Hi,
We just got a wonderful 2nd hand kevlar canoe, the previous owners had added some skid plates and some of the edges are a bit rough.
We really like the blue hull and don’t want to have to colour match it.
Is there a way to properly clean up the rough resin edges without repainting the hull?
I will be sanding down the rest of the skid plates with the hopes of making them more smooth.
Well, the prior owners mistake was using crappy Kevlar felt for skid plates. I realize these are the norm in grunge plate kits but they are unnecessarily thick and heavy, ugly, and prone to develop pits and even break away in chunks after hard use.
The problem is that Kevlar does not sand well. You can try smoothing the edges a bit but the material tends to fuzz up. You can fill in all the little pits and also build up a fillet along the edges using epoxy moderately thickened with silica powder, then painting the whole skid plate but it will be a rather long and tedious job as you will need to reposition the canoe dozens of times.
Hi and welcome to the forum.
It is not a pretty DIY job I will agree and I’m far from an expert on this subject, but it doesn’t look like it had much wear after it was put on. I wonder if it had some damage and was done as a repair/cover up in order to sell it. Any clues looking from the inside?
I would also look at cleaning up the edges a little better, but functionally there is no reason to. How’s the rest of the hull.
I agree that this is probably just a bit of a sloppy DIY job, there is no damage on the inside and the rest of the hull is in great shape.
If it were mine I would scrape off or sand down the high ridges and the edge of the skid and smooth it up some and then mask back enough to include the overspill of the skid material and find a close match to the hull color and just paint it.
Then go out and enjoy it and if you hit something the extra protection is there.
Thanks, we are going to look for the correct hull paint and then try what you suggest. With the rocky shores during our last trip the extra protection came in handy.
