Bell FlashFire

[SouthernKevlar]

Well, I added another one to the collection.

I found another canoe in need of rescue. It is a red Bell Flashfire, 1999 production, that is in good “mechanical” shape but has cosmetic issues. The biggest is quite a bit of oxidation on the gel coat. I rubbed it a bit and the white film does come off fairly easily. Then there are the scratches, which are not through the gel coat. Also a few hastily repaired gel coat chips. The endcaps are homemade from black plastic sheet, not to bad a job though. A bow line grommet is missing and a floatation tank valve is broken off. Altogether not a tough fix.

I called Northstar and talked to the helpful folk there and now have new endcaps and bow line grommets on the way.

This Flashfire has raised a few questions in my mind. First is “Which lay-up is this?”. I am figuring it’s not a WhiteGold or Fiberlar layup based on the lack of a Core-Mat, unless a thin (1 fiberglass or Kevlar sheet thick) layer along the bottom could be considered a Core-Mat. It also has aluminum gunnels and thwarts. The weight, as per my bathroom scale, is 35.4 pounds. Any ideas on which lay-up from you Bell experts out there?

The other thing about this canoe is that it does not have a seat and the gunnels have never even been drilled for seat drops. Yep, no holes. All the photos of I’ve seen of the Flashfire show canoes with a seat so I can only surmise that this Flashfire was ordered without a seat to be used as a Freestyle canoe; it looks like it would be easy to move around in this way. Since this is a shallow canoe and I have big size 12 feet and a 34” inseam it works out well for me anyway. At 12” center depth I don’t know if I could get my feel under a kneeling thwart. I have not dropped it in water yet but I figure on using the aluminum thwart as my kneeling thwart if it is not too far back. Have you seen any other Bells set up like this?

Here are a few photos as I bought it in all it's faded glory. I will post more photos after I get a chance to clean it up.

 

[pblanc]

I have size eleven feet and I sold my Flashfire because I did have some difficulty extracting my feet from underneath the seat.

I have a Wildfire with a kneeling thwart and being one inch deeper than the Flash, I can get my feet under and back out easily.

 

[stevet]

Not an expert but very familiar with the Fire series….not sure those gunnels are factory…fasteners don’t look right on the thwarts.

 

[SouthernKevlar]

I have only had Bell Royalex canoes with their black aluminum gunnels in the past, this is my first composite Bell. I looked for pictures of aluminum-gunneled composite Bells, but there aren't many floating around the 'net. I did find this ad for a Bell Fusion, and the gunnels and fasteners look to be the same style as mine.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/527324303

Do you know if Bell changed or had more than one aluminum gunnel for their composite canoes? It seems that most of the photos I've seen have wood gunnels. I am hoping to learn more about the older Bell canoes as I go along.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I've never seen a Bell with aluminum gunwales and thwarts, but anything is possible if a canoe was custom ordered, or if the gunwales, thwarts and decks were all replacements. Without a seat, I think an all aluminum trimmed white-gold Flashfire would weigh about 34-35 lbs.

HERE'S a 2003 Bell catalog that describes the different layups and has the Wildfire but not the Flashfire.

Below is a more technical description of the Bell layups from Charlie Wilson, who worked at Bell, which I copied from another site:

Bell’s Fiberlar was a three blanket E glass lamination with a gel coated exterior with an arimid partial bottom with a polyester core-mat center and some arimide stem pieces. Fiberlar was discontinued when ABS came on line, ~2000.

White / Gold had an e glass outer blanket under a gel coated exterior, an arimide bottom with a core mat center, an arimide blanket, an arimide diamond and another arimid inner blanket that, after the mid 90’s was 25% black Kevlar 29 and 75% Kevlar 49, the Bell “tweed”. I use the term arimide because Bell started purchasing European goods which must be Twaron, not Kevlar, in the early 2000s. Every other woof strand is black aramide #29.

Kev-Krystal, later Kev Lite, is a two layer “Tweed” hull with aramide quarters, foam core and sometimes ribs and tweed foam covers. Early versions had, usually, clear gel but could be special ordered in opaque shades. Later versions are skin coated.

Pre 94 Kel Lite and Kev Delux Hulls had a 30" longitudinal section of s glass immediately under the gel coat, this was dropped for cosmetic and weight reasons in 1994.

Black/Gold started with clear gel, which could be special ordered opaque and is now often skin coated. The lamination starts with a carbon blanket, carbon bottom and center diamond, all black, then a tweed blanket, a tweed bottom and diamond and another tweed inner blanket. Newer black/gold hulls may have foam cores. Almost all tandems and Magic have foam cores replacing several layers of fabric to reduce weight.

 

[SouthernKevlar]

Thanks Glenn,

Charlie Wilson's description is what I was looking at today. I think that I read "core mat" as "foam core". Yep, probably a White/Gold.

I was looking at the gunnels on the offerup ad again. The gunnels on it are not showing the rivets on the outside of the hull whereas mine does; another clue that it might have a gunnel replacement. I hope some other member with a Bell composite hull and aluminum gunnels can chime in.

My SN ends in 99, so 1999 should be the production year. The 2003 catalog does not show the Flashfire. Does anyone know when Bell dropped the Flashfire?

Next step will be to clean it up and get in in the water; maybe not in that order.

So much to learn... Thanks in advance.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

My SN ends in 99, so 1999 should be the production year.

Insert HIN on this site for full decoding:

Free HIN number Decoder for any Boat, Hull, or Vessel - HINDecoder.com

 

[pblanc]

Thanks Glenn,

Charlie Wilson's description is what I was looking at today. I think that I read "core mat" as "foam core". Yep, probably a White/Gold.

I was looking at the gunnels on the offerup ad again. The gunnels on it are not showing the rivets on the outside of the hull whereas mine does; another clue that it might have a gunnel replacement. I hope some other member with a Bell composite hull and aluminum gunnels can chime in.

My SN ends in 99, so 1999 should be the production year. The 2003 catalog does not show the Flashfire. Does anyone know when Bell dropped the Flashfire?

Next step will be to clean it up and get in in the water; maybe not in that order.

So much to learn... Thanks in advance.

The Starfire, Flashfire, and Wildfire were designed by David Yost on commission from Charlie Wilson when the latter was a principle at Bell Canoe. Those two held the rights to the design so Bell Canoe stopped manufacturing those canoes sometime after Wilson left Bell in 1999, although Bell Canoe may have had some stock that were sold later.

Wilson and Joe Moore later founded Placid Canoe Works and the Fire boats were manufactured by Placid for a few years. Years later (2011?) Colden Canoe acquired the molds and the rights to manufacture the Fire series canoes. The molds now reside at Swift Canoe which is producing the Wildfire at present.

 

[M Clemens]

From the 1999 catalogue, 35 pounds would indicate white gold. The catalogue also describes the Bell two-piece aluminum gunnel, which yours does not appear to be.

 

[SouthernKevlar]

Thank you for the information on the FlashFIRE. If production stopped in 1999, it looks like mine is a final year production model. The catalog page is very helpful for data that I was unable to find elsewhere.
Since everything is solid on the canoe, I will be trying it out as soon as I get freed up from holiday obligations. I did a bit of polishing by hand on the oxidized sections today and it slowly came out. I think I will finally invest in a nice buffer; it would speed things along on the cosmetic work. Even with the "odd" gunnels, I think it should make a nice looking canoe once it is cleaned up and should be quite maneuverable. I might have to give the Freestyle Canoe sport a shot before I decide to put in a seat or not.