"MLL" wrote in message
...

"Graham" wrote in message
om...
Well, springtime is upon us and my thoughts are focusing on the open
water. How's everyone else lookin'??

I want to install kneeling pads in my canoe and I'm looking for
advice. The boat material is Kevlar and the pad material that I
already have is Ensolite foam (that blue closed-cell stuff you get in
a roll as a sleeping pad). I'd like to know how to cement the Ensolite
to the Kevlar??

Thanks ahead for any and all advice.

Naturally, Graham

I hope the "blue stuff" you're speaking of is not the old ensolite but the
newer material that lasts longer and is less susceptible to UV (can't
think
of the name at the moment). I use the blue $6 pads REI sells as sit pads
(1/2 inch thinkness). I glue 2 pieces together with contact cement to get
some real padding and then use just a little contact cement at the corners
when I attach them to the boat. I finish the edges with duct tape so I can
remove and replace them after they've worn. At one time I used contact
cement over a wide area and glued them to the boat, but that was such a
pain
to remove I stopped doing it. Removing duct tape residue from the boat is
so
much easier!


I guess, but when I'm gluing down knee pads, removability is not on the list
of my proiorities.

The first time I glued on knee pads, I used a piece of old ensolite: that
grey-white stuff we used to sleep on before we discovered Thermarest. The
last time I did it, I used some of the newer blue stuff, which is probably
what the OP is looking at. First, I spent a day paddling with regular knee
pads on, and made a very good observation of where my knees spend all their
time (I move around a lot when I'm paddling). Then I cut two very large pads
to cover the entire area where my knees travel, and traced them carefully in
pencil. I prepped the surface of the boat inside the pencil marks with a
brush of toluene, then painted on a thin coating of Bostic. I toluened the
bottom of the pads (very lightly) and Bosticked them, too. Then a second
coating on the boat and pads. Then I pressed them together, and before the
glue could set up too much, I wiped off the traces of pencil and any slop
from the Bostic with more toluene.

That was about 15 years ago, and they are still going strong.

--riverman