Boats and kelvar Q...

[wonderwolf]

Ok some of you may remember I got a Old Town Kayak from my pops for Christmas this past year (it was posted on the old forum). Anyways some of you also Know that I am sitting on a large amount of Kevlar material and vests.

Well I finally got the weather to go out in the yak and I remembered that dad had a "Kevlar skid plate" kit around for the other 2 canoes we own. But I have yards and yards of Kevlar already. So to spend $80+ on another kit that all I really need in is the resin I thought pfffff I'm a hard core DIY'er anyways (we got the kits before I stocked up on the vests for testing). From what I've read by searching on google Royalex or some such material is what is preferred as the base for this kit and it can be done on other hull materials but the outcome is not as good. My Yak is a Otter XT http://www.oldtowncanoe.com/kayaks/recreation/otter_xt.html

with a poly hull. I'm not looking to abuse the thing but I wanted to protect it from running it down the boat launch while I'm "self launching" and running it back up when I beach it. It looks like it has some voids almost a porous surface so I would think boat glass would work. Thoughts?? Ideas?? I have a lot of "used" Kevlar around so I can experiment with it for a bit.

I fell asleep while out on the water and my arms are pretty pink now getting a great start to the farmers tan this year :icon_mrgreen:

[rustypirate]

The resin will probably not bond too well to the polyurathane hull material, and iven if it does, the poly will flex WAY more than the kevlar will, and it will peel away from the hull over time.

[RandyCOG3]

The obvious answer is.... ya builds yerself a bulletproof kayak from scratch. Hell, even Perro isn't likely to have one of those. Yet.
Or a "Tactical Wheelbarrow".....

RandyCOG3

[kevin]

perro might not have one but i bet planning has 2 or 3

[wonderwolf]

How about if I kiss it with a flame like they recomend with the royalex kit? :pirate:

[okie shooter]

I think you need to listen to rusty, if the material wont bond with your hull you are out, you either need to find a resin that will bond to your plastic, or you will have a hull plate that will pop off first time you flex the hull. Even then the thing might fall off anyway.

I guess the maker does make some builtup hulls out of polyethylene but I imagine at the factory they have heat, pressure, and other processes to ensure the bonding of layers. I am not sure what will glue the stuff, From the little reading I did on the stuff, it doesnt seem to melt with common solvents at room temp.

Kissing it with a torch might work or might burn a hole in the hull. Just my two cents.

[rustypirate]

The poly material is plenty tough, I don't see why you would risk ruining the boat for this project.

If you are THAT concerned, get yourself a fiberglass kayak, and THEN put the kevlar onto IT. The fiberglass will bond with whatever resin you use for the Kevlar (epoxy), and they will flex at roughly the same rate.

One more note, of you are going to use kevlar or carbon fiber with resin, allways use a vacuum compression method to ensure proper saturation without OVER saturation. It is nearly just as bad to have too much resin as not enough.

[wonderwolf]

Ok...I guess I'll drop the idea for now thanks for the help and info :rainbow:

[amd65]

I know a bit about kayaks, having used them for about 20 years, and having sold them for about four years. I even know the otter. The plastic they use would be considered in the kayak world pretty mass market low end. It will flex easily, particularly when warm (if you roof top it, don't strap it down really tight and leave it in the sun...).
I suggest you use and abuse your otter, have some fun, and gain some skills. Do some reading--a class is nice, but you can learn everything you need to know with careful reading, experience and knowledgeable friends. The otter is a user friendly boat, somewhat flat bottomed and easy to paddle for newcomers to kayaking. Fun to surf, harder work on large bodies of water with waves, and long pulls on flat water.
You can avoid dinging the boat by getting in and out in the water, rather than pushing off the shore. Wear your PFD.
Anytime you have a question, feel free to PM me. I am itching to get my 15' Necky kayak out on Lake Erie this spring. We also have some large inland lakes here that have eagles. Where are you paddling?

[wonderwolf]

Cool thanks...I'm going to do some weekend trips in it this summer with the local scout troop I'm an assistant to and was wondering about drilling holes and putting hooks in for a daisy chain on top for both front and back using pop rivets and supplied hooks? I don't think there would be a problem as long as I made sure the holes were oversized?

I know the weight limit on these is 225# and I weigh 150ish wet so I can stuff a bit of gear in and around for a weekend trip. My mom gave me a nice PFD for Christmas and actually gave it to me before I got the kayak. I kindly told them I was not going out in that 1 man canoe ever again cause I nearly though I was going to sink it in the middle of a lake cause it was so unstable. I spent the entire time crouched down inside of it it was that bad. I've tried a few yaks out over the years and every time I see one I mentioned how nice it would be to have one over the one man or two man canoe. The 2 person old town canoe was too much for me to handle by myself and I've only had it out 4 or so times with a girl I dated in high school. I told her to date me or I would throw her out of the boat...tehehe..just kidding.

I went up to tinnerman (sp?) canoe base a few years ago with the scout troop before I got my eagle. I had done a fair bit of paddle work before in Maine but Canada was some hard core canoe stuff as far as packing a weeks worth of gear for 2 people in 1 boat.

[amd65]

I kayaked up in Georgian Bay a few years ago, farther south than Tinnerman. I loved it up there.
I like to take my boat to Pennsylvania, to the Allegheny Reservoir. It's about three hours from Cleveland, and the camping is wide open, usually pretty deserted, too.
Besides the Necky 15 foot sea kayak, I have a boat called a Folbot. It is a
17' two person folding kayak that can be taken apart, yet is ocean capable (a crazy kraut crossed the Atlantic in a similar boat, commandos used them in WWII and still do). It includes a sail kit.