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#1
posted to rec.boats.paddle
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Gel Coat for Kevlar Canoe
Hello all,
I am considering building a kevlar canoe and was wondering if anyone knows how possible it is to do a home gel coat? Has anyone ever done this? Also, if anyone has built a kevlar canoe, how did it go? Thanks. Chris |
#2
posted to rec.boats.paddle
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Gel Coat for Kevlar Canoe
Are you using a male or female mold?
A female mold would be one you rent, buy, whatever. It will look like a canoe shaped bath tub, and you pay your laminate inside of it (this is how manufacturers build their boats). A male mold is really more of a plug that looks like a slightly smaller version of the canoe, and you drape layers of material over it. I've seen a book called something like "build your own Kevlar canoe" and they use this method. The results weren't something I would want, but the boat appeared to float. Gelcoat is air sensitive. If you are using a female mold, you can paint or spray the gel into the mold, let it cure, and as long as you are using a polyester or vinylester based resin it will etch into the gel and bond. Epoxy will need a surface coat on the gel to bond. If you are using a male mold, skip the gel. You would have to use surfacing agent to let the gel cure (due to interaction with the air), and even then it won't be very hard (the agent also makes repairs more difficult). You could gel the inside of the canoe with a male mold, but that wouldn't help with scratch protection or UV (the reasons to have gel). The surface of a male mold built boat will be very rough, you could possibly use house paint to give the boat color/ UV protection without losing any performance. The cost benefit of building a kevlar canoe is marginal at best. Unless your time is worth less than $10 per hour, or you just really want the project, it's better to buy one. I'd suggest building a stripper before building a pure composite. Strippers are made from cedar strips, and covered with a layer of fiberglass. |
#3
posted to rec.boats.paddle
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Gel Coat for Kevlar Canoe
You can paint it on or spray it on, but why add the weight? If you want UV
protection, there are inhibitors avalible, or lay up your first layer or two with a colored pigment. I did have a painted on coat (tooling gelcoat for a mold) crinkle with the first application of cloth. I either waited to little or too long betweem coats. Walbridges book on boatbuilding is still a ggood one. |
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