Kevlar over fiberglass

[Paul D.]

Mike,

John's brother Paul here, waiting on the snow to fall.

The stuff I used was West System 423 Graphite powder mixed into their 105 Epoxy mixture at about 10% or so. It is billed as an abrasion resistant and scuff resistant coating. We use it on the bottom of our cedarstrip epoxy fiberglass canoes at YMCA Camp Menogyn, the wilderness canoe tripping camp I work at.

I did use it on the two part nesting dinghy John built for us. It is applied like painting epoxy and I just taped off the lines and put it on the bottom so I can drag the dinghy up on the rocky beaches here on Superior. It really is amazing stuff. Our canoes come back from trail with very little marks on them. Had they been varnished it would create much more work even though we treat our canoes exceptionally well for how much they get used in rough terrain.

I also like the black look to it. It is a very hard and slippery surface regarding scratches and I do believe it adds strength. But it would not approach the penetration strength of a kevlar layup. Having said that, I know of two canoes that came back with the wood and fiberglass punctured but the graphite-epoxy coating intact. Pretty impressive.

I wil try to get some pictures posted here.

All the best,
Paul

[mike ritenour]

Yeah a good heater and a forward looking sonar along with a new life raft are all on my shopping list.

Lots of planning and more planning but I know it will be more than worth it.

Rit

[mike ritenour]

I'll look forward to seeing the pics.]

Perhaps graphite, kevlar and some epoxy.


Rit

[mike ritenour]

I spoke with West Systems and they have a new G-2 epoxy that works very well with kevlar.

with traditional methods they think i could lay down some very good bonds between kevlar and fiberglass.

Now I just have to find out how much it will cost!

Oh, Tod.......what about that bra

rit