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Strip Plank Carbon Fiber Infusion

Nick makes it look easy doesn't he !

I've viewed about everything he has out.
 
I would say he has done it a few times, but other than laying out the fabric he seems to be working alone the entire time. Does appear to be a lot of waste when he removes the bag and peel ply fabrics.
 
Maybe that's why these new boats are SOO expensive !

I'd like to know how many he has done ?
The videos are well done ! They beat the crap out of the bead and cove one I did ! Where the wind comes up and knocks my camera over.
 
Does appear to be a lot of waste when he removes the bag and peel ply fabrics.

That's one thing I don't really like. The cost of the consumables doesn't bother me so much as throwing away all that plastic. I try to justify it to myself by saying that if I can use 20% less resin when compared to a hand layup (according to the builders) that probably more than offsets the wasted material.

Here's an old video of Charlie Wilson at Placid infusing a canoe (to get things back on topic ;)):


Alan
 
Why would one use strip plank for a carbon layup core??

In Nicks case, it seemed like he did a lot of sanding, and the CF would stiffin things up in thin areas. Plus he may be in some pretty rough sea water, that puts a lot of torq on the hull. That's my guess.

Jim
 
Why would one use strip plank for a carbon layup core??

I would guess in Nick's case it's because he builds very high end woodstrip kayaks for a lot of money and the carbon interior, while adding a lot more stiffness than fiberglass, would also be a unique look preferred by some people. I'm guessing the outside of that kayak was left natural.

While he charges a lot of money for his boats it's probably justified by the time and effort he puts in to them. He's got a lot of youtube videos showing all the different steps, pretty much all of which would apply to doing a canoe as well.

Alan
 
I watched the 20 minute video of building an entire kayak and it looks like he removed half the wood thickness in fairing the hull, which might also be a reason for the carbon infusion process to give stiffness to the thinner hull. I can see people paying 20k for one of his boats. If I did 2 a year at that cost I could give up my day job.
 
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