Custom/Hybrid carbon recommendations?

[billman100]

What type of carbon fiber do you guys recommend for the best strength? Talking specifics like oz's and such, and where is the best place to purchase.

 

[CarterB]

6 oz is really lightweight stuff but good if you need it to lay smooth and contour well.
11 oz is pretty user friendly still and is pretty strong stuff
20 oz is very strong and great for structural buildup but quite difficult to wet layup. if vac bagging no problem and will contour well
dont waste your time with the large flat tow plain weave stuff (checkerboard)

uscomposites has discounted carbon and okay prices for regular stock. ebay will sometime have great deals on surplus someone has left over. its in such high demand its only been going up in price

 

[billman100]

if its just for reinforcement would you still recommend carbon or stick with glass, will all be covered.

 

[air blair]

hybrid carbon kevlar is sweet looking for an engine bay, if your ordering from uscomposites get that yellow and black for pretty pretty, hard to cut though. 1708 biax is heavier and cheaper and will work just fine also

 

[js/sj]

hybrid carbon kevlar is sweet looking for an engine bay, if your ordering from uscomposites get that yellow and black for pretty pretty, hard to cut though. 1708 biax is heavier and cheaper and will work just fine also

Kevlar is hard to wet out, kevlar is good under vacuum but not by hand layup.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[swapmeet]

I know its been over a month since you asked, but check out Soller composites for carbon fiber. They have a nice 19.7oz 2x2 twill thats relatively affordable. You have work to wet it out, but I've used it to reinforce as well as rebuild my tray. Its not too bad. There may be other options, but this is something i've had success with.

As far as Carbon vs Glass, Glass will be a little heavier, so if you're 100% flatwater, saving weight might be useful by going with carbon. If you're mostly surf, than you can use glass and probably be fine.

A lot of people will tell you that glass is just fine.

 

[billman100]

Just used glass, this is what I came out with