Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with carbon fibre canoes?

I'm looking for a light weight tripping canoe to use on 3 - 10 day
wilderness trips through Algonquin Park. Mostly flat water paddling with
lots of portages mixed in.

Swift Canoe Co., has just started experimenting with carbon fibre and the
weight difference is amazing: the CarbonFusion Kipawa is only 42 lbs; 10
lbs lighter than the Kevlar version.
http://www.swiftcanoe.com/swift_fusion.html

My wife and I decided to get one, but we are going to wait a while in order
to let Swift work out the bugs in the new process.

--
Cheers;
Mike
----------------------------------------------
Mike Nowacki

MySpace: http://spaces.msn.com/mnowacki

Bell has been building canoes with a similar layup for years. Neither
company uses pure carbon, but a carbon/Kevlar layer and an outer layer
of carbon and clearcoat. Pure carbon canoes might be good for racing,
but I'd never take one into the wilderness. When carbon breaks, it does
so catastrophically, so you need to have some Kevalr or even glass in
the layup as well.

I have a Kevlar/carbon Wildfire that I like a lot. Can't say anything
about durability as I mainly use it for freestyle and you don't hit
things doing that.

While you're waiting for Swift, have a look at the Bells.

Steve

I have a kevlar kipewa and I've never put it on a scale but I'm sure
it weighs less than 52lbs. It's a nice canoe when loaded up but when
it's light it has a lot more windage than I like. Forget about
paddling it solo in any kind of a breeze.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with carbon fibre canoes?

I'm looking for a light weight tripping canoe to use on 3 - 10 day
wilderness trips through Algonquin Park. Mostly flat water paddling with
lots of portages mixed in.

Swift Canoe Co., has just started experimenting with carbon fibre and the
weight difference is amazing: the CarbonFusion Kipawa is only 42 lbs; 10
lbs lighter than the Kevlar version.
http://www.swiftcanoe.com/swift_fusion.html

My wife and I decided to get one, but we are going to wait a while in order
to let Swift work out the bugs in the new process.

--
Cheers;
Mike
----------------------------------------------
Mike Nowacki

MySpace: http://spaces.msn.com/mnowacki

I have a Bell Northwind that is a carbon/Kevlar blend and it is a sweet
boat; perfect for your needs, I think....

Good paddling,
desmobob

"Mike Nowacki" wrote in message
ET...
Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with carbon fibre canoes?

I'm looking for a light weight tripping canoe to use on 3 - 10 day
wilderness trips through Algonquin Park. Mostly flat water paddling with
lots of portages mixed in.

Swift Canoe Co., has just started experimenting with carbon fibre and the
weight difference is amazing: the CarbonFusion Kipawa is only 42 lbs; 10
lbs lighter than the Kevlar version.
http://www.swiftcanoe.com/swift_fusion.html

My wife and I decided to get one, but we are going to wait a while in
order to let Swift work out the bugs in the new process.

--
Cheers;
Mike
----------------------------------------------
Mike Nowacki

MySpace: http://spaces.msn.com/mnowacki