Project Ouch!

How tough is that material?

I have heard a lot of mis-truths about thermoforming and the material that Eddyline calls Carbonlite. In a past blog I illustrate how easy Carbonlite is to repair. But how tough is it?

There are many types of abuse and each type has a different outcome on your kayak. Everyone says that a Poly boat is the toughest yet it is the worst for abrasion and UV damage (shape retention and longevity).

For 99% of Eddyline's customers, the current lay-up and material thickness does a great job of balancing the durability vs weight trade-off. Eddyline wanted to remove the light "weight" emphasis that is so important on the market and make a heavy duty version for impact zone paddling and rep abuse. Just how thick of a sheet material to use for impact zone abuse is the question at hand.

I've done most of the things you will see during this season's Project Ouch to my demo boats over the years. They hold up. I decided to have a special Samba made up just for me to abuse. If something does break we will turn it into a chance to learn about repair. Durability of thermoformed boats is just like any other material. How thick of a lay-up? What kind for reinforcements? What kind of abuse?

There is no "best" material but just tradeoffs. I love having a quiver of personal boats so I can choose the right tool for the job without any compromise. In my garage are boats of every material and they all hold up differently depending on the abuse.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF PROJECT OUCH

Eddyline Repair: Thermo Form Repair, Carbonlite Repair

Here's a fracture from this kayak being pinned against a piling with a lot of water pushing against it. No one was hurt and this kayak will be as good as new in one hour.

Here is a detailed step by step video and photo tutorial on how to repair thermo-formed kayaks. This repair was completed in less than 1 hour with materials easily available at any hardware store or even Walmart.

Here's what you will need:

1. Devcon Plastic Welder: This is the adhesive that is used to seam and bulkhead Eddylines. You can get this from Eddyline or find it at most hardware stores and even...Walmart.

2. Fiberglass Cloth: 2-3" wide Fiberglass cloth can be purchased from Eddyline or found at Marine stores. The Eddyline stuff is especially nice because the sides of the cloth are closed stitching and won't fray.

3. Carboard Working Surface

4. Piece of Rubber to Spread Adhesive.

5. Hobby Pigment: Used for coloring Devcon Plastic Welder adhesive for the exterior repair. Krylon Fusion Acrylic Spray Paint can also be used by spraying small amount on glue.

6. Rubbing Compound for final sanding. 400, 800 and 1200 Wet Sand Paper for finishing.

6. Masking Tape: Keeps it all clean and your work within the "lines"

Clean repair area of kayak with rubbing alcohol.

Apply Devcon Plastic Welder on one side of the tape and user your rubber squeege to spread evenly to entire cloth.

Pick up this strip and apply wetside down to the inside of the damaged surface.

Wait a minute and then add and spread Devcon Plastic Welder to the exposed "dry side" of the cloth.

Repeat the same process for the second patch, covering the first patch.

Move to the outside of the repair and use a dremel tool to create a "V" where along the fracture. This will receive pigmented Devcon Plastic Welder for the exterior cosmetic repair.

After filling the "V" with pigmented Devcon Plastic Welder, you can use a razor blade to take down the extra adhesive before it hardens.

Back to the Water!


For Those Who May Need More Detail:

I use the above repair materials for repairing Royalex Canoes and even Composite (Glass, Kevlar and Carbon) Kayaks and Canoes. The reason I prefer the method and materials described above is that the materials store easily in the field and mixing the adhesive is a cinch. Using conventional polyester resins and hardners like MEK (a known carcinogen) in the field is not only hard to mix correctly but also more cumbersome to carry and store after use. Devcon Plastic Welder is really an amazing adhesive that cures to full strength in 20 minutes. In the repair above we use Devcon Plastic Welder as the "resin" to laminate glass to the inside of the kayak. We also use devcon plastic welder mixed with a small amount of hobby pigment to match the color to the outside of the boat. This step is not necessary in the field.

The repair materials pictured and used above are small enough to even fit in my Life Vest as a field repair kit.

You can also just use Devcon Plastic Welder as a filler for scratches and gouges:

• First lightly sand or dremel the gouge to be filled. Then clean the area with rubbing alcohol.
• Squeeze a little Devcon Plastic Welder on to a working surface and add a little pigment to color match the color of the boat surface. Acrylic Hobby Pigment works fine but I prefer Krylon Fusion Spray Paint because it is easier to find around town and can be used for spray painting my name on bridges. I'll just give a little spray to the Devcon Plastic Welder as I'm mixing the two parts.
• This colored Devcon Plastic Welder is great for filling gouges and scratches. I have even used it to rebuild the ends of the boat if you have a very well used boat.
• Once you have filled the gouge you are working on you can use a razor blade to scrape off the excess.
• Then you can used wet/dry sand paper to smooth the surface
• If you are really a polisher, you can use a rubbing compound to give it the final shine

How Tough Is Carbonlite?

