New material from Robson - Armerlite
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:08 pm
I found this info on the German website of KANUmagazin.com and thought it to be really interesting.
New Material - Robson Armerlite:
The boat manufacturer from Bavaria succeded in adapting a fiber reinforced thermoplastic material used in automobile racing to boat building. According to to Robson R&D Engineer Karl Fischer, a boat weighing 21 kg (46 lbs) in PE weighs 15 kg (33 lbs) in Armerlite, while being 3 times as stiff. The material combines according to Robson the stiffness of composites with the durability of PE.
According to Robson it is not brittle and prone to crack, it can take hits with a sledgehammer without breaking.
Robson showed a prototype at the OutDoor Messe trade fair based on their soon to be released (in PE) new creeker, the Prodigy. The Armerlite version of that boatr is still in a developement stage.Currently Robson is optimizing the manufacturing process and is working on coloring, but for next year Robson plans to release a canoe in Armerlite, with kayaks to follow in 2006.
The material is apparently similar to the one aleady used by Robson to manufacture some of their paddles as well as the one used by the Norwegian helmet manufacturer Sweet.
Pricing is not yet set, but will, due to higher material cost the boats are expected to be several hundred Euros more expensive than a similar PE boat.
http://www.kanumagazin.de/
New Material - Robson Armerlite:
The boat manufacturer from Bavaria succeded in adapting a fiber reinforced thermoplastic material used in automobile racing to boat building. According to to Robson R&D Engineer Karl Fischer, a boat weighing 21 kg (46 lbs) in PE weighs 15 kg (33 lbs) in Armerlite, while being 3 times as stiff. The material combines according to Robson the stiffness of composites with the durability of PE.
According to Robson it is not brittle and prone to crack, it can take hits with a sledgehammer without breaking.
Robson showed a prototype at the OutDoor Messe trade fair based on their soon to be released (in PE) new creeker, the Prodigy. The Armerlite version of that boatr is still in a developement stage.Currently Robson is optimizing the manufacturing process and is working on coloring, but for next year Robson plans to release a canoe in Armerlite, with kayaks to follow in 2006.
The material is apparently similar to the one aleady used by Robson to manufacture some of their paddles as well as the one used by the Norwegian helmet manufacturer Sweet.
Pricing is not yet set, but will, due to higher material cost the boats are expected to be several hundred Euros more expensive than a similar PE boat.
http://www.kanumagazin.de/
