I see that clipper canoe makes a squareback in “ultralight” layup. Is this really strong enough to put an outboard on?
What about “ultralight” in general? I see that several companies offer it. What is the difference between the “ultralight” and the “kevlar” (which is often the heavier model than the ultralight)?
Maybe carbon or carbon/kevlar
I can’t visualize putting and outboard on any of our ultralights.
The bow would be a foot out of the water
Jack L
The ultralights are stiff enough to do
everything that a non-whitewater canoe ought to do, but are not flexible or tough enough to take major abuse. A “Kevlar” canoe has a bit more cloth, Kevlar and probably some E or S-glass, to make the hull able to take a rather major hit without being as likely to delaminate or split. It is more a matter of making the hull flexible and able to take a major shock than it is of making it more rigid.
The strongest 4 layer Kevlar/S-glass layup is SS/KK, where S-glass forms the outer layers and Kevlar forms the inner layers. Glass has good compression strength and wears smooth. Kevlar has great resistance to splitting and is very strong in tension, but is a bit low in compression strength, and if used for outer layers, it fuzzes from wear.
Clipper knows what they are doing.
If they made provisions for mounting an outboard, you can bet it will work. Just don’t use an outboard that’s larger than what they say is okay. Chances are, the outboard they recommend weighs a lot less than the belly of the average paddler!
I was just going to say
There are some pretty small and light outboards and trolling motors out there. Probably won’t handle a 75 hp Mercury.