Kayak Repaint Ideas

Totally love my Kayak. I’m just curious about giving it my own touch. Would love to do a camo pattern or drab olive. Since this is a Therm Poly Kayak, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on preparation and paint choices.

Shrink wrap camo ?? Hey, it works for Nascar !!

Few paints will stick for long. Even the outdoor plastic furniture paints chip off quickly.

If you can’t live with the color, sell it and get one you like better.

Not only will painting be a waste of time, but you’ll shed paint chips everywhere you go.

I saw a video on youtube a while back with a guy who painted a camo pattern using palm fronds on his kayak. It was relatively simple; rough spray coat of a primer, lay palm fronds all over the kayak spray paint the gaps, move fronds, change colour, repeat.

With that said, in my experience with painted plastic, it never lasts.

Even if you took sandpaper and roughed up the entire surface for the primer to hold on to, due to the expansion/contraction of plastic in heat, most plastics ‘vent’ gases. This will cause the paint to bubble and peal in the painted areas.

It may work, but will need to be repeated seasonally to keep the pattern up.

Best o’ luck on you endeavor. Customization is one of the more enjoyable parts of kayak ownership.

I’ve done a good bit of painting with plastics and found that the best plastic primer, by far is made by Valspar.It’s a clear plARIX primer that comes in a spray can. I’ve tried many, but the Valspar is flexible and really binds the paint to the plastic, far better than any other brand I’ve tried. You need to clean the surface pretty throughly. Wipe it down with rubbing alcohol. If there is a bit of sheen to the plastic work it with a really fine sandpaper or Scotch Brite pads. Spray a light coat of the Valspar primer over the entire boat, then you can use whatever paint you like and it will bind to the plastic really well.