Is there online information regarding laminating a fiberglass boat
with Kevlar or does anyone have any such information personally ?

Thank you,
Courtney

Generally it isn't done because of the expense, i.e. Kevlar is very
expensive (unless you get lucky on e-bay...). If your motivation is
weight reduction, it may be best to consider a Kevlar / Carbon Fiber
laminate. This is because while Kevlar is very strong in *tension*, it
is not very strong in *compression or bending*, areas where Carbon
Fiber shines. Of course, we're talkin' epoxy as the binding resin
(something like Gougeon's Pro-Set line).

Cautions with Kevlar include: It is hygroscopic - it will absorb
moisture and therefore must be kept dry (another good reason to use
epoxy). Too, it is senstive to UV and will degrade after long
exposure, so don't store it outdoors (duh). But since you're using
epoxy, and you know that epoxy suffers the same fate if not painted,
this should be easy. You can't sand Kevlar; it simply 'fuzzes-up' and
makes a complete mess, hence your lamination schedule needs to keep
this in mind. Ordinary scissiors will not cut Kevlar, at least not for
long so you'll need to invest in 'Kevlar Shears', and it does not
become transparent when wet-out with resin (while to my eye the color
does change from Frenchs' Mustard to Gouldens Mustard yellow) so extra
care must be taken in this light.

I did, in fact (get lucky) so I used three layers of 22 oz Kevlar
laminated between 3 layers of 18 oz woven on the 'inside' of the hull
in what I felt were critical areas for *impact resistance*.
Remembering that Kevlar's real strength is in *tension*, many boat
builders are adding a Kevlar laminate to the inside of the hull to
improve impact resistance generally to the bow area and keel leading
edge.

Vacuum baging is probably used by those in-the-know, but is not
critical to success. I laminated the Kevlar in the traditional way,
i.e. roller and squeege and had no problems.

Mike Worrall
Los Angeles

Wooden drift boat builders have been using kevlar for a few years in
the construction of stitch and glue boats. The current technique is to
put the kevlar on the inside of the hull attacting as a reinforcement
for the floor as these boats are prone to bashing rocks.

I cut the kevlar for my boat using an angle grinder with a cut off
disk. Put masking tape over the area to be cut, draw you cut lines on
with a marker, lay the kevlar on a sacrificial piece of ply or other
cheap board and cut it with the cut off disk.

My layup schedule has a layer of Kevlar on the inside waterline to waterline
from the bow to the fin keel. It is intended to give some impact
protection. Don't use it on the outside because if you sand into it while
fairing you are SOL. There is no way to bury the fuz without putting more
glass on top of it.

I tried all sorts of expensive specialty Kevlar shears with no luck. Found
that what works best is a $12 Fiskars searated blade shop shear from Home
Despot. The secret to cutting Kevlar is to keep it stretched tight. I have
two pieces of 2x2 covered with duct tape about 5' long. I lay the Kevlar
out flat on the table and lay one 2x2 across it in front of the roll and
clamp it down. Then clamp the other just past the cut line while pulling
the Kevlar tight. As you cut with the Fiskars, pull back slightly as the
blades close. You can cut a intricately and cleanly as you want between the
2x2s.

BTW, for cutting regular glass of all weaves and weights nothing, and I
really mean nothing, does the job as well as an Olfa Rotary cutter.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"SouthForkSam" wrote in message
ups.com...
Wooden drift boat builders have been using kevlar for a few years in
the construction of stitch and glue boats. The current technique is to
put the kevlar on the inside of the hull attacting as a reinforcement
for the floor as these boats are prone to bashing rocks.

I cut the kevlar for my boat using an angle grinder with a cut off
disk. Put masking tape over the area to be cut, draw you cut lines on
with a marker, lay the kevlar on a sacrificial piece of ply or other
cheap board and cut it with the cut off disk.

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

BTW, for cutting regular glass of all weaves and weights nothing, and I
really mean nothing, does the job as well as an Olfa Rotary cutter.

Yeah, they're quite a revelation, aren't they. I use one on glass and
Dynel, but haven't tried it on Kevlar. How well does it work?


--
Regards

Brian

The Ofla will work on Kevlar IF the fabric is held tight but the Fiskars
searated blade shears work better.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message
news:FQ2he.2$E05.0@trndny09...
Glenn Ashmore wrote:

BTW, for cutting regular glass of all weaves and weights nothing, and I
really mean nothing, does the job as well as an Olfa Rotary cutter.

Yeah, they're quite a revelation, aren't they. I use one on glass and
Dynel, but haven't tried it on Kevlar. How well does it work?


--
Regards

Brian

Glenn Ashmore wrote:
The Ofla will work on Kevlar IF the fabric is held tight but the Fiskars
searated blade shears work better.

Thanks Glenn.


--
Regards

Brian

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

BTW, for cutting regular glass of all weaves and weights nothing, and I
really mean nothing, does the job as well as an Olfa Rotary cutter.

I can second that in spades. It makes a super clean cut and
is so easy. Never am I going to have sore hands from
cutting glass again (and never again will my wife complain
when all the scissors magically become dull)

Evan Gatehouse

Damn
Another tool to buy ....
I bought a Fein Multitool after reading one of Glen's posts a while back,
it's let me do things I didn't think were possible. Like cutting through
two layers of 3 mm ( 1/8" for you feet and inches folk) ply, removing the
off-cuts and having a clean virtually zero-gap joint ....

The Olfa is a lot cheaper - it's less than any blade for the Fein!

David


"Evan Gatehouse" wrote in message
...
Glenn Ashmore wrote:

BTW, for cutting regular glass of all weaves and weights nothing, and I
really mean nothing, does the job as well as an Olfa Rotary cutter.

I can second that in spades. It makes a super clean cut and is so easy.
Never am I going to have sore hands from cutting glass again (and never
again will my wife complain when all the scissors magically become dull)

Evan Gatehouse

Thank you.


On Sat, 14 May 2005 04:15:51 +0000, Brian Nystrom wrote:

Glenn Ashmore wrote:
The Ofla will work on Kevlar IF the fabric is held tight but the Fiskars
searated blade shears work better.

Thanks Glenn.