Kevlar


I do not sell Kevlar®
I do not know the names of dealers that sell Kevlar®

Kevlar® is made by duPont.

Kevlar® is a brand-name for aramid fiber. It is used in bullet-proof vests, high-strength ropes and lines, and many other places where a high strength to weight is needed. My recollection is that the tensile strength is about 70,000 lb/sq in.(psi) which is about the same as mild steel (but the Kevlar® is much lighter than the same square inch of steel). (A sidebar on relative strengths: you see TV ads for "one-ton glue!" That's about 1/35th the strength of steel or Kevlar® and in fact many glues are MUCH stronger than 2,000 psi tensile and bonding strength. If you think about it, they are really saying, "our glue is weak!" Now if you want strong glue, talk to a barnacle.)

For $700 extra Stratos would make the boat to order with Kevlar® cloth instead of fiberglass cloth. They would use their usual number of layers and weights, but with a much stronger material than usual. So this is no prima-donna eggshell like the ultra-light racing sail- and power-boats, but a heavy, bullet-proof work-horse. My kind of boat.

I really only got the Kevlar® on a whim, but I think it was the best investment I ever made. I come from a family that uses its boats fairly hard. We boat in all conditions and we usually stretch the season -- launch before all the ice is out; stay in until the marina is screaming that they want to lock up for the winter. The fiberglass boats in the family seem to get pretty flexible after several years of this kind of treatment; aluminum boats get pretty beat up after only a few seasons.

If you've ever (accidentally or otherwise) hit a large wake left by another boat at too high of a speed, you probably know what I mean by the "nasty crunching sound" that over-stressed fiberglass makes. I've never heard that sound from the hull of Honky Tonk, although I have certainly hit overly-large wakes from time to time (accidentally or otherwise.) After 500+ hours of use, I have no visible damage to the hull, and no indications of increasing flexibility (a sign that many of the fibers are breaking internally). I do have a few gel-coat cracks in the inner fiberglass (not Kevlar®) liner. A lot of glass boats seem to get these on the hull after a few seasons.

Kevlar® is made by duPont. I'm sure they will be happy to answer any technical questions about Kevlar®. After all, the more you know about it, the more they can sell.


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Created: Wed, May 24, 1995, 12:05 PM ET
By: Peter W. Meek
Net-sig: --Pete <pwmeek@comcast.net>
pwmeek@comcast.net