Keel Eazy Problems?????

Heat application?

– Last Updated: Aug-28-13 7:48 PM EST –

The strip is supposed to be thermoformed to conform to the surface, including edges and ridges. So, the glue should not be fighting the strip tension, just keep it in place as if the surface was flat.

If enough heat was applied, then it is just the glue failing (possibly due to dirty surface or just too much force from the sand). Wen I applied a strip on my kayak, I cut away about 2mm from each side of the strip where there was no glue - I did not think it would stay in place with the sides glueless as they were, so I trimmed it along its length. As a result, I do have a bit of extra glue around the edge of the strip, which is a bit unsightly, but I think is stronger and does not allow debree or water to lift the strip edges. I did apply heat to it and mine stays in place, but admittedly, I have not subjected it to any mechanical forces other than gentle paddling in summer waters...

Agree with Kocho

It probably came off
because the glue doesn’t go all the way to the edge of it. If sand gets under the edge it comes off.

WW boaters care?
PB, you’ve heard of whitewater boaters using KeelEazy? Really? I wouldn’t think that after a day of whitewater abuse that the ww boater would care anymore. (maybe just a NE thing where there can be more rock than water molecules)



Matt,



Scrub the released area with a rubbing alcohol soaked Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sponge. Paper towel excess alcohol. Reapply KeelEazy. Warm with heat gun and use a roller to work it onto/into hull.



Still a problem, contact Chris at KeelEazy. Perhaps he can shed some light on it.



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

Yes
There was this thread on cboats dot net with some early test results:

https://cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7965363&hilit=KeelEazy



I think there might have been a follow-up thread on the same forum but I couldn’t find it with a quick search. I remember reading something elsewhere as well, but I don’t recall the venue at the moment.



I do know a number of open boaters who have been quite happy with the product for non-whitewater use.

so far it’s worked for me
on fiberglass & plastic hulls.



I always install on a warm day - 75 degrees and up, letting the hull warm in full sun.



Hull has to be immaculate. Rubbing alchohol. And smooth (superfine auto grade sandpaper if needed)

Then clean again w. rubbing alcohol.



while applying heat (1000w or better)I keep working the entire strip pushing from the center of the strip out to the edge w. my fingers. This might spread the adhesive more to the edges. Also of course, work the strip longitudinally with fingers, too, or a credit card, down the length of the Keel Eazy.

Improper fix, but holding
I had some keel easy peeling off my stern. The gooey adhesive was sticking to the hull, but the keel easy was pulling away anyway.



I’m pretty sure the proper fix would have involved replacing the keel easy, or at least peeling it back and cleaning the adhesive off the hull, then resticking the keel easy with an appropriate adhesive. But, I planned to paddle the same day and decided to try a quick and dirty fix. I did clean what I could get to with alcohol, then I appliedd a small amount of SikaBond Universal and taped, tied, and wedged the keel easy against the hull. That was about noon, and I paddled the boat at about 5pm. The product instruction says “tacky in two hours, full bond in 5-8 days.” I’ve paddled the boat at least ten times since and the keel easy is still sticking. It’s a little early to declare victory, but so far so good.



I found SikaBond Universal at the Lowes one day when I was looking for something to stick wiring inside my cockpit. It comes in a caulking tube. I stood and read product descriptions of caulking and adhesive products for about an hour. Surprisingly, very few of the construction adhesives claim to stand up under prolonged immersion and to be waterproof, as SikaBond Universal does.



It probably wasn’t the “right way” to fix it, but it was quick. Usually fast and easy is not compatible with effective and long lasting, but I’m hoping for a rare exception on this one.



~~Chip


Heat and patience
Using a heat gun on 500w setting I just applied it to the bow of an Epic 18 which has quite the plumb bow and with heat, roller and patience you can manually thermoform it to the shape. The real trick was the stern that has the part-o-the-hull rudder with flip down skeg. Same process but then cut the tape occluding the skeg, away and carefully made even rounding to the slot with the tip of the razor knife.



Fun with melted vinyl.



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

Update…
I went back and reapplied heat to the keel strip in the spots where it was peeling off. This seemed to help…for about one use.



The keel strip is now peeling off so badly in so many places that it needs to come off and be replaced or I need to just go without.



I think I have a total of about 6 days on the water with the keel strip. For $80 for the material I certainly would have hoped it would last longer than that.



I did follow the instructions that were on their Youtube video. Perhaps the hull needs a better scrubbing prior to application, but the video said just to use a cloth.



I may try again, but am not sure that I want to gamble $80 on it.



It is possible that this product just is not suitable for the lateral stresses that will be placed on it when launching and landing in the surf zone. There is really no way to launch and land repeatedly in the surf without subjecting the boat to lateral or torsional friction as you have to straighten the boat out as the surf pushes you off axis when launching, or when getting violently side surfed all the way to the beach.



I have emailed the company, but they never emailed back. I find that a bit annoying.



It is a neat product and a neat idea, but if it is not going to last under real conditions and given that it is about $80 for a $15 strip of tape, I am not sure that I am sold, especially given the lack of response from the company.



Maybe I am wrong but that I my impression at this point.







