Kevlar Skid Guards Source?

[Maine Woodsman]

Where is a good place to get Kevlar skid guards for my old town?
MW

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Ebay has them. You might want to consider holding off until you actually have signifiant wear as they cause drag.

Old Town Canoe Repair Kevlar Felt For Skid Plate

 

[yellowcanoe]

You might hold off on Kevlar entirely. Quick, easy to apply and a POS.. Fiberglass is better. Kevlar does not abrade well. It makes up for that weakness in the thickness of the cloth. You get better protection from thinner fiberglass fabric.

 

[Jim Dodd]

OK. I know this is new to some, but I'm quite pleased with the results.

A few builds back, I started using 100% Polyester Fleece, aka Sweat shirt material.

you apply it just like Kevlar felt, the big difference, you can sand it smooth.

I purposely drug my Polyester felt skid plated canoes across the parking lot to see how it held up. I'm sold on it !
I will use Black Polyester felt on my Carbon Fiber Nokomis. for skid plates !

The above is 100% yellow Polyester felt skid plated.

Some really like Dynel.

Jim

 

[Maine Woodsman]

epoxy, resin + hardener?
MW

 

[Jim Dodd]

epoxy, resin + hardener?
MW

Yes. the felt is saturated with mixed epoxy resin.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I'm a little confused. How do you felt fleece? I have never seen fleece shrink? Or do you use Polarguard 300 which is thicker?

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

You might hold off on Kevlar entirely. Quick, easy to apply and a POS.. Fiberglass is better. Kevlar does not abrade well. It makes up for that weakness in the thickness of the cloth. You get better protection from thinner fiberglass fabric.

Tried using fiberglass skid plates on my old Wenonah a few years back, primarily because of the cost, but they didn't last a full season on my 'scratchy' rivers. Bit the bullet and used kevlar, no problems .

 

[yellowcanoe]

Ive taken out chunks of kevlar skid plates.We hit a rock in Wabakimi and pow a two inch hole in the bow skid plate I suspect in BOTH cases that operator installation was the error. Epoxy installation needs to be precise. Too much is never good.

And a few layers of glass is needed cut on the bias.

 

[Alan Gage]

I've been surprised at how quickly I can wear through a few layers of fiberglass at the stems. Never used it but I have no doubt that kevlar felt can stand up to a lot more abuse but when you look at how much thicker it is it only makes sense. And at least with cloth I've found fiberglass sands through faster than kevlar.

But I hate the looks, bulk, and weight of the kevlar plates so I don't use them. I've been putting dynel on my stems lately but haven't used those boats enough to say how well it will do for my usage.

I think Jim's polyester fabric probably isn't a bad idea. I don't know how wear resistant it is but there's a lot of it so it will take a long time to wear through. Being able to sand it would be a big benefit.

Alan

 

[yellowcanoe]

dynel is somewhere between s glass and kevlar for abrasion resistance. What sort of glass did you use?

BTW we are reinventing the wheel.. my source...lol.. Google came up number 1

ta da

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...scussions/diy/17299-​skid-plates-an-evolution

we've now been around long enough to repeat ourselves like Grumpy Old Men

 

[Alan Gage]

dynel is somewhere between s glass and kevlar for abrasion resistance. What sort of glass did you use?

Usually layers of E glass buried below one or two layers of S glass. It was a rough trip but this happened in about 3 weeks with 1 week left to go in the trip:

20150905_001 by Alan, on Flickr

From my limited experience in accidentally sanding through cloth layers and attempting to fair lapped seams I'd say Kevlar and Dynel are considerably better than E glass and, I suspect, a bit better than S glass as well. We all know that Kevlar fuzzes when sanded, which makes it a real PITA. Dynel doesn't really fuzz but it seems that no matter how long I grind away at it with an 80 grit pad I can't ever get it to wear away. Because of the fuzzing I wouldn't want to use Kevlar cloth at the stems.

This year I've got multiple layers of E and S glass buried beneath one layer of dynel at the stems. Already I'm wondering if I shouldn't have doubled up the Dynel. I'll see what I've got in a couple months.

BTW we are reinventing the wheel.. my source...lol.. Google came up number 1

ta da

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/...s-an-evolution

we've now been around long enough to repeat ourselves like Grumpy Old Men

That's a great thread and one I've linked to many times.

Alan

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Just an aside....

If you already have those kev felt skid plates (my Prospector came with them already installed) there is a way to smooth them out without fuzzing. I happened upon a pristine farrier's file laying in the road one day and took it home. I looked at those aggressive teeth and wondered....so I put it to the rough felt skids for a test. Sure enough, those little clustered knife blades easily sliced through the hard material and made a smooth surface. I had to be very careful not to gouge the exposed vinyl at the edges of the plate, but the finished product was quite smooth (relatively). The Farrier's file cuts so easily that it wasn't hard to work with carefully around the edges.

 

[Guest]

Dynel doesn't really fuzz but it seems that no matter how long I grind away at it with an 80 grit pad I can't ever get it to wear away. Because of the fuzzing I wouldn't want to use Kevlar cloth at the stems.

Dynel seems dang near impervious to abrasion, so for the scrapes, scratches and, yes, drags my boats usually incur that is what I use. Dynel puts the skid in skid plate.

