Hi,

I hope you can help. Looking for advice and products to repair and restore a kevlar/diolen kayak. The gel coat on the hull is in a very poor condition and has been almost entirely worn away in some areas.

Thanks

Dan

Simply a case of sanding it all down flat and respraying it. Due to the degree of wear, it is probably going to be easiest to start with 80 grit and just flat it down as quick as possible. You will bite into the fibres a bit, but it is going to be pretty unavoidable at this stage - just try to avoid sanding the low spots as much as you can.

You will then get a bit of the fibres fluffing up, which will affect your gelcoat application. Do you know if it is actually gelcoat, or if it is a 2k clear coat? Given it is a carbon/Kevlar (I know you said Diolen but that surface layer looks like carbon/Kevlar to me), I would imagine it has been made with epoxy resin. If this is the case, you will need something that is compatible and bonds well to both epoxy and polyester based resins (not sure if EC have something suitable). 

I would then apply your first coat by roller or spray, and allow it to cure to a tack. Then apply a second coat. This should be enough to mostly cover the fluffing of the Kevlar, and you can flat and polish from here.

Thanks Hanaldo. Can anyone recommend a product?

If you can get it where you are, Duratec Topcoat is the absolute best product I have used.

If you have not already seen our Kayak repair video then I would recommend watching it here:  How to Repair a Damaged Composite Canoe or Kayak

Obviously your gelcoat repairs are on a much bigger scale but the technique with the release film is something you may find useful in places. 

I would probably go  for a coating resin such as  XCR Epoxy Coating Resin



Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Thanks Warren