Arleen wrote:

Any suggestions for touch up painting an older kayak where the designs are
worn away? Kind of paint/brush???


This would depend on the material the kayak is made of. Fiberglass?
Plastic? Wood? Canvas? Birch bark?


--
//-Walt
//
// "Fair and Balanced"

"Arleen" wrote in message ...
Any suggestions for touch up painting an older kayak where the designs are
worn away? Kind of paint/brush???
TIA ;-)

I have no clue and couldn't help ya, but it might be helpful to those
who would know if ya told us what material the boat is made of. My
guess is there are different kinds of paint for different materials
.... and different sealers, too.

Forgive my lapses please, the kayak I'm considering painting is constructed
of polyethylene plastic. I believe I'm going to visit the local paint shop
and inquire there.
TIA if any useful suggestions are offered.
8^)

"Arleen" wrote in message
...
Any suggestions for touch up painting an older kayak where the designs are
worn away? Kind of paint/brush???
TIA ;-)

Arleen wrote:

Forgive my lapses please, the kayak I'm considering painting is constructed
of polyethylene plastic.

Don't waste your time them. Nothing sticks to polyethylene very well. You can
put paint on it, but it will scratch off very easily and soon look worse than it
did without it.

--
Regards

Brian

what about scratches? the question of repairing molded plastic boats came
up today in rec.boats.building. the rule of thumb is one season's
scratches reduces canoe and kayak hull speed 5% (increases hull resistance
about 5%). not much of a concern to white water paddlers perhaps but
purveyors of moulded plastic kayaks expect purchasers to pay thousands of
dollars for surperior performance over long distances. yet the salesrep I
asked about repairing scratches said to ignore them. seems silly when
people are paying high prices for paddles to reduce the paddling effort
while their hulls take on the skin resistance of porcupines. sadly I've
watched staff toss rental kayaks about like firewood. at the evening
demos I've been frequenting they drag them across the sand, and effective
abraisive. plastic boats may not break from this type of handling but
they sure get sctratched up.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"William R. Watt" wrote:

purveyors of moulded plastic kayaks expect purchasers to pay thousands of
dollars for surperior performance over long distances.

Huh? Are there really any high performance plastic kayaks costing
thousands of dollars? My take is that with a plastic kayak you give up
performance in exchange for durability and low cost.

yet the salesrep I
asked about repairing scratches said to ignore them. seems silly when
people are paying high prices for paddles to reduce the paddling effort
while their hulls take on the skin resistance of porcupines. sadly I've
watched staff toss rental kayaks about like firewood. at the evening
demos I've been frequenting they drag them across the sand, and effective
abraisive. plastic boats may not break from this type of handling but
they sure get sctratched up.

Which is the point of a plastic kayak. You can beat it up, scratch it
up, and otherwise abuse it without feeling bad about it. A 5%
performance hit? I couldn't care less. If I was performance oriented,
I wouldn't be paddling plastic.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I have no idea how to do touch-up
paint. I doubt I'd bother. Maybe a bit of fine grit wet sanding would
help....or maybe not...

--
//-Walt
//
// "Fair and Balanced"

"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...
what about scratches? the question of repairing molded plastic boats came
up today in rec.boats.building. the rule of thumb is one season's
scratches reduces canoe and kayak hull speed 5% (increases hull resistance
about 5%). not much of a concern to white water paddlers perhaps but
purveyors of moulded plastic kayaks expect purchasers to pay thousands of
dollars for surperior performance over long distances.

That 5% figure sounds awfully high to me. I bet you would see more of a
performance hit in speed from wind, current, and waves.

Although I usually paddle a glass boat, I have paddled friends plastic boats
and also own a plastic SOT for banging around rocks and caves and I have
never noticed any difference in speed.

BTW, what plastic boat have you found that costs thousands of dollars? I'd
sure like to see it and try it.

Steve Holtzman

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 22:31:49 -0400, in rec.boats.paddle you wrote:

Forgive my lapses please, the kayak I'm considering painting is constructed
of polyethylene plastic. I believe I'm going to visit the local paint shop
and inquire there.
TIA if any useful suggestions are offered.

Plastic scale model paint... it's made for the job.

"Garrison Hilliard" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 22:31:49 -0400, in rec.boats.paddle you wrote:

Forgive my lapses please, the kayak I'm considering painting is
constructed
of polyethylene plastic. I believe I'm going to visit the local paint
shop
and inquire there.
TIA if any useful suggestions are offered.

Plastic scale model paint... it's made for the job.

Not really. Plastic scale models are made of straight styrene or
Polystyrene. The paint relies on solvents that actually penetrate the
surface of the plastic in order to adhere to the model. The PE used in the
manufacture of plastic kayaks is not penetrated by such solvents so the
adhesion is essentially dependant upon surface tension. The problem is that
the plastic is constantly off gassing its own distillates that break that
bond and eventually, with flex and shock from impact, the paint will flake
off.