I have heard that layered glass is more resistant to impact, although I have binged some rocks pretty hard with a Dynel skid plate with no damage.

This year I've got multiple layers of E and S glass buried beneath one layer of dynel at the stems. Already I'm wondering if I shouldn't have doubled up the Dynel. I'll see what I've got in a couple months.

That seems like a good combination of both impact strength and abrasion resistance.

FWIW I have been using a single layer of Dynel for my skid plates and none show any wear so far. Dynel does swell up considerable and develop a rough/raspy texture, but using peel ply largely eliminates both of those issues.

 

[dave0]

I've been using Dynel saturated with a mixture of resin and G-Flex mix. I run a lot of very rocky rivers here in NE and to date have never had a problem and believe me I have had some pretty hard hits with no damage at all. Well, ok the paint on the outside took a scrape. As Mike stated some Peel Ply during application smooths it out pretty well. Have done Kevlar in the past and will never go back to it, seen it peel off in the past and IMO looks like S%$T. I don't see the value of put other types of glass on a boat for this application as I don't think it will hold up as well even with multiple layers as Alan pointed out. heck, I even tried Carbon Fiber once...just once. Just my .02 on the subject.

dougd

 

[Mihun09]

No Title

The factory installed Kevlar felt skid plates on my Swift have an annoying... gurgle... as if you are always near a babbling brook.

Alan, that result from last year really isn't really due to the materials used as much as paddling in Shield country.

 

[Guest]

The factory installed Kevlar felt skid plates on my Swift have an annoying... gurgle... as if you are always near a babbling brook.

Karin, even the fugly kevlar felt skid plates don’t have to be quite as gugrly. I’ve never seen a factory installed kevlar felt skid plate, and would trust Swift did a decent job of it.

One hazard for DIY installers is that there is wayyyyy more resin in those skid plates kits than needed ($100? crap I’m using every drop of resin!). Hazard #2 is that the resin swelled felt needs to be compressed with something. One that bulbous appendage has started to set up I took a tongue depressor and feathered down the edges of that proud-standing kevlar felt.

That was quieter, but even so I regret every kev felt skid plate I ever installed, including, sadly, on a dozen friend’s canoes.

That cut water gurgle noise would drive me batty, especially when I wanted to enjoy some quiet auditory glide. Smoothing out that abrupt transition helped the gurgle a lot. If your factory installed kevlar skid plates have that gurgly skid plate lip it might be worth trying to lay a bead of thickened epoxy (G/flex) around the edges.

A single layer of Dynel, compressed with a layer of release treated peel ply as the resin is hardening, is practically invisible. I just keep pushing the peel ply into the Dynel fabric as the resin sets up.

Even Alan’s multiple E-glass, S-glass and Dynel outer skin would be much less noticeable in hull-to-skid plate transition than kevlar felt, and probably tough as nails.

Alan, that result from last year really isn't really due to the materials used as much as paddling in Shield country.

I am looking forward to hearing how the stems on the Bloodvein II stand up to an even longer trip. Well, more than just that, but. . . . . .

 

[Guest]

Karin, I overlooked the photo of your kevlar felt skid plate.

That is a Swift factory installed skid plate? Seriously, I would have expected better. At least for them to have feathered out the abrupt and gurgly transition edge of the kev felt.

I’m not trying to be skid plate b*tchy, but the felt is not compressed smooth and there are epoxy void gaps visible right about at the cutwater. And the felt appears to reach nearly vertically up the stem to the deck plate.

WTF, I’ve hit a lot of rocks, but I’ve only run headlong into a vertical cliff face once or twice, and I was usually pretty stoned at the time. OK, I have inattentively, and more gently, backed into a rock wall a time or three. Still.

I install skid plates once I have some wear area showing on the stems, and even extending them well past the wear marks I’m usually 10 to 12 inches down from the deck plates, which provides both weight savings and gurgle reduction.

I hate the (previous owner) installed skid plates on our MRC Explorer, and when I work up the courage I may try to chisel, grind and/or rasp them off and replace them with Dynel. Or keep my eye out for a roadkill farrier’s file.

I happened upon a pristine farrier's file laying in the road one day and took it home. I looked at those aggressive teeth and wondered....so I put it to the rough felt skids for a test. Sure enough, those little clustered knife blades easily sliced through the hard material and made a smooth surface. I had to be very careful not to gouge the exposed vinyl at the edges of the plate, but the finished product was quite smooth (relatively). The Farrier's file cuts so easily that it wasn't hard to work with carefully around the edges.

Steve, this thing?

https://www.amazon.com/Nicholson-Farrier-American-Pattern-Rectangular/dp/B004HW6AV0

For 20 bucks I could maybe fix my own fugly kevlar felt skid plates, and make step eight amends to friend’s canoes.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

The finer side of my file looks about like that, Mike. The more aggressive side is, well....much more aggressive.

 

[Jim Dodd]

https://www.amazon.com/Nicholson-Farrier-American-Pattern-Rectangular/dp/B004HW6AV0

For 20 bucks I could maybe fix my own fugly kevlar felt skid plates, and make step eight amends to friend’s canoes.

​ And shoe a horse ! Win Win !