Carbonlite is harder than gel coat (composite kayaks). Carbonlite boats will not scratch or gouge as easily as a Fiberglass boat. I think that Carbonlite does even better on glancing impact than a fiberglass boat that can get spider fractures. Loaded Impact and Torsional Flex is more debatable and probably unique to the individual injury. In a rough surf zone crash you might end up doing repairs on both glass and carbonlite. Different types of repair...and in my opinion a glass boat is more difficult because spidering gel cracks are a real pain.

How Tough is that boat? How much Abuse can it take?

This is a question that a lot of people ask when they go into a kayak/canoe shop and are looking at different boats made out of different materials. The most common answer I hear is that the toughest boats are made out of plastic. Most questions like these can't be answered quickly and definitively. The problem with the question is the word "tough". I think we need a follow up question:



What kind of Abuse?

One of my rep buddies, Kurt Renner, taught me that there are really several types of Abuse that can happen to our boat. After 30 years of repping I'd think he would have seen every way a boat could break. Come to think of it just a couple of years ago he had a semi-truck drive through a Kevlar canoe on the trailer. 4 Types of Abuse from most common to least.

1. UV Abuse--Sun kills everything...but it is oh so nice!

2. Abrasion--My papa always taught me to get my ankles wet when landing a boat but abrasion is pretty hard to avoid over the life of your boat. I like to just choose my scratches instead of scratching everything I come across. Hard to avoid abrasion if you are running rivers or surfing.

3. Glancing Impact--This is the type of abuse that most commonly happens while moving your boat on and off the car. There is not a ton of force behind this but certain materials can react poorly to a "glancing impact".

4. Loaded Impact--Force and Impact mean Ouch! This is the type of shot that is more common in river running and rough water. Your gear, weight, and momentum combine to cause loaded impact and this might not be as common but it can cause a lot of damage.

So, which materials hold up best to each type of abuse (listed from best to least)?

1. UV--Composite boats, made of glass or kevlar and resin, should have the longest life span in regard to UV abuse. We all know of sailboats and motor boats that are several decades old and still on the water. Thermal Formed boats, made of acrylic capped ABS, will not deform in the sun and should last 10-15 years. Thermal formed boats will not reform unless the surface temperature reaches 185 F or above. This doesn't happen on our planet so a Thermal Formed boat should keep its shape over time. RotoMolded Poly boats can deform at 130 F surface temp. Put some weight on the boat (ie racking or suspending) and this molding temp decreases even more. The term is "oil canning" and it is common. Over the long haul a rotomolded boat will lose it shape. One thing to note is that all materials will lose their ability to flex over time with exposure to UV. A hit that would be just a bounce in the early life of a boat can eventually could cause more damage as UV degrages the flexular modulus of the material.

The best thing you can do is cover and protect your boat using 303 UV protectant and/or Danuu Canoe and Kayak Covers.

2. Abrasion--Thermal Formed boats which have an acrylic cap seem to have the hardest outer skin. Gel coat on composite boats come in second. Finally, Rotomolded Poly is the softest and most likely to lose material when scratched. When eddyline had both composite boats and thermal formed boats I can remember several times that I had composite boats strapped against thermal formed boats. The gel coat from the composites would scratch off onto the Carbonlite boats. The good news on abrasion with composite and thermal formed boats is that is can easily be tended too. It is much more difficult, if not impossible, to fill in Poly boats but there is a new repair material out there that might help. http://www.crgindustries.com/recrepair.htm

3. Glancing Impact--Rotomolded Plastic bounces, Thermal Formed can bounce pretty well too but if hit on very sharp surfaces they can fracture. Composite boats can bounce but you may have gel coat repairs and fractures with sharp objects.

4. Loaded Impact--Rotomolded Plastic, Tie for second place Thermo Form and Composite. Poly really wins the battle and this is why it is preferred for WW and Surf Zone. Thermal formed and composite boats can fracture but the good news is that these are both repairable too. But if you are going to spend a lot of time slamming into objects with momentum you might want to think plastic or get ready to do repairs.