skid plate and protectant questions...

Hey all,

bought a 15 foot used solo penobscot, think it’s a 1987 or 89, anyway, needs skid plates as well as something to apply as a protectant on the exterior. Any suggestions on skid plate kits and something for the finish would be appreciated.

Penobscot skid plate kit
I have a 16 ft OT Penobscot.



I bought the Old Town skid plate kit a few years ago intending to do the job myself. Any OT dealer should have one. Don’t forget that if you want the color to match you need to buy the color packet plus the skid plate kit.



After the box sat in the garage for a few months, I decided that rather than do something once, that I probably won’t do again, and having no real experience with skid plates, and not wanting to mess up my boat, I’d let the dealer do it for me. It wasn’t very expensive and came out nice.



If you try it yourself - good luck.



BLK

Kevlar mat and urethane resin make for
the easiest application, but a better skid plate can be made with concentric (biggest layer first) layers of S-glass and epoxy resin. I scrape the vinyl off the ABS first. But, go with the Kevlar. Inferior, but easier and good enough.

303 protectant on the outside
of the hull and deckplates. This should help the appearane and slow further UV damage.

skid plates
If you go with the factory kit, think about cutting down the patches to a smaller size. IMO the plates in the kits are designed way too big and heavy. I put them on, and when the resin has set I use masking tape to protect the hull when I feather the edge of the plate out with a sander. I then use sparypaint to color up the Kevlar.

thanks
thanks to all for the advice, glad to know I can manage to do the plates w/out a major headache, canoe is a great ride and want to keep it for years to come.

Kevlar Repair
I had to repair my Mohawk Odyssey on both ends as I had worn it into the inner layer. Bought the Kevlar repair kit from Old Town and installed it, make sure that you roughen up the surface and clean with alcohol. The first time using after the repair it had a lot of drag and actually make a noise going through the water so I used a belt sander to smooth the patch down and taper the edge of it, problem solved.

Good luck with your repair…Lou