I have an old Kevlar Seda Glider with some “fabric” showing through on the hull. I’d like to refinish it without adding much weight and I’m at a loss for what to do. Help!
Haven’t seen one of those in a while and those are pretty boats.
Hard to tell without pics but would it be possible to roll some clear epoxy over those spots? Is the hull clear coated?
Hey thanks for getting back to me. I’ll try and post a couple pictures later. i was kind of thinking of the epoxy but don’t know anything. It is clear coat. It’s a great boat. I love it.
Epoxy is not UV resistant and you would have to apply either varnish or automotive clearcoat over it for protection. Contact Seda and ask what they recommend. They can tell you what was used in the original layup and you’re best bet is probably to use the same materials.
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Ive seen this before. Those hulls were built with no gelcoat and the UV breaks down the exterior and the woven pattetn comes through. One solution to get a nicer finish is painting with clear Verathane, it works well. Lightly wet sand hull with 220. Wipe down with acetone to remove any wax or other materials. Roll on the Verathane with a narrow foam roller and then “tip” the rolled on Verathane with a nice paint brush to smooth out. It should look great. Do this out of direct sun so you have good working time with the Verathane.
I have an older Westside Wave in Kevlar. When it started to get skin cancer I sanded it and put two coats of Zspar Captains varnish on it. It even made the boat a little more rigid.
Make sure to use a specialty varnish from Jamestown or a Marine Hardware. The stuff they sell as spar varnish in big box stores doesn’t have any UV protection, because the EPA took away the volatives.
Varathane is an indoor product that does not have UV protection built into it.
Without UV protection the epoxy will continue to degrade and your fine finish will start looking chalky.
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Hey thanks for the response. I’ll call Seda and see what they say. I’ll check the Zspar out too. My hull does seem pretty flimsy lately. Notice it when I load it on the rack. Thanks for the Seda advice! It’s a great community here!
Thought Seda was out of business