stern protection

I have a 10 wilderness yak . The very stern point is worn through . I welded it . I need solid protection of a skid plate or the like . the boat is made of Poly .I need suggestions that really work .

Thank you kris kk11222@comcast.net

G Flex epoxy and fabric
I have done extensive repairs to polyethylene boats using West System’s G Flex epoxy and various structural fabrics.



In order to achieve adequate bond strength with G Flex epoxy on polyethylene, it is necessary to pretreat the poly exactly according to the directions provided with the G Flex. This involves a very thorough surface cleaning. I would start out with something like Simple Green followed by soap and water to remove any surface contamination. Then rough up the surface to which you want to bond epoxy with 80-100 grit sandpaper and clean it again. Finally, wipe the surface very thoroughly with denatured alcohol.



The final pre-bond step is flame oxidation of the surface. This is absolutely critical and if you omit this step you might as well forget about achieving an adequate bond. This can be done with an inexpensive hand-held propane torch and the West Systems instructions describe the process in detail.



In order to best wet out your repair cloth you want to use un-thickened G Flex, not the pre-thickened variety.

As for repair fabrics there are many options. I would suggest one or more layers of plain-weave, 6 ounce/square yard S fiberglass covered by a layer of 5 ounce/square yard Dynel.



Once you have the first layer of cloth bonded down to the poly you don’t need to flame oxidize the first lamina, just any uncovered poly. If you allow the epoxy to fully cure before adding another layer of fabric, you should wash the surface with soap and water and rinse well to remove any amine blush.



When done, spray paint the surface to protect the repair from UV degradation.

10 wilderness stern skid plate
pblanc Thank you for the reply , and vital information . later kris