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Repairs to Carbon/Kevlar kayak or canoe
Repairs to Carbon/Kevlar kayak or canoe
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Repairs to Carbon/Kevlar kayak or canoe
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kayaker123
kayaker123
posted 12 Years Ago
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Hi
Please could you recommend a product for
1. general patching of carbon or carbon/kevlar kayaks
2. applying a new gel coat to carbon or carbon/kevlar kayaks
I've been told that for a tough gel coat you can mix a polyester resin with a polyester gel coat 50/50 - is this something you would recommend? If so, is it the same hardener used for gel coat and resin?
thanks
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Matt (Staff)
Matt (Staff)
posted 12 Years Ago
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Hi,
First off, I guess you've seen the Kayak Repair Video that we've just uploaded? If not then please take a look at it here in our Online Learning Centre:
How to Repair a Damaged Carbon/Kevlar Kayak or Canoe
If you have any questions about the processes in the video then you can post them into this discussion thread for the video:
Kayak Repair Tutorial Discussion Thread
When you say you want to apply a new gelcoat, do you mean to the entire kayak? If so, this is tricky because gelcoats are really designed to be applied to moulds and then backed up with reinforcement - they're not designed to be applied to the outside of things (like paint is) and so will be notoriously bad at self levelling and difficult to flat and polish. You would need to add 'wax additive' to a polyester gelcoat to prevent it from staying tacky in contact with air and you would also find the polyester gelcoat won't have a very good bond onto the rest of the boat. You might find it better to rub the boat back and then spray it with an 2 pack polyurethane paint (there are many designed specifically for boats) if you want to restore the gloss and protect your boat.
I hope this helps.
Matt
Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales
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kayaker123
kayaker123
posted 12 Years Ago
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Hi Matt
thanks for your advice. yes I just watched the video which was useful.
For the gel coat, it's for part of the hull of the boat where the original gelcoat has worn off (generally about half a square metre of flat area under the seat), and the composite is now showing unprotected and gradually wearing away. I am looking for something to paint over it and give it back protection and a shiny look once more - put I know some products don't bond well and end up going white and flaking off. Would I be better off just sanding down the surface and then painting on a coat of epoxy resin? I don't have the tools to spray a product onto it.
Jez
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Matt (Staff)
Matt (Staff)
posted 12 Years Ago
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Hi Jez,
If spraying's not an option and it's for the ongoing protection of the boat rather than bringing it up to a full glossy appearance then I think painting epoxy on would be a good way to go. Epoxy will bond better to whatever it is that the boat is made from than polyester would and if it's on the underside then we don't need to be particularly worried about UV protection so I'd suggest our Epoxy Coating Resin. You'll need to key-up the surface first (like we do in the video) and then your two options for the finishing of it would be to either pulling a release film tight over it or flatting and polishing it afterwards.
Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales
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FLD
FLD
posted 12 Years Ago
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How about using flow coat? Its an easy way of adding thickness to the gelcoat.
What would be a good addition to the kayak repair guide would be details of foam cored boats. These obviously need doing on both skins. Access to the inside can be difficult so some ideas of how to do that effectively would be good.
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