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Guest
Guest
I am pondering another shop experiment; testing materials and methodologies for skid plates. For your consideration and suggestions, a test bed with various skid plate materials epoxied on, starting with the (despised) kevlar felt and moving materially onward.
Kevlar felt, pigmented, graphite powdered and epoxy saturated, without peel ply
Kevlar felt, pigmented, graphite powdered and epoxy saturated, with peel ply compression
(Maybe some kevlar felt heavily epoxy saturated and some more lightly filled, that seems to make a difference)
Single layer of Dynel, pigmented and graphite powdered, with peel ply
Dynel with under-layer of S-glass (on the bias), pigmented and graphite powdered, with peel ply
Maybe some just S-glass, like a 2-layer sandwich with a bias cut piece, pigment, graphite powered and peel ply. Or some easypeazy install selvage edge glass tape in different weights or bias sandwich.
Let them all set up for a week.
Scrape and gouge the test beds with a sharp rock (or belt sander?) for abrasion resistance.
Smack the test beds with a hammer for impact resistance, from the light ball peen up to the 20oz roofing hammer. Maybe a few hatchet blows for good measure. Wear safety goggles.
Or maybe skip that subjective scraping and hatcheting and half-arsed results and suggest that test to Gougeon Brothers.
Gougeon Bros has the facilities to conduct a more scientific test, with actual numbers for abrasion and impact resistance and, important in an increasingly ultra-light world, weights. That experiment needs access to different epoxies and epoxy mixes (straight 105/206, 105/206 and G/flex in ratios, straight G/flex, etc), and better methodology than my shop tinkering will produce.
A lot of paddlers prefer to DIY their own skid plates, and I have never seen any real world information on skid plate abrasion and impact resistance. Different epoxy coats on different materials, in different weights. With different results for applications from careful flatwater scrapes and scratches to rocky whitewater impacts.
My money for best abrasion and impact resistance to weight combination is on a bias cut underlayer of S-glass with a (slightly larger?) top layer of Dynel. And I bet that a single of Dynel isn’t far behind.
Peel ply compressed to lay flat in transition. And graphite powdered and black pigmented for aesthetics.
I’d really like to know.
Kevlar felt, pigmented, graphite powdered and epoxy saturated, without peel ply
Kevlar felt, pigmented, graphite powdered and epoxy saturated, with peel ply compression
(Maybe some kevlar felt heavily epoxy saturated and some more lightly filled, that seems to make a difference)
Single layer of Dynel, pigmented and graphite powdered, with peel ply
Dynel with under-layer of S-glass (on the bias), pigmented and graphite powdered, with peel ply
Maybe some just S-glass, like a 2-layer sandwich with a bias cut piece, pigment, graphite powered and peel ply. Or some easypeazy install selvage edge glass tape in different weights or bias sandwich.
Let them all set up for a week.
Scrape and gouge the test beds with a sharp rock (or belt sander?) for abrasion resistance.
Smack the test beds with a hammer for impact resistance, from the light ball peen up to the 20oz roofing hammer. Maybe a few hatchet blows for good measure. Wear safety goggles.
Or maybe skip that subjective scraping and hatcheting and half-arsed results and suggest that test to Gougeon Brothers.
Gougeon Bros has the facilities to conduct a more scientific test, with actual numbers for abrasion and impact resistance and, important in an increasingly ultra-light world, weights. That experiment needs access to different epoxies and epoxy mixes (straight 105/206, 105/206 and G/flex in ratios, straight G/flex, etc), and better methodology than my shop tinkering will produce.
A lot of paddlers prefer to DIY their own skid plates, and I have never seen any real world information on skid plate abrasion and impact resistance. Different epoxy coats on different materials, in different weights. With different results for applications from careful flatwater scrapes and scratches to rocky whitewater impacts.
My money for best abrasion and impact resistance to weight combination is on a bias cut underlayer of S-glass with a (slightly larger?) top layer of Dynel. And I bet that a single of Dynel isn’t far behind.
Peel ply compressed to lay flat in transition. And graphite powdered and black pigmented for aesthetics.
I’d really like to know.
