It’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve spent most of the time racing The Darkness C1 and trying to promote The Darkness Duet. A number of people have tried the C2 now and I actually solf the first one.
So, I’ve just completed the first Darkness Duet on behalf of a customer. We’ve made some changes from lessons learnt from the prototype.
That’s an awful lot of carbon.
Kevlar is no longer used in the construction as we don’t really need the strength it delivers, as the Duet is not really destined to be bounced off too many rocks. I’m not a fan of Kevlar as it’s a devil to repair, not as light or stiff as carbon, and you pay a premium for the trade name.
The flanges for the seats are 2.5 cms higher. This means I don’t have to use spacers to raise the footrest and seat platforms.
All set and ready to go.
I’m not sure that seat platforms made from carbon are the best option and I may go back to the aluminium supports. The problem with the carbon platforms is the lack of front to back adjustment along the flanges, due to the curvature of the boat. There is a limit to how far along they can be positioned. The square profile aluminium tubes are use can be inserted into each other to form a telescopic bar.
I’ve also reduced the diameter of the carbon tube for the thwarts. I don’t know why I chose such a thick tube on the prototype as the tubes are so strong.
The cockpit rim is substantially improved. We found a better way of doing it on the C1 and it is now stronger and thicker.
Stern and bow.
I had to move the portage handles further down. My boat builder “forgot” the distances I defined from the ends to the hands and positioned them as far as he could reach. It took a lot of fiddling around to devise a way to hold the lock nut in place in the inside of the boat while the bolt was tightened. But now there is room on the rear deck for the DW number sticker and a convention marathon number holder.
We did consider lowering the profile of the front handle, but it was too difficult to adapt the mold on the boat join.
So, it’s now off up north to its new home. The new owners are planning to enter the Glasgow to Edinburgh challenge in October, so you may see it in action.
Darkside Canoes 