in days gone by kayaks were used primarily for hunting now modern-day kayaks are marvels of molded plastic available for All Sport enthusiasts a kayak is formed by the melting of plastic on a mold of nickel this mold is made in two parts an upper and a lower section the surface of the mold is perfectly smooth and has a mirror finish that guarantees an excellent luster the graphics are laid on the mold before molding begins this way they're well impregnated in the plastic it's an operation that requires quite some dexterity because contrary to self-adhering stickers these
Graphics can't be lifted off if they haven't been well positioned this is the yellow powder they're going to melt linear polyethylene it comes in several colors the amount of powder to be melted is determined by the kayak model to be made at the same time in other molds they're going to fabricate other parts of the kayak such as the baggage compartment cover the central support and seats the polyethylene is poured into the mold which is then closed all the other molds are closed as well before entering the oven the molds are securely closed with clamps
to avoid any loss of polyethylene the kayak mold is put on a transporter and placed facing the oven because of the large dimensions of the craft the oven has to be custom made the whole kayak goes in the oven is 7 m long and has a diameter of 1.7 m the polyethylene melts at 288° C to completely distribute the powder throughout the mold it pivots on several axes it turns on itself while the oven oscillates 30° towards the front and rear this procedure is termed rock and roll and lasts 19 minutes cooking is now over
and the mold exits the oven but the plastic has to cool in order to solidify to do this they place the mold in this cooling chamber it must not be cooled too quickly or it deforms a 4.8 M kayak can lose up to 15 cm of its length now the cover of the mold is lifted off then they unmold the cover and the other small parts the kayak is finally unmolded now they can proceed to Machining it while inspecting the kayak they remove any plastic ridges left by The Joint between the two halves of the
mold they now move to finishing this begins with the screwing on of carrying handles here they cut the opening for the baggage compartment and then they install the trimming the central support is positioned it plays an important role because it links the bottom and top portions of the craft All That Remains to be done now is to finish the baggage compartment they attach Fasteners then put the cover in place and hold it down with a retaining strap finally the kayak is packaged ready for delivery this company makes 12 kayak models of various dimensions
