@nickcrowhurst said:
Pascal is making progress.
Dang, I don’t have any of that equipment - or the space to do the build. I have great respect for those who do build their own boats.
Ah, that’s just clamps. They’re easy to come by & don’t take up too much space. Really, once you get the strips cut you don’t need much in the way of tools. A good block plane and a pull saw will get you until it’s time to sand. Space on the other hand is an issue. I barely had enough room in my basement to strip a 16’ 6" Storm LT … and get out to the garage in spring to finish.
Nice work
Today we put the glass cloth on a Vember for Christopher’s very lightweight wife, for use mainly as her expedition kayak.
@nickcrowhurst said:
Today we put the glass cloth on a Vember for Christopher’s very lightweight wife, for use mainly as her expedition kayak.
Looking good.
1 Like
looks like a nice kayak. I don’t see a front hatch is there one? If not is there a front bulkhead with some kind of drain? II know its light but always wondered if you use Kevlar cloth instead of fiberglass would it be much lighter?
@dc9mm said:
always wondered if you use Kevlar cloth instead of fiberglass would it be much lighter? <
Not so much on a wood core hull. Possibily even heavyer depending on how good you are at applying the resin. The cloth isn’t lighter and can be heavier as you can get fibreglass in 4 oz / yard. I don’t think that I’ve seen kevlar or carbon at less than 6 oz per yard. The reduced weight for a full composite hull comes from requiring less cloth & resin for the needed strength and stiffness. Professional builders these days may use vacuum infusion to apply the precise amount of resin and have it properly saturate the fabric. Most of us home builders will roll or brush the resin on and then use a squeege to saturate and remove the excess.
I have seen pictures where Nick Schade has used carbon/kevlar fabric in the inside of a hull. That would likely be for strength rather than weight reduction.
I experimented with Kevlar several years ago. The problem isn’t buying light cloth , I am able to buy 1.7 oz 2.2 oz etc. The problem with Kevlar is that without vacuum Bagging or Infusion, the fabric is resin thirsty and not only will it weigh more than the same in glass, it will be difficult to do anything with after it’s on. I had to buy special scissors just to grip each thread to cut it rather than have it slide on the scissor blades…Kevlar is a pain to use. It also doesn’t like to wet out easily and consistently like carbon or glass.
We use 4.7 oz/sq.yard twill weave glass cloth with MAS low viscosity epoxy and slow hardener. Twill cloth is two strands over and under two strands, rather than one. It is extremely easy to drape over complex curves. Fully equipped with skeg, knee tube, seat, backrest and deck lines she weighs 35 pounds.
We use simple deck plates as hatches, as the aim of the project is to make the construction as simple and inexpensive as we can make it. Many of our builders have designed and built their own hatches. We don’t fit a plate in the fore-deck on a day paddling kayak, but put one in the foot bulkhead. Commercial rubber hatches are very heavy, expensive, and complicated to fit, but some builders have done this. Details will be in the next version of the Build Manual, which we will publish in a month or so.
Today
was keel strip day for the latest Vember:
Beautiful hull; looking forward to the finished product. That 35 pound weight is astounding. I’ve never paddled a wooden kayak. Now I’m intrigued.
Rookie, thank you. We’ll be leaving the hull to harden for ten days before taking it off the forms and turning it over. One of our Shrikes, a stripped down version weighing 19 pounds, was built by my son for a friend, a lady in her 70’s who wanted to learn to roll.
http://cnckayaks.com/2016/05/18/christopher-crowhurst-from-usa/
Lightweight kayaks are addictive. Without delving too far into the strict math theory, the force needed to accelerate the rotation of a structure about its center of rotation is directly proportional to its mass. This means that, taking the paddler as a point center of rotation, a corrective or directional stroke requires much less effort if the kayak is half the weight.
You will know that every stroke is a corrective stroke, done subconsciously by experienced paddlers.
Nick.
Lighter boats are almost a necessity after 6 or 7 decades.
String, that is so true. Anyone who has led an active life will have stacked up a number of injuries, surgeries and illnesses. The cumulative effect is that it’s very hard to stay fit enough to lift a heavy kayak, and even trying to do so risks yet another injury.
I’m 70, and I’m a good example of that.
Nick.
@nickcrowhurst said:
String, that is so true. Anyone who has led an active life will have stacked up a number of injuries, surgeries and illnesses. The cumulative effect is that it’s very hard to stay fit enough to lift a heavy kayak, and even trying to do so risks yet another injury.
I’m 70, and I’m a good example of that.
Nick.
There are a bunch of us Nick. I’m recovering from the latest back surgery in the hope of staying active.
I’m 69.5.
Beautiful boat.
That’s just gorgeous.