The bottem of my canoe is seriously scratched; some deeply. I'd like to paint the bottem white/off white. Is there any paint that anyone would recommend and is a primer necessary?
Also, to try and seal the fibreglass so it doesn't absorb water, would a coat of clear varnish on the bottem be any help?
Thanks

Alex,

I tried to do something similar to my skin coat kevlar tandem a couple years ago. The boat has been well loved and smacked a few times over the years, with minor repairs. The boat is still in wonderful shape, but I too wanted to seal the bottom of the canoe, and wanted it to be white. I used Petit Easypoxy, as it seemed to be as abrasion resisitant as anything based on the sales info, and conversations with marine folks.

I took it on a month long trip that involved canoeing in Lake Superior PP, Obatanga, the Pukaskwa, Wabakimi, and pretty seriously removed the paint from the bottom of the hull. So I'm not sure what I will do for an encore. I hate to have to remove all the paint, but it didn't really perform as well as I'd like.

If you ever come up with a satisfactory method of painting the bottom of your canoe, please shoot me a message.

PK

You can use almost any paint. I have used (with success) plain old enamel. The quality paint is two part polyurethane. This is the same stuff used on airplanes and by just about every quality boat repair yard and custom yacht builder.

1. High gloss and best colour retention of all commercially available paints.
2. Easy to find both on the internet and at marine stores.
3. Some good brushable products available as well as spray on.
4. Superb adhesion.
5. Flexible and excellent abrasion resistance.
6. Fast drying

The down side - Expensive and once you have used it you will wonder why builders use gel coat at all.

Fill your bad scratches the professional way using regular body patch comppounds from your local auto supply store. Do not waste your time and money on filling with gel coat.

In over forty years of professional boat building I have never found anything better.

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Cheers,

John Winters

Regular oil based porch and deck enamel will wear well. I applied epoxy with graphite and fumed silica to the bottom of my stripper and sailing canoes. Tough stuff,

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Solo canoes and single blades, with a sail for those windy days...

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