Matt

Rec’Repair
Seems to offer an alternative. I might use it as soon as I see problems developing with the current KealEazy bow skid late I have on my kayak…more expensive and way thicker !!!

http://www.recrepair.com/skid_plates.html

Opinion and innuendo, not so much facts
The guy who runs that KeelEazy operation is Chris Mitchell. I think he is sort of a one-man operation. I suspect he will get back to you, eventually. There’s no reason I think that other than he is a small operation and he could be traveling or something.



What I have read about KeelEazy is that the adhesive doesn’t go all the way to the sides of the strips, and that they expect the glue to squeeze out to the edge during application. Maybe that can be done in a perfect manner, or maybe there is always going to be some voids along the edge. I expect there are voids in your application, and that is all that sand and water need to start working the edges. Like you say, lateral forces on the beach… pretty soon your KE is hanging off. I’ve never applied it, so this is just based on my reading about it.



Seems to me you have to make sure the edges are really nailed down, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit of material extending beyond the edge of the KE that could be feathered to prevent sand from grabbing at the edges when the boat is pushed sideways. I expect that if you are going to go to that length, you’d be just as well off epoxying fiberglass tape onto the hull instead of KE.



~~Chip

This stuff is expensive!

– Last Updated: Sep-02-13 5:34 PM EST –

Comes to about $30-$40 per foot for the 4"x25" skid plates at $150 a pair... The 1.5" width comes to about $1 per inch! Ouch! KeelEazy is what, $4 per foot for a 2" width?

well…
I had to rip it off tonight. It was just way too far gone to salvage. I was able to keep the end parts on though for the timebeing.



When I inspected the tape I found that some parts were cemented down quite securely and other parts were not.



In the spots where it was not, it seemed that the adhesive had separated from the tape itself, rather than from the boat. The adhesive was intact on the boat and the tape had ripped free from it.



I will concede that it is possible that maybe I overheated it…??? I am not sure.



My heat gun only has two settings–high and low. I used high.



While I have not gotten a response back from the company, I did get one back from the dealer and they said they would send me a new length of tape (the kayak academy).



I will give it a try again I guess. Hopefully this time it will work out better.



Which heat setting would be more appropriate for my heat gun…high or low???



Matt

So what I am understanding is…
it may not be the best material to use for protection on a Thermoformed kayak that rages in the surf?


Adhesive separating from tape
That’s the same thing I observed where my KeelEazy was peeling away. The adhesive layer was stuck firmly (perhaps gooeyly) to the boat, but the tape was coming up. My KE was applied by a boat-building professional (Sterling Daniels), so there is a good probability he knew what he was doing and applied it properly.



Not that it means anything, but Chris Mitchell, the KE guy, was hanging around Sterling’s shop when I picked the boat up after it was repaired and the KE installed. Seems like Sterling would have had the opportunity to learn installation technique from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.



~~Chip

No thanks…
I used KE on my Valley Rapier 20 and the stuff peeled right off no matter how much I cleaned the hull first. Chris M sent me out another batch for free and that stuff came right off too.



I am surprised that your’s lasted as long as it did, Matt… I will be going with real keel strips in the future, especially on surf/rock hopping boats.

KeelEazy
Hi Everyone,

This is Chris from KeelEazy and I wanted to update you on our latest development in the KeelEazy product line. We have started shipping Keeleazy with the adhesive running the full width of the strip which seems to work better around the tight corners. However, when the adhesive shows on the side it can attract more sand.

Cleaning is the key to a successful application as some of you sugggested. We use and recommend Isopropyl Alcohol 80-90%. Of course, you can use Acetone on gel-coat. No sanding necessary. We use a heat gun at about 500 watts. The procedure we have the best result with is to tact one end, pull straight to the other end, apply pressure down the center of the strip, then starting from the middle, use the heat gun to to warm the tape and following with an insulated leather glove applying pressure evenly along the strip. On the ends we warm the tape and smooth tape outwardly from the center.

Too much heat will burn the PVC and might be a reason that the adhesive separates from the PVC.

We have found that some Marine paints have additives that don’t adhere well (like wax). We offer free sample of the material for boaters to apply to their boats prior to purchasing a full length.

We only guarantee the installation on boats that we do the install on as it is impossible to for us to be sure the procedure was followed. The same is true with fiberglass products. I have Keeleazy on all my boats and regularly have them in surf and sand. As a matter of fact, that is the reason I spent two years prior to launching the product test many different types of material. I hope this sheds some light on Keeleazy and it’s application.



Cheers,



Chris

it’s called KEELeasy
Sort of sounds like it goes over the keel, which is not flat.

KeelEazy

– Last Updated: Sep-05-13 4:04 PM EST –

@Chris... Thanks for the detailed explanation, please Chris add these heating suggestions to your instructions or FAQ, the 500W seems to be very important.. Thanks again, I did had some minor issues with the sharp curves my Tarpon 120 bow is having, I do have some wrinkles on the sides which I cannot seem to remove with the heat gun at 500W..

good man
Thank you for responding in person in this forum. Not every manufacturer has the integrity to do something like that.