How Kayaks are made
Pamlico 140 | November 28, 2007Have you ever wondered how Polyethylene Kayaks are made?? In this article, we will take a look at an in-depth look at the process of Producing The modern kayaks you see at your local dealer. |
There you are, standing infront of your kayak admiring it in all its glory. It’s a durable and shiny polyethylene kayak with a smooth and even finish, completley hollow. What might come to mind is How it was made.
It all starts With a Nickel Mold. Kayak manufactures have one Mold for each model so each kayak for that model will be the identical. the Mold opens up where the seam on the gunwhale is. There are two parts- the top half and the bottom half. Next, they pour Polyethylene in Powder form into it. The powder comes in many different colors witch is why kayaks have an extensive color selection to choose from. After the Powder has been poured into the Mold, They close it up and Use clamps to hold the 2 peices together so the Polyethylene does not leak out of the seam.
After the Mold is sealed with the Polyethylene powder in it, It is put into a large Oven. The whole mold fits into the oven. The massive oven Rotates up and down and the mold rotates like a rotiserie chicken. This distributes the melted plastic so there is an even coat in the mold. The plastic is melted at 500 degrees faranheit, and cooked for apprxamatley 20 minutes. After the Kayak is done cooking, they remove the Kayak from the oven to cool. To do this, they place the mold with the kayak shell in it in a cooling chamber. Do this too long, and the boat will deform. After the boat is cooled, it is taken out of the cooling chamber and removed from the mold. The top mold peice is lifted off, and wa-lah, a beautiful brand-spanking new kayak. But its not done yet. There is plastic covering the cockpit and hatches. They cut out the holes for the cockpit and hatches and outfit the boat with the standard outfitting it comes with. It is then wrapped, packaged, and shipped away.