Self Repairing Hulls?

I have seen "Self Repairing" composite structures using a material called shape memory polymers.

These materials have large strain capability and the ability to return to their original shape when they are heated. So, theoretically, after a serious impact, you could just heat your hull, and restore it to it's original shape. The shape memory polymer resin can be used to create a composite like any other thermoset resin.

Does anyone have any experience with this material?
Or maybe a source for Shape Memory Polymer resin?

 

What structures ? a link perhaps ?

 

check out white water canoes, mohawk, old town, raven, etc.

it's a proprietary layup of 2 layers of tough plastic with a very strong foam center layer.

it's a heavy layup, but it is damn tough, and shrugs off rock crashes.

my canoe was oil canned inside out, couple of days in the hot sun, just a faint crease on each side. any other material would have been a catastrophic loss

flat areas more than a couple feet square will tend to oil can and it does soften as it flexes. Old boats tend to mimic baggies

 

gee whillikers Mr Apex sir, I just tried to inform the thread starter of the material he had a question about. Cited the properties, both good and bad, as I know them to be.

I didn't see any reference to 42' hulls in the original post and if you did, I'd suggest checking smoking mixes carefully

 

Sorry,

I mixed up two threads in my reply! I deleted it.

 

I suspect that it would be a significant tradeoff between cost and need. Sounds like it would save a week long camping trip from being spoiled by a bad prang, or save your life in a long whitewater trip through wilderness, say.

I guess on anything bigger, the cost of the special material would have to be weighed against the likelihood of being holed (rocks, ice etc)- but then in bigger hulls, it would probably be cheaper to just build stonger - 5/8" steel V 3/8" for example.

One of my best friends has been cruising from Antarctica to the tropics for the last 15 years in a self repairing hull - mind you, he is a blue whale

 

actually, royalex canoes are almost the cheapest you can buy.

it's made from petroleum, which as everyone knows, is so cheap that you can afford to throw gobs of it in oceans aall over the world

next, prelaminated sheets are delivered to the ''boatbuilding'' factory where they're gently warmed up, stuffed into adeck mold, then trimmed to shape.
Presto, voila, instant boat.

no labor, cheap materials, durability beyond belief, it's a salesman's dream come true

 

Not really if you see the tooling cost.

We have a similar thread here on HDPE (rotomoulded) vessels.

Regards
Richard

 

I could find the same size fibreglass canoes in the US and Australia 25-30% cheaper than Royal Ex.

Doesnt seem to be inexpensive at all

 

it won't seem inexpensive until your fifth class3 boulder garden of the morning

That fiberglass price will also depend on the strength to weight ratio of the layup. Stateside, we have companies doing glass for only slightly less than kevlar, although our high end builders are disappearing faster then a formal gown on prom nite due to a vanishing middle class and the gutted dollar.