Stellar SR Advantage Vs Epic V7

Due to beginner error and some rather impressive surf I collided with a mate of mine. Long story short, his Stellar bow tore through my V7 behind the bucket. Hard enough to jettison me but not him........
Damage displayed. Poly boats are generally tougher than this in my experience. I guess its a trade off for light weight.
Anyway, repair in progress with heat gun and S/S mesh, don't anticipate any problems.
Quite disappointing as I rate the V7, surfs well , quicker than you'd think, comfy and just heaps of fun........

Wow! I would have thought the damage would have been on the Stellar.

Would be interested to know what you are using for your patch and how it holds up. Did you contact EPIC for repair recommendations?

Ouch! Sandwich layups (V7 is a plastic sandwich) are stiff and light but the tradeoff is taht they are more prone to impact damage. The bow of any surfski is a very sharp and strong structure. i wonder what the damage would have been to a conventional composite boat? Still, that is a shockingly large gash in the hull. It will be interesting to hear more real world reports about the durability of the V7. Of particular concern are the more common collisions such as a with a submerged rock or the wall of a garage.

Ouch! Hope you can fix it.

Not encouraging though, seeing this type of damage. I was thinking about potentially using a V7 on a river, where I'd occasionally slide over a submerged rock or bump into rocks while negotiating rapids on class 1-3 whitewater. From the looks of it, that layup might not be any more durable than composite, and not easier to repair either...

Kocho,
Something like this?



The V7 has seen plenty of river action in SA.
this is all 120kgs of Oscar on the upper Umzimkulu river(Race called the Drak Challenge)I think 4 V7's did the race.
A couple of V7's also did this years Umkomaas river marathon.
Serious rapids.
(@1:53)

Yup, just like this. I'm sure it can handle a race or a few, just like the composite boats can. But I doubt it will be as resilient as the traditional rotomoulded construction that can take serious abuse. I imagine the outer layer on the V7 is quite thin and almost any serious snag on a sharp rock will go through it straight to the core (where on composite it will be just a scrape and on poly - a deep gash).

I wouldn't get too caught up in speculation here. The hole in the boat was from a direct T-bone collision in "rather impressive surf". That would put a hole in any composite boat.