I am retriming my canoe (gunwales) with ash, no problem there but it is also time to do a major job on the entire canoe. It goes through a lot and basically needs to be sanded down, scratches filled and sanded, nose and stern will need to be built up a bit.

What would people recommend for the recoating on the canoe. I am not sure a gel-coat is what I want to use in this situation, or is it. Are there other more preferable products? What are they?

What do people use to rebuild the nose and stern again. Kevlar strips?

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Where I think, there I am.

I am doing a similar project on my kevlar. Elsewhere John Winters recommended marine or auto paint rather than gelcoat. So I am hoping to get my local autobody shop to repaint it for me. But I'm not sure what I can use to fill in the scratches. The regular body filler and the resin used with fibreglas seems too thick and viscous to smear into the scratches. I don't know if I can this either with paint thinner or similar.

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Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

I am painting my fiberglass clipper prospector and filled scratches with west epoxy (thickend)and just using plastic enamel that iv'e used previously There is an article under gear in the tips section but the link isn't working right now.if I can figure out how to post pics I'll post pics of a canoe I saved from the dump for my girlfriends boys

I intent to use something like the west system with the thinkening beads they have for that product to fill the multitude of scratches and gouges that I have to deal with. It can be mixed to a thick paste, and is probably the same stuff the canoe was made of, it is strong and it takes several hours to harden so there is no hurry as with resin.

Has anyone eles used auto body paint on their canoes?

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Where I think, there I am.

My experience with epoxy and fillers is this: they body fill you mix is seldom the same hardness twice. Where one application of one hardness meets another of different hardness, you sometimes sand the softer one away before the harder one is faired properly.

BEst results are when the mixed stuff is really stiff. And prime the area with resin/hardner mix first...wait until tacky before applying your mixed compound, that gives a good bond between dissimilar things.

Microbubbles, or lightweight fairing compound is best for working with, but it's finished product is soft compared to colloidal silica mix (like concrete).

Seal up the faired areas with resin mix or primer, then paint. Unprimed or resined areas will suck up paint and leave matt areas on a glossy hull.

Auto paints are hard. A polyurethane paint (Rust paint for instance) retains a little flexibility so scratches are less noticable later in my experience. Spray painting gives the best finish, but make sure there's no bugs to get into it...aarrgghhh. Dust on a little at a time, then the bugs can land and fly away instead of leaving death trails in your finish (like my last paint project!)...had to resand and re-apply THIN coats

Best of luck.

ralph

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"The activist is not the person who says the river is dirty. The activist is the person who cleans up the river." - Ross Perot

What is a resin mix? Or are you using the terms resin and epoxy as being Synonymous.

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Where I think, there I am.

Sorry, using epoxy and resin interchangably. Epoxy resin is composed of very short molecules, polyester resin is composed of long molecular chains. Epoxy works better because the little molecules stick to things and each other well. Polyester resins for repairs will peel eventually.

A resin mix jmeans the resin and hardener mixed in appropriate proportions, Mixed compounds mean a resin/hardener mix with fillers mixed in afterwards.

Ralph

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"The activist is not the person who says the river is dirty. The activist is the person who cleans up the river." - Ross Perot

As I have posted earlier you cannot go wrong using what professional boat builders use.

Fill small scratches with smooth body putty. Tell your local auto supply store you want something for small dings and scratches. It adheres well and sands easily.

Sand and finish with a good grade of marine polyurethane (like Epiphanes who make a brushable paint or Awlgrip) or a good grade of auto polyurethane which you will have to spray. If you have the equipment or a friend in the auto body business you have it made.

Do not waste your money and time on epoxies or gel coat. I have finished and refinished more boats than I can remember including large yachts and this is the method I used with never a complaint from customers or workers.


It is only through ignorance that people in the canoe and kayak business insist on anything else. I do not understahd why people insist on doing things the hard way.

Polyurethane is so much better than anything else that there is no comparison.

Yes, it is expensive but it will hold its gloss longer than anything else, it has excellent abrasion resistance, and will add very little to teh weight of your boat because its coverage is excellent.

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Cheers,

John Winters

Forgot to mention - read the instructions and follow them to the letter. The people who make this stuff actually know what they are talking about.

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Cheers,

John Winters

LAZURUS!



Lord Ive missed you,
thought maybe you
d r i f t e d back to the UK
or something
or were you piloting a Yacht back to Bermuda for big bucks

Yes. I love it when you talk all technical like

Mee too . . . another suck on straw of rum and coke
like the other day . . .all that leftover grit . . .for Winter traction
I bought me a new Broom Handle, extra Longggg
when you have the right tool
you can do the whole street!



oops, Cheers!

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We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe

Thx very much, John. That's quite helpful. One question---would you need to prime the putty areas before painting?

Like S1, I'm glad you showed up here again but we will try not to let her hijack the thread with her little innuendos. . Heck, before S1 came along I thought innuendo was the Spanish name for preparation H!

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Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

start singin . . . Pal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RieYi5kF ... re=related

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We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe

Here are pics of a canoe that someone was taking to the dump the hull was fine but everything else was replaced
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Wow! We-No-Nah-Thing...cute... but considering the great make-over it's a blatant lie.

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"Nature used to surround us, now we surround nature and the change hasn't necessarily been for the better."
Margaret Atwood

Great job WG! Could you tell us how you re-finished the hull.
thx

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Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.