How it’s made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv5cfW8C4S8
This canoe isn’t even kevlar, but plain fiberglass. Kevlar is stronger.
However, most kevlar canoes don’t weigh 70lbs. Manufactures often assume people want light weight the most, and pare down their layups until they might only be using two layers of cloth and a rigid foam core - which is fine for racing, but not the most long-lasting layup.
That said, I’ve heard Wenonahs are plenty tough, and others are even a bit tougher (Clipper duraflex, Hellman duratuff, souris river skeena) simply by using more material and less stiffening.
kevlar story…
3 guys on a trip in the BCAW on a portage during a storm had a tree fall across their kevlar boat. Needless to say they were distressed. After drinking a beer they cut the tree up to get it off the boat. The canoe popped back out and they were able to get back to civilization. Dropping the the boat may scratch it, but it won’t break it.
One of the guys is a friend of mine.
Foam Core
Kevlar boats often have a foam core on the bottom to add stiffness. Sorry if someone might have said this already, but in a quick scan of the posts, I didn’t see anything about boats with a foam core. Impact to a small area on a part of the hull having a foam core is more likely to cause cracking than the same impact where the hull is just one layer thick. The foam can “give” at the point of impact, allowing a crack to occur, even though the hull itself has good flexural strength over a larger area. That kind of break is difficult to “fix right” too, since there is no easy access to the inside surface of the broken material.
Foam cores can be problematic, though
an ordinary drop while loading isn’t likely to cause damage. The risk is greater when a foam core boat loaded with gear and people runs hard up over an underwater rock or log. Problems can occur also along the border of the foam core, because of the change in stiffness. A break in my Millbrook occured near the juncture of the Spheretex reinforced bottom, similar to a foam core though thinner. Any marked change in hull stiffness can lead to cracking, even at the border of a patch if the patch is not planned properly.
Have done that
More than once in the 90 Miler we have gone over beaver dams in the Minnesota IV with over 750# of paddlers aboard. The front half of the 23’ hull was cantilevered out of the water till the forward portion outweighed the stern and it came down into the water lifting the stern upwards. The weigh of the boat was essentially suspended on the log as the canoe teetered forward. This is a foam cored Kevlar layup. No damage other than scratches. We have run it onto submerged rocks in shallow sections and again the damage has been scratching of the hull bottom. Some have gone thru the clearcoat to the Kevlar and fuzzed it, but not have cracked the resin or torn the cloth.
In an Ultralight Kevlar 18’ Jensen we were one rock from 2nd place in a downriver race. That rock hit us just below the waterline on the left side of the bowpaddler and tossed the boat over to the left. The rock ran back along the left side leaving a gouge from the bow seat to just aft of the yoke. The gouge was above the foam core and ran across each of the side foam ribs. The impact was enough to roll the canoe and toss us into the cold water of the Sinnamahoning Creek, but it did not damage a single rib or crack the resin, even at a near freezing temperature.
Perhaps i have been lucky in each of our accidents. But more certain is that the layups are tougher than many believe.
Eric Nyre may share some of his whitewater adventures in Kevlar Wenonah Rondezvous.
Bill
When I first got my new-to-me Indy
in Kevlar hybrid layup, I handled her as if she were an egg. Since then, due primarily to my own ineptitude, she’s been run up on and into rocks with enough force that I was afraid to look afterwards. Each time (knock wood), the ugliest results have been the words that left my mouth.
I’m with you. Your total canoe hull
and your foam core supported one another, and a bunch of lard besides. Every stiffening strategy has its strengths and weaknesses. On some websites there is distrust of foam cores, yet they may work well much more often than not.
Ahh the internet
kevlar is stronger in “tension”. Very poor compressive strength. And, it’s NOT impregnated very well as it’s aramid nature resists such. It really should be treated prior to lamination to help this but in the kayak business rarely is.
Thanks everybody, for the good intel
I bought it! I wanted something lightweight and it is. Wenonah Sundowner, 17’ and about 50 pounds or so. Dark red, beautiful finish! It’s in the garage and I keep going out to visit it.
Any tips on outfitting are welcome, as the only canoes I have ever paddled before are those banged-up aluminum ones they rent for downriver trips. My personal boats have always been kayaks, but I am now venturing to the other side. Should be an adventure, I’m very excited to get her out.
Congrats !
I hope you have many years of enjoyment with it.
Cheers,
jackL
personal advice
stop calling your friend an idiot
I once saw a kevlar kayak come off a car
in the S curves on I-5 in Seattle going 50-60. At least one car ran over it. All that was left was a piece of cloth. Not my boat, not my car, not my tie-down job. Just witnessed it. If you want that to happen to your boat, buy kevlar.
(And let Sean tie it down.)
5-second rule applies
Just get it off the ground within 5 seconds. My Escape after 2 years of paddling and sailing still has no scratch.
regarding my friend the idiot
Thanks for the advice but I don’t think he would mind. We have been friends for decades and I guarantee you, he knows quite well what an idiot I am sometimes. And it turns out he’s NOT an idiot, he was right. See what I mean? I was the idiot.
thanks Jack L for the congrats
and everybody else who helped educate me on kevlar!
Kevlar Canoes
Here is another resource on all the types of Kevlar canoes.
http://www.paddling.net/buyersguide/kevlar-canoes.html