How do you treat scratches on your Kevlar canoe bottom? I ran over a rock landing my canoe yesterday. Totally forgot it was there. I can recoat it, but seems like touch up with a thicker epoxy might do a better job.
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Treating Your Bottom Right
- Thread starter Black_Fly
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hmmm, if it is a gouge, I would sand and fill it with G-flex(the thickened one) but it tent to turn yellow ish when dry so depending on the canoe colour might not look so hot... If they are only superficial scratch, John Kazimierczyk told me to use clear poly in spray cans, it hides all the scratches and the boat look like new.... But that of course is only for cosmetic purpose and work best on a non gelcoat, clear coat finish.
G
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What Canoered said.
I’d fill deep gouges. Otherwise I just ignore scratches. At least until there are fugly thousands of them.
On clear coat canoes that had 20 years of accumulated scratches, where the entire bottom was scratched, I have wet sanded the hull, coated it (rolled and tipped) with epoxy, wet sanded that once cured and laid on a coat or two of UV protecting varnish (actually most often Spar Urethane).
On gel coated boats I have ignored the thousands of white-ish minor scratches even longer; the gel coat is essentially a sacrificial layer. On a couple really beat, scratched and worn to hell gel coated hulls I have wet sanded and painted the entire boat, or at least the bottom.
Canotrouge, I like Kazimierczyk’s suggestion of clear poly spray to hide clear coat scratches. I will be trying that. Thanks.
Is there a good thickened epoxy cheaper than g-flex 655? Or, is there a way to thicken the liquid version?
Add cabosil to thicken. Make it thick like peanut butter and apply it with a squeegee. Leaves the gouge/hole filled but leaves the good part of the hull pretty clean. If you tape off around the gouge first and pull the tape before it cures it should be about perfect.
Alan
Alan
G
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Any epoxy can be thickened. I have never purchased Thickened G/flex, or any thickened epoxy, I just thicken my own according to my pasty sludge needs. Allow me to Google “Thickened epoxy” for you.
http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Thickened+Epoxy
Epoxies can be thickened with anything from wood dust flour to fiberglass sanding dust; I used to save batches of RO sanding dust from glass hulls for that purposes, and lately use designed thickening products.
Silica, microfibers, glass microballons. Even graphite powder will make a thickened black slurry.
https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...categoryId=210&refine=1&page=GRID#/perpage:16
None of those additives comes out crystal clear, usually more milky white (graphite powder of course comes out black). I do not know about the clarity of thickened G/flex, never used it. G/flex 650 in an unthickened deep bed comes out a little amber.
Hell, if you wanted to build a geodesic canoe you could use Buckminsterfullerene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene
Slightly opaque out of the tube, nearly crystal clear when applied and left to dry.
Ordering Cabosil and GF 655. Will test to see which is preferable. Thanks Alan.
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Please note that cabosil is basically powdered fiberglass and you should wear a mask and gloves. I suppose limited exposure won't kill you but it can and will get into the air and your lungs if not protected.
That could be tough. No masks to be had in town. May have to wait and finish this canoe with GF-655. Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for some masks.
G
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When adding lightweight fly-away stuff to a pot of epoxy I add small amounts at a time by tapping it incrementally off a plastic spoon.
That allows me to get the consistency I want, but, as importantly, if you just dump a large quantity of lightweight filler in the pot and stir it not only lofts airborn but some of it tends to stick to the side of the pot becoming troublesome to scrape off and thoroughly mix
That allows me to get the consistency I want, but, as importantly, if you just dump a large quantity of lightweight filler in the pot and stir it not only lofts airborn but some of it tends to stick to the side of the pot becoming troublesome to scrape off and thoroughly mix
I really like thickened epoxy for all kinds of repairs. Wood flour works for wood boats. Cabosil or microballoons for glass and kevlar boats.
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You know they sell stuff called dust masks right?
Yep. I've got some. Only problem is finding them.
Alan
You know they sell stuff called dust masks right?
Really? Where? None to be found in my part of the world . I have one left that I've been using far too long, mixing thin set and grout, sanding my canoe, etc. Not sure if it's really working at this point.
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Yeah you are probably right at this time.... But I'm sure one could fashion something out of a couple layers of bandana!!
Do a search on Amazon or Columbia.com for "neck gaiter". That hasn't caught on with the hoarders yet.
