Cosmetic Help for my Kevlar Canoe

Advice
#1

My Kevlar Seda Scout has always been cosmetically challenged. It never bothered me, but now I’m selling it.



This is what it looks like:



http://i.imgur.com/NX1w9TG.jpg



Is there any quick fix to making this look better? For example, giving it a light sanding and coating it with epoxy resin?



Thanks,



Al

#2

I just bought a Wenonah Advantage
in Toughweave. The gelcoat was very oxidized. The color is Sage but looked like battleship grey.

A friend speed buffed it withrubbing compound then I waxed it with Mequire’s Yacht Wax. From 20’it looks new.

#3

cosmetic repair
It looks like you have a skin-coated Kevlar hull. The Kevlar has a thin coat of resin over it that has worn through in areas.



You won’t be able to make it look like new, but you can probably improve the appearance considerably by wet sanding it and then applying either marine varnish, epoxy resin, or both.



You have to be careful when sanding as Kevlar abrades in an unfriendly way and tends to fuzz up. If you are using fine sandpaper and paying attention, you will know if you are getting through the resin layer and starting to sand the Kevlar fabric. At that point, cease and desist. I would sand down to about 600 grit or so. This will smooth out some of the shallower scrapes in the resin coat.



You can then apply either a good marine varnish like Epiphanes or Pettit Z Spar, or a low viscosity “penetrating” epoxy like System Three Clear Coat. The Clear Coat applies much like varnish and if you are not careful, you will get runs and sags. I would lightly wet sand with 1500 grit paper between coats of epoxy or varnish.



If you use epoxy, it is probably a good idea to cover it with one or more coats of varnish anyway to protect the epoxy from UV degradation.

1 Like
#4

There is no quick fix
As one who owns four Kevlar epoxy coated canoes, that looks so bad that the whole canoe would need to be lightly sanded and then given another coat of clear epoxy, and You would either have to do it in three steps to keep the epoxy from running, (Bottom, one side, and then the other side).

Or use West systems 105-a resin and 207-Sa special clear hardener, which is slow to harden and then tipping the epoxy with a roller to prevent it from running



Jack L

#5

Thanks.
I think I’ll just let the new owner have the fun of improving the appearance.