs the most, not the boat. Thin down the gear.
Bill
No…
…not if you have to ask.
pondering kevlar…
Ah yes, I have sat here all winter imagining myself in one of those fancy kevlar or fg layups in a nice long sea kayak. I envisioned me paddling with much less effort and much more glide and how wonderful it would be if I would just spring the $2500 and get a sweet ride.
I took the Cayuga out this weekend for my first paddle of the year. I suddenly realized, again, I AM NOT A KEVLAR TYPE OF GUY. I smash the heck out of everything I own. I can find a rock on any body of water that is not a swimming pool. I love to get a head start and plow up on the beach. I jump logs and strainers, grind up against river obstacles just to hold my fishing position. I cannot be tamed and don’t know how I get off on these tangents. I may deserve Kevlar, but it does not deserve me. Give me a crash and burn and crash again poly boat and I will be sandpaper and glasskit free for 20 years. I am not racing nor am I pretty, so no high dollar boat is going to improve my performance.
One would look nice suspeneded in my office though.
…not so sure on kevlar for the weight.
Fluke…
For the weight you plan to carry, I’m not so sure the kevlar hull will give you the Performance over the Royalex hull!
I think this is one where only you have to decide just where you want the performance…paddling/navigating or during the portage…?
$.01
steve
compression is the one you are looking
for.
Kevlar is extremely strong in tension.
Ex.
5.7 E glass 225 -250
5.7 12.5 X 12.5 carbon 300
5.0 12.5 X 12.5 Kevlar 650 !
Hard to understand why it sticks.
If you had a purely Kevlar canoe, then the Kevlar fibers in the outer layer would contribute to sticking. But in fact, most “Kevlar” boats use S-glass, E-glass, or carbon for the outer layer. All of my boats with glass exteriors slide quite nicely over rocks, if not so loaded that sliding is impossible.
I’ll admit that Wenonah is not always totally clear about either the details of their layup, or about their resin.
Maybe, whenever someone asks about
a “Kevlar” boat, we should say, “Kevlar and what?” Some of the myths about Kevlar seem to arise because people are not focusing on the true complexities of composite boat design. Just using some Kevlar doesn’t make for a good boat, nor does it make for a bad one.
P.S. Composites, formerly New Wave, used to insist they could make a toucher, longer lasting boat with a mixture of glass, polyester, and vinylester resin. They would use Kevlar only if the customer had to have light weight, as for a slalom racing boat.
I personally like Kevlar, but for the inside layers. For outside layers I like S-glass. Such a layup can be very light, stiff, and pretty tough, but if one is willing to accept another ten pounds of weight, probably what is added will not be more Kevlar.