Well I’ve gone over to the dark side. I started as a boat apprentice at company that makes super high end racing kayaks for the US and many of the European Olympic sprint kayak teams. There is no wood in sight as these boats are all carbon fiber weighing in under 20lbs and fast as all get out.

It was a far cry from laying cedar strips as I spent the afternoon faring a plug built up from 2’x2’ blocks of MDF milled to +-.001” on an NC machine. I am helping to put out a new prototype in time to be certified to the latest ICF and Olympic specs by the end of September. Next week we will be laying up the molds from which the hulls and decks will be created.

It has been interesting because some of the skills and concepts from wood strip building transfer but the overall process is completely different. The boats are laid up with pre-preg carbon, vacuum bagged in a female mold and post cured in an autoclave under heat and pressure. My squeegee skills won’t come into play as excess epoxy is sucked into the bleeder layer under the vacuum bag.

The company also makes high end racing shells and carbon fiber masts for sailboats. I was fascinated today as I watched a machine weave 40 spools of carbon tow around a 100’ long mandrel while wetting out a mast for some racing boat.

Right now this is just a part time apprenticeship to supplement my independent consulting work. I have talked to them about the possibility of transferring my years of high-tech product marketing to help do some business development but who knows what will come of this. Right now I am just having fun going from my little 20’x15’ basement shop to a state of the art facility.

Regards,

Jack