Composite Kayak Construction
Murky Water is always on the lookout for new and innovative materials to build the best product we can. The endeavour is to make the kayaks as light and as strong as possible.
Thank you Innegra Technologies for an exciting new product that in our opinion will set the benchmark for new materials to come!
With the opportunity to build the carbon Freestyle version of Jackson Kayaks designs for the World Championships, we were especially looking for something new. As it was, we were already using some of Innegra’s material in a hybrid weave with carbon for some of our other competition kayaks.
The toughness, lightweight and especially the fact that the material is hydrophobic, makes it the perfect material for anyone manufacturing products that will be used in water applications. So you can only imagine our excitement, when we were contacted by Innegra Technologies about their new Innegra H fiber. This is probably the greatest innovation to come to composites for decades.
It is in essence formulating a completely new fiber, with the best of both fibers comingled to create the new fiber. Carbon gets more tenacity with the addition of the Innegra and Innegra gains the stiffness of the carbon. There is no weak link in this material, as every fiber has both materials combined to create a new super fiber, than woven to make the material.
In our early testing we found the new co-mingled material to surpass our expectations in impact and flexural strength. Samples were bent to 180 degrees without breaking, when the samples finally did break, the laminate showed remarkable recovery even though some damage was evident.
We are currently altering most of our lay-ups to be either entirely the co-mingled Innegra H material or a combination of materials.
Composite boats are...
truly a labour of love and they can be highly customized to satisfy one’s personal expectations and desires. Their creation starts by spraying unique graphics into highly polished molds, which consist of a deck mold and a hull mold.
Graphics
Once the graphics are complete a variety of fabrics such as glass, polyester, kevlar, carbon and carbon-kevlar can be laid in to the mold and wet out with resin to produce a laminate with varying characteristics.
Process
The resin cures to become a strong, stiff and durable laminate, which is later pulled out from the molds. The halves are then cut according to the performance desired by the paddler. At this point the boat can be taped together and temporarily sealed, so that the paddler can float test the boat if desired.
Perfection
Float testing allows the paddler to achieve the highest performance cut and comfort available. Once the float meets the paddler’s highest satisfaction, the boat is then seamed together on the inside and outside, using glass and kevlar tape with epoxy resin.
All that is left is the outfitting of the boat and countless hours of fun!
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