Fabric for abrasion resistance for hull

Evening,
Is there a fabric which can be laminated onto a fibreglass hull which would offer a fairly high degree of abrasion resistance without adding a lot of weight. The hull that i'm looking to do this to is glass over ply, built using the stitch and glue method using Epoxy resin I'm aware that a mixture of graphite powder and epoxy resin is supposed to work when applied by putting several coats onto the hull bottom.
I have also looked into spray on bed liners such as Line-x but have been told that it is really difficult to get a uniform coating in regards to thickness plus the weight gains are fairly high(http://www.goline-x.com/other_uses.shtml) as well as it apparently has a slightly textured surface which I don't really think lends itself very well to a planing type hull.
I'm not chasing puncture protection as I realise that it is not really possible when it comes to a fibreglass hull ,but something to help protect the hull if it is dragged up a beach or pushed over sand bars or sunken timber etc. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, besides building an Alloy boat.
Many Thank's
Gary

 

I would research vectra or xynole. Vectra is available here, and I have seen bolts of xynole but don't know any suppliers. Way cheaper than kevlar. Maybe the xynole was a special import from the U.S.; It was a time ago & I wasn't too interested in its
properties then.
Checkout http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Abrasion.htm

I think Vectra is polypropline & xynole an LCP. (polyester)

 

Thank's Roly I'll be looking into it
Gary

 

Hi Gary

If you can't find any of those other materials look for "Dynel".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynel

It's often used in boat building for increased abrasion resistance but has virtually no structural strength. It should be compatible with epoxy resins but you should check with the manufacturer or do a test.

Rick

 

G/day Knotty,
I've looked into the Dynell it seems to be readily avaliable over here, sounding like it may be the good's. I'm having a bit of trouble sourcing the Vectra fabric but it's all good just exploring all my options at the moment.
Thank's for the advice
Gary

 

Gary, Dynel & epoxy are fine together, also I remember talking to a bloke that was making panels of glass for the mining industry for some kind of shute, he was using some special abrasion resistant gelcoat on 'em, dunno what was in it but you could ask one of the composites suppliers. Regards from Jeff.

 

As posted earlier, Dynel offers abrasion resistance but little/no added stiffness. For this reason, I would use fiberglass.

If Im going to use 6 oz. of Epoxy to wet out 6 oz. of cloth (Dynel or glass) I would prefer to get some stiffness out of it in addition to abrasion resistance.

One thing the dynel does have over woven glass, is that it "moves" better, so you can get oit to wrap around curves with less trouble.

Joel

 

I learned that from you Joel. See? I was listening and paid attention!

Rick