Does the Kevlar in old boats - 20-30+ years old have the original or close to original properties? Or, does it determinate or become more brittle over time - even if stored inside out of the sun?

Stored out of UV exposure no problem as far as I know. I've seen and paddled some over 20 years old.

butthead

Not sure about Kevlar. I've had a couple old fiberglass canoes (Sawyer and Wenonah) from the late 70's and early 80's that had gotten quite brittle. Not saying that's the case for all of them but it was certainly the case for those boats in particular.

Alan

well, it is recommended you replace your "bullet proof" vest every so often
it does deteriorate over time, but for our purposes I wouldn't worry about it unless it is suffering from UV exposure, even then it will be "water proof"
might want to refrain from bouncing it across rocks though

We have a Wenonah Odyssey. Its now 26 years old. Stored inside except for one winter. The skin got darker but the boat is still a go for travel on Lake Superior. That's one place I wouldn't want my boat to fall apart.
Its such a great boat with a great tripping with us history that I hesitate to let it go.

So the real Q is....I found a great deal on an old Kevlar boat, should I buy it?

CB

I've had a few kevlars from the early 90s and found their integrity to be intact with no unusual issues. For the kevlars I have owned, I think the past care of a kevlar canoe is much more important than its age. That being said, I have never owned an early 80s kevlar and can't speak to how they may have been constructed.

Bought a Minnesota II from Piragis in 1991 and after 26 years it is still going strong. I put 303 UV protectant on it every year and store in my garage. It doesn't seem to be "brittle".

303 Aerospace Marine Protectant

I trek with a 1994 Winona Adirondack on a regular basis and have never worried about its integrity...even after it blew away from me on a portage in a squall and took a giant "hit" on the rocks (lesson learned there!). Never a concern though.

Mac

My 1999 Bell Magic, Black Gold shows no sign of deterioration. I asked about this on another site when I bought it a number of years ago and Charlie Wilson said it was a non-issue.

Both of my kevlar canoes are 1996's and they're holding up fine. Always stored in my garage. Age has been a non-issue for me.

I mentioned that LEO's replace their bullet proof vests after five years, but that is an insurance requirement, those 5 year old vests are resold, and there are a number of people who have tested them by shooting live ammo and found that 10 and 15 year old armor still gets the job done.

I was told by a wise man that pre- 1995 composite boats generally are more brittle, having less flex and are significantly poorer resilience at impact, due to improvements in epoxy formulation after that date. My dad's 1988 sawyer kevlar boat seemed to damage more easily then I expected it too, leading to having the bottom rebuilt with carbon fiber reinforcement. Another experienced FG repair man I spoke with concurred with that opinion several years later. He also felt that UV degradation was considerably greater on previous 1998 boats due to UV inhibitor development after that point.

I cannot speak with authority on composite boats aging and loosing structural strength, but I have considerable experience with ABS canoes and can say with certainty that older builds suffer from aging issues, especially pretty 1990.


Hmmm.....

quote ZaraSp00k: "I mentioned that LEO's replace their bullet proof vests after five years, but that is an insurance requirement, those 5 year old vests are resold, and there are a number of people who have tested them by shooting live ammo and found that 10 and 15 year old armor still gets the job done."

different Kevlar. Kev 29 . 49 is used in boats.