I’d like to touch up the kevlar fuzz on the bow stem of my MNII before it gets to be a major issue. What product should I use to reseal the fabric? A skid plate isn’t the answer I’m looking for but I’ll listen.
One possibility
Two of my composite boats have a black protective coating on the high-wear portion of the bottom. I recently found out that patching that material requires using a mixture of epoxy and graphite powder. Once applied, the material is pretty hard, and a bit slippery too. I bet if you painted this stuff onto your fuzzed-up Kevlar it would make a nice-looking repair job.
The way I mixed the material for doing touch-up work, if I remember correctly, was to combine equal volumes of epoxy and graphite BEFORE adding the hardener. In other words, there's a LOT of graphite in this mix. The mix I used required much less volume of hardener than the volume of epoxy (maybe one third as much). For brands requiring equal parts of epoxy and hardener, I think you'd want to use an even greater proportion of graphite.
By the way, I know one P-netter who coated the whole bottom of his canoe with a mixture of this type. It really looks sharp, and he says it provides pretty good protection without adding scads of extra weight.
The way I do mine:
Two part epoxy (with polyester resin). Roll it or brush it on in a very thin coat.
Then while it is still wet, smooth out a flexible sheet of thin cellohane or plastic, (something like saran wrap)over it and tape it down with masking tape.
The next day, peel the wrap off. If you do it right, you will have no sanding or very little to do.
The secret is to put the epoxy on as thin as possible. Also don’t do it on a day when the humidity is high.
Cheers,
JackL
I just did
my bow with 5 minute epoxy. Using the method that Jackl described. Worked great. It seems I’ve read somewhere you could use marine varnish or polyurethane??? Maybe that was to cover scratches. Anybody know?