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kevlar hull ?

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c chardt

c chardt

Well-known member
Dose any one know any thing about how strong,durable,and how heavy that a kevlar hull is.Looking for new hull and found good deal.
 
cchart - I know that it is fairly strong. There was a company making ice rescue airboats with enclosed cabins that supposedly was made of Kevlar. The front had a slight V-bow with a flat bottom if I remember correctly. I will look around for their site and post it if you want. They claimed it would flex some over rough ice and not break.

That stuff is fairly amazing with the canoes they are making. Some of the custom builders have 12 to 14 foot canoes that are less than 2 pounds and supposedly take the rocks in rivers and light rapids with ease.

I also know of some kevlar fiberglass composites pirogues that are light weight (about half the weight of a fiberglass pirogue) and strong as you know what.

Good Luck
 
Hells bay boatworks make some really nice flats boats out of the stuff that are extremely tough and light. I just looked at their sight, and the weights of their boats are incredible. They make an 18' skiff with a 76.5" beam that only weighs 625lbs, and a 27' boat with a 9' beam that only weighs 2750lbs. That weight accounts for everything except gas and an engine. Since they can make a flats boat and an offshore boat that light, I can only speculate on how light an airboat hull would be. I'd be willing to bet that two or three guys at the most could carry it with ease (without the rigging of course). Strength wise I'd say it would be pretty good too because that's the stuff they make bullet proof vests out of, and my saltwater buddies say their hells bay boats are extremely tough.
 
I'm not familiar with hulls made of Kevlar but when I was in the Army our helmets were made of kevlar. They were pretty much indestructable... mine was run over by a tank once and the only thing that was damaged was the cloth covering. I'm sure the new versions of kevlar are even stronger and lighter.
 
I had a Kevlar step hull and a carbon fiber step hull. The Carbon fiber was stronger and lighter but it was brittle. The Kevlar was more flexible and had a good memory to it. A Kevlar hull is very forgiving compared to a standard glass hull. The carbon fiber was a river queen I never ran it thru the woods but I tell you what that was the stiffest hull I have ever seen and it only had three stringers.
 
I was told if you buy a glass hull you can trade as often as you can aford to.but with alum hull sence they cost alot more if you buy one and don't like the way it rides or handles it to hard to come up with that kind of money to trade them. so i'm still undecided.
 
if you run alot of dry ground, or just normal riding, you do not want a kevlar hull. they are great for racing, but cant with stand the abuse of constant running. a properly built kevlar hull would cost alot more than a aluminum hull. and if it was all kevlar,it wouldnt weigh any less than a convential fiberglass hull. if you want a good fiberglass hull, id go see chuck hawk in okeechobee. he builds boats out of the old wilcox mold and his glass man is damn good.
 
We run alot of dry ground when the water is down.relly want aluminum hull. but cost alot I've got prices from about 8 places and classic seems to be the cheapest but I know you get what you pay for.
 
we have been running a clasic hull for 9 years and we run a lot of dry ground and over logs and through the ice and have not had any problems althouth we did put put the sheet style polymer on the bottom and up the sides 12 inches. THe polymar up the sides is awsome if you are in rotten ice that you keep following through. before we put it up the sides they would get pushed in some and at the end of the season we would have to beat them out but never a leak.
 
Classic sold several styles a few years ago. The cottonmouth, and maybe a copperhead (? -forgot the other style's name), but the cottonmouth if still available is a great hull. I know one in this area and it will run dry with a 0-540 (only 290 HP) with 750 pounds (men and gear) for long distances in the Texas coastal marshes.

Polymer the bottom and side. They hit a metal fence post one night and got it repair it twice. They were looking at getting new hull but installed polymer and it has been running well for about 2 years.
 
I relly like the hull that i have.don't have any idea how old it is but it's getting brittle.plus want a longer hull mines only 11ft 8in
 
if your interested in an alum. hull, id get a hamant. theyre made right there in melbourne, and build one of the best alum hulls in my opinion. somebody else must think so, cause somebody on cox rd in cocoa started building theyre hulls awful similar
 
Hey there nothing wrong with taking a good Idea and making it better
and the folks on Cox rd have done that.
 
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