Protective Tape (Keel Easy)

PermaStripe Smooth Floor Tape 39mil - Yellow, 2 inch from iflorrtape.com

There is also Racertape, which was originally made to protect helicopter rotors, but is now popular as protection for carbon bicycle frames. It is clear. Tough stuff… not sure how it would work in water, but suspect just fine. It takes shapes well, but would probably need to be narrowed going up the stems of a canoe. There are a number of other similar products out there for carbon frame protection.

It looks good, and it’s about the same thickness as KeelEazy. I guess you have to buy the whole roll for $85 though. There again, you’ll have plenty left over.

The helicopter tape is thin compared to Keel Eazy. I have a couple of strips on my deck for protection where I carry my spare paddle. It was a challenge to get out all the air bubbles even when using the wet application technique. Good stuff for surface use but don’t think it would hold up against abrasives.

It is thinner and lighter which may be a positive for some people. Its use on rotors and mtn bikes would suggest it withstands abrasion very well. They also make a thicker heavy duty version, though still not 1/32.

Rookie, you’re right, it doesn’t hold up well at all. It’s designed to absorb high-speed inpacts with light particles (sand and dust), not low-speed impacts between a heavy object (kayak) and rocks, barnacles, shells and such. The tape is pretty soft and they shred it in short order. The adhesive is a real pain to get off. I tried it on one boat and would never use it again. You need a harder material to protect a kayak hull.

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The Permastripe tape looks interesting. A roll would do ~6 boats, so even with the 4" tape it’s only $30/boat.

Late to the public party but Photecs & I have chatted.

A heat gun on 500w, a careful hand, patience and the smooth handle of a screwdriver at a burnisher will allow you to mould KeelEazy 2” around up to a 60” angle without undo effort. The wider tapes don’t mould as easily as there is simply more to wrinkle.

The poly composition has a very different adhesive, rather like silly putty vs. the clear magic stick on the composite/thermoform formulation.

Reminds me, I have to order some more in. I have a couple of Stellars that could use a keel strip.

See you on the water,
Marshall
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I’ve been using Mighty Line Floor marking tape as a keel guard/skid plate for over a year now,on 4 different boats, and I am very happy with the results. I’m in central Wis and mainly do small rivers and creeks, which means lots of rocks and scraping bottom. The stuff has handled anything I can throw at it. I got 100’ roll on Ebay and would be happy to share what I have left. ($1/ft + mailing costs) It is 4" wide, blue, and 50 mil., I cut it down to 1-2 inches to go around curves I also just got a roll of 3M floor tape 2" 30 mil (yellow), but I have not used it, so I can not speak to how it will work but seems to be the same product, just thinner The stuff I am really interested in is Mighty Line’s Clear floor tape, also 50 Mil. I got a small sample of that last year and it also worked very well and I like that it is clear. There are a couple of rolls of it on Ebay right now, but I’m not ready to buy the whole roll. If there is enough interest I could buy it and sell it at $1/ft or I would be happy to pay $1/ft to anybody wants to buy a roll and sell me some. There are a couple of different widths, I think the 1.75 is the best size. Call or text if interested Eric 608-206-1864