Jack:

Thanks for the reply to my questions about your CF layup process. Had no idea such materials were out there - amazing stuff, I'd say! (Wish there were boat-sized autoclaves in my neighborhood...)

One of my other passions is mountain biking, and when I look at kayaks I sometimes wonder if some cycling (originally aerospace, of course) technologies have merit in the paddling world. The methods on your kayak, for instance, seem similar to Trek's "OCLV" frames (think Lance Armstrong's bikes), which are amazingly lightweight - if relatively brittle for knockabout kayak use.

One bike frame material used in recent memory that might have application in kayaks is the "thermoplastic" CF as produced by GT cycles and Scott (in a line of handlebars). This was simply a carbon layup impregnated with a plastic, either vinyl or something similar to vinyl. The stuff wasn't as lightweight as what you're working with, but given the inherent flexiblilty of the resin medium, was amazingly impact-resistant. I recall seeing such tubing whacked like a baseball bat over a sharp-edged bench coming out completly unscathed. As produced by GT, such bikes were nearly as lightweight as comparable aluminum frames, and were scratch-tolerant too (not unlike a rotomolded boat, I suppose).

Now I know Olympic kayaks aren't dragged onto rocky shorelines with 80 pounds of gear aboard, but am wondering if something like GT's "thermoplastic" frames applied to hulls would approach the weight-savings of your boats, while offering great real-world durability?

Has anyone explored this technology for kayaks?

Rick

: Rick,

: Pre-preg glass/carbon comes already impregnated with the epoxy in the ideal
: ratio so there is no wet out. The rolls are stored in a big freezer to
: stop the epoxy from seting up and brought out the day of the lay up. The
: pre-preg can be worked all day and really doesn't kick until it is heated
: in the autoclave. It is like working with large sheets of fruit roll-up.

: The day before the lay up the mold is waxed and sprayed with a urathane paint
: and the prepreg is cut into 4' sections based on a pre determined pattern
: to fit the boat.

: During the lay up the boat gets the the following layers

: 3 oz s glass against the pant to prevent carbon print through.

: Carbon toe in the sharp bow

: Carbon

: Nomex core (a Kevlar honeycomb)

: Carbon

: A thin film for water proofing and impact resistance

: The layup is vacuum bagged at 30in to compress the laminates together and
: prevent any voids. The layup is baked under preasure in a autoclave to
: kick the epoxy, maximizing the cross linking and the stiffness of the
: composite.

: The process was developed by and is used in arospace but is yields the
: lightest and stiffest kayak possible.

: Regards,

: Jack