Re: Microlight vs Wood Fl

Posted by LeeG on May 9, 2006

how to knock off weight.

Reduce dimensions of the sheerclamp and install with straps/tape. Mount deck hardware inboard of the sheerclamps since you don't need a thick sheeclampe if you don't have 1"x#10 woodscrews holding deck hardware. The Arctic Hawk has a 3/8" wide sheeclamp. Get the sheerclamp that comes with the kit and reduce it to 1/2"x1/2" once it's planed down. That will reduce a lot of weight for no change in strength and make sealing the sheerlamp easier by reducing the interior right angle corner.

Replace 6mm bulkheads with 4mm for no change in durability. Replace 6mm coaming with glassed 4mm coaming (marginal weigh savings but increased durability)

pre-glass interior side of hull panels with 6oz in the cockpit and 4oz in the compartments. Overlap cloth at bulhead locations about 2" wide and make small fillets at bulkheads.

When hull is stitched up you will only need to add tiny fillets, 1 1/2" tape and fill coats. Pre-glassing the panels while flat will reduce a lot of wasted epoxy that can be used fiberglassing an interior space.

Make deck beam temporary,remove when the deck/coaming stack is cured. the A.Hawk has no deck beam and it's got a theoretically weaker coaming stack than the Cheaspeake.

Cut sheerlamps at the ends of the side panel and use only 2oz of endpour with wood plug under triangular peak of the sheeclamps.

The older recomendation in the Kayak Shop Book to use fairing compounds in the fillets to make them light was at a time when fillets were made as wide as the 3" tape. You don't need that much goop, that's like pouring concrete ballast in the keel of a boat,,kayak doesn't need it.

In Response to: Microlight vs Wood Flour? by Chuck Rhodes on May 9, 2006

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