Hi there. Does anyone know the name of the paint used for the strip that covers where the top half and bottom half of the kayak meet? This is a strip that goes all the way around the boat in the middle, usually its a different colour to the boat. Its a old boat 18 years, and small pieces of it half been coming off. If sanded it has an almost chalky texture to it. It comes off very easy and now some of the fibreglass is exposed underneath. Its still water tight, but I’d like to put a fresh layer of that paint. Any tips, most appreciated.
Post picture of seam.
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That is generally more than typical paint.
Who is the manufacturer of your boat?
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I used colored boat striping tape instead of paint. It has held up nicely.
On most composite (fiberglass/kevlar/carbon) kayaks that strip is gelcoat. Since the boat is older, any new gelcoat that you apply will look different from the old stuff, but in this case it would be relatively easy to just re-gelcoat the entire seam. Not a difficult task but definitely worth checking out some how-tos on youtube and coming up with a plan before starting.
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its an NDK romany around 18 years old
ah ok, it just seem to come off much easier than gel coat. i actually have abit of gel coat, but its white. I wonder is the any colour one can add? the strip its self is yellow
ok, would that not be very hard to get into the right place? Is this applied with a heat gun?
NDK romany is the brand 18 years old
I’ve got a similar issue with a 19 year old composite kayak I rescued from a barn sale two years ago – the black seam cover which seams to be similar to what yours is like has scraped off in some areas. I touched it up with a brush using the paint-on rubbery FlexSeal black goop that comes in a can after masking along the edges (all the building supply places and hardware stores sell it). That stuff comes in white as well. Don’t know what you might be able to use to color it to match. Might experiment on some scraps with a yellow Sharpie permanent marker if you are just patching small areas.
that sounds good. Does it stick ok to the fibreglass? Maybe black would be ok.
So far it has been OK. Took that boat out for a 5 hour 13 mile river paddle on Sunday (first trip this year) and the goop seems to be holding up .
I looked up the boat striping tape that Kevburg recommended and you can get it in a range of colors including yellow and several widths – 125 feet of it runs between $30 and $35 so that might be a more aesthetic option. And less messy to apply.
ah ok thanks, do you have a link for that. I looked up a load of tapes and didnt find any specifically for that
I was a bit against the tape option as its fine in some areas, so paint or something that can be applied in small areas might be better. I imagine the tape would have to go full lenght
Her’s the link to BoatUS for their striping tape.
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No heat gun required for gel coat. Just time and a fair amount of patience. Can be sanding time if you want it to look nice.