Michael Storer Boat Design 

FAQ - How to build a strip canoe or kayak that won't be damaged on impact  in the surf or with rocks at speed.

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This was a discussion about how to build a boat in terms of impact. Such as beach landings in sea kayaks or hitting rocks in rapids in strip canoes or kayaks. Quote: In Nick Shades “The strip-built Sea kayak” there is a great analogy of the timber/glass construction with a metal I-beam and the wood is really only holding the two skins apart. In this analogy to “dent” (as distinct to puncturing) the canoe the inside glass would have to stretch and the outside layer would have to compress (this is where glass has it’s strength). Denting is very localised on the outside skin of the boat. Like bruising a peach by squeezing it with fingertips. The bending loads are insignificant (the I beam analogy) - but the cross grain compression loads where the stone is pressing on the hull are very high Quote: Where the “strength” of the timber comes in … in my way of thinking … is it has to have a good compression strength ie how crushable is it. This is different from the tensile strength etc that is easier to come by. I can not find anywhere the compression strength of Paulownia so I’m just winging it but I would expect it to sit somewhere between Balsa and WRC Exactly right - and if my balsa canoe can handle all sorts of nasties then the Paulownia will be fine. Strengths of timbers are quite proportional to their densities as you suggest. There are some exceptions but not by a huge amount Quote: Therefore if the timber crushes then the two layers of glass are sitting side by side and can therefore be “folded” quite easily. (see attachment) Sea kayaks are quite different creatures from canoes - I have a "word" for you ... it is ... surf landings. The sort of damage that Nick is talking about is from wrapping a fully laden seakayak against a rock when surfing in. I have never seen damage of this type. In fact I haven't ever seen damage that has gone through to the inside skin. Most of the denting that I have seen has even been without cracking the epoxy. Just like denting a peach skin. Isn't it risky to reduce the density and strength of the timber if doing surf landings. For a surf landing that goes OK there is no difference in timbers of course! But if something goes wrong and you wrap the boat around a rock there will probably be little difference between timbers - if it is hard enough to damage one of them it will be hard and heavy enough to do significant damage to all. I haven't got enough time at the moment to dig out an old spreadsheet I wrote as part of my engineering course to get a quantitative answer about strength and impact absorbtion, but I can suggest a ballpark solution. Normally strip boats use 6mm Cedar. If you go to 7mm Paulownia the strips will have pretty much the same impact absorbtion and tensile strength. But because of the added thickness the glass will be more effective in stiffening the skin. And because Paulownia is lighter than WRC you won't have added any weight. I don't know what the sea kayaking hotshots are using for glass. For normal use 6oz (200gsm) is fine, but there might be some info about boats that are going to be surf landed on some specialist sites on the net. Or in the plans!? The info should be there. ______________________________ Just did a fair bit of fishing through Nick Schade's site. It looks like the general run of kayaks are glassed with either 6oz or 4oz. If you are likely to be wrapping it around rocks I would take the heavier!