Kevlar and or Dynel in duckboat hulls-Voodoo, who do...or, should you do?

Rich~

I really appreciate your thoughts on this topic - I am from There's No Substitute for Experience School....

Question: Since I am re-building my 'glass Sneakbox at the moment - Do you recommend adding anything to the outside of the hull/ down the midline ? - to protect the surface from the inevitable abrasion from sand on the bottom of Great South Bay. It has never caused a serious problem on any of my boats - and even the "miracle, slick surfaces" concede that sand and shells will wear through any outer coating.

BTW: I like my skeg but otherwise have learned to avoid strakes or runners on my gunning boats.

All the best,

SJS

Steve, I hope that the you got the information you need, but barring that, I'll give you my experience as someone who has never built a sportfish, but has lived in a boat with a layer of Kevlar for the past 15 years.

My Snowgoose has a layer of 5 ounce Kevlar under a layer of 5 ounce glass (both over Meranti ply). The Kevlar is much more abrasion resistant than glass of equal weight. I flipped and reworked my hull after 10 years of hard use and in cleaning it up I found that the glass was rock abraded in many places down to the Kevlar, but in no cases was the Kevlar cut through. I feel that the Kevlar is many times more resistant to scraping - I have no feelings (or intention to test) on Kevlar's puncture resistance and I did not add it for a weight savings (but obviously if it is that much more wear resistant than you can get away with a thinner layup using it). I put it on for wear and it did well. I'm hunting in lots of rock along the coast, so not sand or shell, but sharp boulders.

Had I to do it again, I would have went heavier (thicker) on the cloth and probably not worried about the Kevlar - Devlin's schedules are very marginal for duckboats. The Kevlar is not needed, but I'm sure had I 2 layers of 5 or 6 ounce glass I would have had cuts through the glass. I wrapped 8" above chine to 8" above chine.

I'm sure you know that it is typical to cover any layer of Kevlar with glass, because the Kevlar is tough to sand and you never want it exposed at the surface where a sander can hit it (fuzzes).
 
Good morning, Tod~

Thanks for this information - you got me thinking.

Since I have never suffered any significant damage on the bottom of my Sneakbox, I was prepared to add no extra protection. However, almost all of my use with this boat has been on Long Island's south shore - which has lots of sand, lots of mud, and no rocks. Our North Shore, of course, is lots more like your Connecticut shore - lots of stones, rocks and even the occasional boulder. As I mentioned in my Sneakbox re-build post, I plan to use it up on Champlain this summer. Our shoreline there is all cobble. I have seen lots of hull damage on any boat that encounters the cobble. So, I should probably add something down the belly of the beast. A sacrificial skin - something more than paint or resin - seems like a wise idea.

All the best,

SJS

 
On my Scaup, I was contemplating Kevlar... but ended up using 2 layers of 8.5oz

Not that you care, but that soinds like a good thickness to me.

What is your object that needs to go west status?

T
 
A Layout boat, Tod. I MIGHT have transport locked up.


The layout on the Scaup worked for 1 season.. including getting high centered on a stump at O'dark thirty.
 
A Layout boat, Tod. I MIGHT have transport locked up.


The layout on the Scaup worked for 1 season.. including getting high centered on a stump at O'dark thirty.

You don't need me to grab it? That part is easy.
 
I think it looks like that is covered we will see. It has a ride waiting on 4/4 in Philly... so long as it gets there by then...
 
Steve, I put this link in Tom Barb's thread as well: [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]http://www.duckworksbbs.com/supplies/additives/graphite/index.htm
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I apologize for the delay in posting this; filed it in a powerboat motor folder. This is actually a good read on standard polyester resins, particularly those used in composite panel construction. I kept it on file for the data in Table 7: Aramid isi Kevlar fabric.

As a pdf, you will have to cut and paste the link and then open the actual overview data...

https://polycomp.mse.iastate.edu/files/2012/01/5-Polyester-Resins.pdf
 
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