Grizzly claw fabric vs Hypalon. Alaska Jet Ranger Jet boat

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From: Mark W.

To: <jim_king@hotmail.com>

Subject: boat fabric

Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:45:52 -0800

Jim,

Not being familiar with your fabric, how does it compare with Hypalon?

Very interested in the inflatable jet boat....

Mark W.

Hi Mark.

Thank you for your interest in the Alaska Series Inflatable Boats.

Dupont developed Hypalon in the early 1960s; it is a rubber additive that is blended with neoprene. In the 1960s Hypalon was a major break through in the rubber raft fabric coating industry. Hypalon was used to set the DIN standards that all other inflatable boat fabrics are measured by. It added both durability from abrasion and the UV rays of the sun. Hypalon extended the useful life of an inflatable boat, from being a disposable 1-2 year product to a product that would last from 10-25 years depending the way the raft was cared for. There are different blends of Hypalon coatings that range from 10% to 90% Hypalon with the reminder being other rubber compounds and neoprene. Neoprene is more airtight then Hypalon so the inside fabric coating on the better rubber rafts is neoprene. All rubber coated fabric inflatable boats use hand-glued seams and the glue is rubber glue, which provides a mechanical bond to the surface of the fabric coatings, These rubber glues are subject to loosing it’s adhesive strength in hotter weather. This is why many rubber boats come with pressure relief valves and recommend an inflation pressure of 2.5 to 3 PSI. If you’ve been around older Hypalon boats you’ll notice glue lines along the seams where they have creped apart from over inflation in the sun.

In the past 30 years the development of Plastic fabric coatings for use in inflatable boats have far surpassed that of rubber and Hypalon. Many of the quality inflatable boat companies use blends of plastics in their fabric coatings. When it comes to abrasion and the UV rays from the sun, the plastic coating blends of many of the Polyurethane and PVC fabric coatings meet and exceed the DIN standards that Hypalon set in the 1960s. The developments of UV inhibitors added to the plastic blends have also come along way in the past 25 years. The other benefits of plastics rafts are, (they have less stretch, make the raft much stiffer and better performing), (the plastics are more slippery on the rocks and gravel, making them more abrasion resistance and less apt to hang up in the shallows), (the seams on plastics fabrics can be welded either chemically (with special glues) or by heat welding machines. These welds make for much strong seams that are less apt to fail from over inflation in the sun; the stronger seams also allow the plastic boats to be inflated from 3.5 PSI to 4 PSI, which also adds to the performance) This higher air pressure makes a huge difference in the an inflatable sport boat performance with larger outboard motors.

If you have additional questions please feel free to call me.

Good boating.

Jim King

Alaska Series Inflatable Boats, Commercial quality at Wholesale prices

River Rafts, Catarafts, Inflatable Kayaks, Inflatable Canoes, Inflatable Sport Boats, Inflatable Jet Boats, Tenders and Dinghies.

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