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Touch up painting a kayak

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"

Touch up painting a kayak

"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.

Touch up painting a kayak

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 ;-)

Touch up painting a kayak

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

Touch up painting a kayak

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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Touch up painting a kayak

"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"

Touch up painting a kayak

On 21-Aug-2003, Walt wrote:

A 5%
performance hit? I couldn't care less.

There's a good reason for that.

While this is serious if you're a racer, the average person can't
reliably detect changes in performance on this scale.

Shaving off the fuzzies isn't that big a deal if you do want to fix it up.

Watt, as usual, is exaggerating to reinforce his anti-kayak position.
Ignore him, he's basically a troll.

Mike

Touch up painting a kayak

"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

Touch up painting a kayak

Hi and thanks everyone ~ I've decided to let it remain as it is sans the
touch up.

Touch up painting a kayak

"Seakayaker" ) writes:

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.

Its 5% per season, cummulative. That's why annual maintenance of a canoe
or kayak hull matters. Muscles are such a small source of power. You can't
buy a hull that will reduce wind and waves. Hull design computer programs
will calculate hull resistance. The kayaks I tried all performed well as
far as wave making resistence is concerned, as near as I could tell. But
reaching under the hulls and feeling with my hands I found a lot of
scrtaches. You can try that on your own boat.

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.

Fibreglass also scratches but can be reparied with readily available
resins. Prices of the boats I tried in the demos ranged up to $3500
Canadian. The higher prices were for larger "sea" kayaks, or "multi-day"
trip kayaks. When boat building in any given material cost varies with
hull weight.

(After trying 20 different models I concluded a boat about 14-15 ft with
no skeg or rudder and a round bottom midships cross section would be my
preference for day trips on rivers hearabouts. I liked a big cockpit, one
exmaple being the Old Town Loon, because I could leave the seat and rise
up on my knees to get a better angle on what's in the water ahead. I might
even be able to stand for a better view into the water. I also found that
I could slide forward to the front of a large cockpit depressing the bow
and gaining a lot more manoeverability which could be usefull navigating a
rocky stretch. The large cockpit as close as the mass produced kayaks I
tried cams to the versaitlity of an open boat. However when exploring
small rivers I'd still have to carry a single blade paddle for squeezing
though narrow channels. I like a solo boat, and the mass produced kayaks
are lighter and easier to cartop than the mass produced canoes. However
I'm sticking with the small open plywood boats I custom made for myself.)

My point was the salesperson was not concerend about performace
degredation from hull scratches, while selling special paddles at high
prices to shave a bit off the paddling effort, and extolling the
performance of the high priced boats. Filling the scratches in the hull
would save the same effort as the pricey paddle and preserve the
performance paid for in the high priced hull, for a lot less money. During
the demos I got in and out of the boats in the water and picked then up
instead of dragging them. No matter what boat you paddle I'd recommend
doing the same. I even lift my cheap plywood boats, not because they are
expensive boats, but to preserve hull performance.

How many people wax their boat bottoms to reduce hull resistance? If you
are spending money on special paddles and high priced boats to improve
performance I would think you should. If you are trading the comfort of a
roomy more stable kayak for the speed of a less comfortable model then you
should be concerned about scratches and maybe even waxing below the waterline.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

Touch up painting a kayak

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.

Touch up painting a kayak

"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.

Touch up painting a kayak

"Arleen" wrote in message

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

If I read the question correct it is intended to improve the appearance
rather than the speed/performance. I agree that painting/waxing of the
underside will have little if any effect. As someone who teaches/coaches
sprint and marathon racing the actual paddling action is far more
important than if the underside is scratched. A good paddle action is
essential as it will not only move the boat more efficiently but will
require less energy expenditure on behalf of the paddler.

Frank Healy

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