Noah Fiberglass Jape???

[chuck naill]

I found what I think is a Noah Jape. The boat looks great , but I was wondering if fiberglass will become brittle over time.

[Cone Bone]

UV degradation can make glass become brittle. Other symptoms include chalky looking gelgoat.

[chucknaill]

I found out that the boat is probably made out of Kevlar. THanks for the reply

[sbroam]

Is this boat in Asheville? Light blue on top, natural kevlar gold on the bottom? If so, I may have seen this boat - it was the subject of some curiosity. The best and brightest of the c-boating world were called upon to help determine it's identity...

[Sir Adam]

And since then I may know who has a mold, and paddled with a fellow who uses the Jape as his cruising boat...he thinks it's great (mind you, he's a former national team member from the pre-Hearn days who still switches hands rather than do cross strokes. He is GOOD and does amazing things in his slalom boats (Supermax, I think...)

[chucknaill]

THe way I found this c-1 was interesting. I was purchasing a raft from an outfitter who was getting rid of some of his inventory after the season. His inventory was in a barn. Over in the corner under some pfd's, etc was this "glass boat. I asked the owner, what that? He said a paddler had come by needing some money and they bought it from him. He said it was a c-1. I turned it over and the saddle was made out of styro foam, I think. THere was a logo that look like the one noah uses with a name under it that starts with a v. I know now that it is Valimir's last name. I looked at the race boat page and the closest thing I found was the jape. It is not blue on top but brown. I asked the owner how much he would take and he said $75. Since I have an old spray skirt that I used on a gyro max and slasher, I thought I would see if I could paddle it. It is certainily not price prohibitive. I will be needing some help with out fitting so stay tuned.
Regards

[ezwater]

I have a Noah Magma, originally a C-1 (and not a good one, too narrow with nasty chines) but now a kayak. I put a big keyhole cockpit in it. Noah actually sold this boat both as a kayak and as a C-1. I bought it for $100 bucks from Vladimir in the early 80s. Noah "Kevlar" boats at that time often had an outer cloth layer of polyester (Dacron), and then some Kevlar layers. Vlad later would make composites with MAINLY CAP (Chemically Activated Polyester) which he said made an unusually tenacious bond with his vinylester resin.

Most "Kevlar" boats have S-glass or E-glass as the outer layer. Pure Kevlar boats are rare, partly because they fuzz badly and partly because Kevlar lacks the compression strength to make a good outer layer. Check out Kaz's Millbrook site for a description of the S-glass out, Kevlar in construction. My Millbrook Wide Ride is very stiff and survived some pounding from the previous owner with only some stern surface cracks in the S-glass.

My Noah Magma is much less rigid, but has survived some pounding without breaking. In my opinion, the Noah layup is OK for cruising, but too flexible for racing.

When I was boat inspector for the Southeasterns, Vladimir would show up with a boat similar to the Magma, with fiberglass extensions on the ends to meet the 13' 2" length requirement. I wish I could talk to him now about how he intended the paddler to use the long, inward-sloping tumblehome chines, which make for an edgy boat which is quite hard to roll. It has tremendous stability in the inverted position.

The Jape is certainly a very good, racy cruising boat. Hope it works for you.