Am I correct that scratches in a dark color hull will show up as a white color and that a dark hull will show scratches and wear more than a white hull?
sharks enjoy red
fish are often yellow
rarely blue
if you need ID bring an orange nylon cloth
a white bottom is invisible from under maybe visible from a helicopter
Yes
A white hull shows the least scratching and the easiest to repair.
Ever time I’ve seen a
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kayak with a white bottom from a helicopter it was completely invisible.
Yup
There is a reason that they often opt for white demo boats…
White is best
I think the white hull is best for the bottom half of the hull which iam assuming your talking about. Way easier to repair the white hull as any color is much harder to match. You can fill deep gouges in white gel coat and not even be able to see were it was fixed but if it is say red its much more difficult to match the red. For the top side get what ever color you like. I here red makes the kayak go faster. But I like yellow myself.
White is the easiest to stain and…
hard to keep clean. Our rivers and lakes all leave a nasty brown stain. It is worse on composite boats but still bad on plastic boats. It shows up the least on orange boats and camo boats.
Scratches are antoher reason why plastic boats are a hundred times better than composite boats. Plastic boats get a lot of scratches easily and they are too hard to repair so they eventually go unnoticed. Also the scratch on a plastic boat is not a different color than the boat unless something gets into the scratch.
I’m not sure why that makes them
a hundred times better, but yes, different.
Stains
All I can say is I don’t want to kayak in your rivers or lakes if its so bad the kayak gets stained. Sure if the boat is kept in the water like power boats for long periods of time but gets stained after a few hours in the water, YIKES I don’t want to get into that water. Iam mostly in the Great lakes and don’t get stains.
I use plastic on small rivers and creeks. As far as plastic being the best it depends on what your doing like my camping boat is 18 feet long and holds lots of gear. I wouldn’t want an 18 foot plastic boat as that would weight a ton.
it probably wipes off
it’s gelcoat.
if they were a hundred times better
you would see way more plastic than composite kayaks in Maine.
Repairability is an issue. Its easy with composites. Not so with plastic
Having holed two in our shellfish infested waters, I am done with plastic. Converted to glass and kevlar and that boat is 23 years old.
Stains? Thats the function of marine wax; to make cleaning easier.
why’d you go and tell me that?
Actually I should thank you. I’ve been considering adding a plastic day kayak for fun in the surf and rocky shoreline. But I’ve never done serious damage to my composite kayak, nothing more than some gelcoat repair. My perception of a plastic kayak’s durability may need adjustment.
White
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White hull, check!
Now, what deck color strikes your fancy?
VT north woods, paddling creeks/ponds or Lake Champlain?
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
hudsonriverpaddler.org
It is tempting
to go with a colored bottom hull. I have seen some really gleaming colored bottom hulls. Very pretty. But, I think in a year of regular use, (I am not a super careful caretaker), that gleaming hull will be a mess. Best to go with white.
More later.
inpoundments
Are often silty. If you wipe the stains off immediately, its usually not an issue, but will leave tough to remove stains if left. I just use a gelcoat cleaner and wax once a year.
What would work best?
I had a QCC400 with a grey deck and yellow hull. Light grey is easy on the eyes. If a person wants visibility paint the aft hatch flourescent orange, you won’t see it paddling but everyone else will.
I prefer plastic
For surf and rock gardens. I save my big composite touring boat for touring.
For visability go with a yellow deck
I have spotted yellow sea kayaks from an airliner flying at 33,000 feet. If you are worried about stains on a white composite hull use this stuff. http://www.westmarine.com/buy/davis-instruments–fsr-fiberglass-stain-remover–P004_129_002_509
Paint it on with a chip brush and watch a whole season’s worth of brown stains instantly disappear. After about 10 minutes hose it off and apply 3M cleaner wax and it will look like new, well except for those scratches they all get from rocky shorelines oyster beds, etc.
Just make sure you don’t get it on your hands, clothes, or deck rigging because it contains oxalic acid so it is tough on your skin and it WILL bleach anything it gets on.
cool stuff
I’m going to ask for some in my Christmas stocking. My hull could use a cleanup.
colors
Light colors are best. Yellow shows up best at sea. White is good. Blue and green disappear.