: I built a canoe this summer with carbon fiber on the inside.
: Recently, a wind storm picked it up off the ground where it was
: stored and bashed it up against a tree. The wind was bad enough
: that it tossed a couple of sawhorses halfway across the lawn.
: Where the boat hit the tree, the glass on the outside cracked,
: which I would have expected. On the inside, the carbon fiber
: split and fractured. I've never seen this much damage on the
: inside of a boat from one impact even from times that I landed
: my wooden kayak on a boomer and needed to do repairs because of
: that. I'm not sure I'd use carbon fiber on the inside again
: without covering it with glass.

: Thoughts?

Carbon Fiber is strong, but it does not bend, and it tends to fracture catastrophically rather than bending before fracturing. Also it does not handle impact blows as well as it handles stress. Kind of like a diamond can cut glass and is the hardest known substance on earth, but if you hit it with a hammer it will break into a million pieces.

My question would be how did the wood fare through all this? That's one heck of a blow. I hope you are able to save it.