Wednesday, April 27, 2011

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. I wanted to remove the "weight" emphasis that is so important on the market and make a heavy duty version for impact zone paddling and rep abuse. 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.

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