Unofficial UK Slalom BBS

According to Wikipedia,

Folding kayaks were used from 1949 to 1963; and in the early 1960s, boats were made of fiberglass and nylon. Boats were heavy, usually over 65 pounds (30 kilos).

That's seriously heavy, and I would have thought even a canvas boat could be a lot lighter - I'd have guessed 30 pounds, not 30 kilos. Does anyone know?

From memory when we built the boats at school (KW7s, Scorpions and Snipes) we were circa 20kg/boat with a good hand lay-up. I remember as when they introduced roto-moulded river kayaks the roto moulded boats were similar in weight. Professional manufacturers could reduce weight with spray rather than brush gel-coats etc.

I have a Sea King which must be well over 30kg, possibly closer to 40kg, mind you it has had quite a lot of repairs and has bulkheads and hatches and a pump.
I also have a Snipe, which I am sure is a lot less than 20kg, it may be a professionally built one, I think it has a BCMA sticker on (the Sea King definitely has them).
It is certainly true that when fibreglass first emerged in the 60's a lot of boats (yachts) were heavily built because no-one really knew how they would hold up over time, and that has been my experience with sea kayaks from the '70's. No idea about GP and slalom boats though.

The first kayak I paddled it was a canvas boat, and it was heavy. But I was quite young so it was always going to feel heavy. I would guess it was a bit less than 30 kg though. When we started building our own fibreglass slalom boats in the late 70s I think we were managing about 10 kg with a bit of care using a diolen and glass hand layup.

I asked that question of John MaCleod (Munich olympian so around at the time) he replied

I would agree 30lb, they were never 30 Kilos

First fibreglass boat in UK was home made by Maurice Rothwell.

Called the Maid of St.Helens (town where the fibreglass came from)

I guess he did this 1960. Moulded on the outside of a folding boat!

Complete with hatch for storage.

I paddled it down the Teifi, club trip probably 1961.

The lightest boat I ever had was 13 Ibs or 5.9kg Glass Deck and Diolin Hull.
Then a 14 Ibs or 6.3kg Full Kevlar. All Cosmic's in the 80s. With the introduction of Carbon they could have gone lighter.
Then some governing body decided to bring in a minimum weight limit and we have to add weight to are boats and get them tested.
The same governing body has just put an end to C2, but thats another story.

I remember seeing a Krakatoa boat virtually fold up on its first run down the Serpents Tail.

Modern boats are usually quite serviceable after 10 years which is a good thing as far as keeping the cost of entry into the sport at a reasonable level, which can only be a good thing.

C2 - that is a different matter

I remember buying an Olymp V off Nikki Wain in the mid 70's that weighed less than 20 lbs...

I also had a full kevlar Pyranha elite in the 80's that was significantly lighter - maybe 17 lbs or so.

This post on ukriversguidebook shows lots of boat adverts with weights: https://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/for ... 9&start=60

For info: I have edited the Wikipedia page to say 30 pounds, not 30 kilos.