Hi Bart :

I painted the interior of a kevlar canoe with Benjamin Moore Deck paint ( it had been damaged in a run-in with a car ). Mostly I've
been satisfied with the results. A coupla nickel sized spots have been retouched over the last 5 years or so but that's been an easy
fix. I suspect an exterior would as you suggest would require a yearly re-do. Bottom-line there was no major flaking of the paint. I
will add however that in the case of interior, the kevlar layup is not fully wetted, so to produce a less slippery surface and a
smoother exterior might require more roughing up with sandpaper and that may produce less of a bond with the paint.

Good Luck,
Te Canaille

"Bart" wrote in message ...
I've got a Wenonah Vagabond solo canoe in Kevlar ultralight layup. I chose
it over the more durable Kevlar flexcore (with gelcoat) because of the
weight saving.

I don't mind the yellowy 'see through' look of the boat but do catch myself
thinking, this would look the business with an off-white hull too.

So I am wondering, could one split the weight difference between a 'naked'
Kevlar canoe and one with gelcoat on it, by using, say, automotive spray
paint?

Clearly it wouldn't have the durability and flexibility of gel coat but I
wouldn't even mind sanding and repainting the thing once a year or so, as
long as I have a very light boat that looks great and has a bit of UV
protection thrown in.

Has anyone painted their kevlar ultralight canoe before?

TIA Bart

I've got a Wenonah Vagabond solo canoe in Kevlar ultralight layup. I chose
it over the more durable Kevlar flexcore (with gelcoat) because of the
weight saving.

I don't mind the yellowy 'see through' look of the boat but do catch myself
thinking, this would look the business with an off-white hull too.

So I am wondering, could one split the weight difference between a 'naked'
Kevlar canoe and one with gelcoat on it, by using, say, automotive spray
paint?

Clearly it wouldn't have the durability and flexibility of gel coat but I
wouldn't even mind sanding and repainting the thing once a year or so, as
long as I have a very light boat that looks great and has a bit of UV
protection thrown in.

Has anyone painted their kevlar ultralight canoe before?

TIA Bart

You might be asking the wrong people. Try an email to Wenonah. Or
West Systems Epoxy.

There may be more UV protection than you think.

-Dan V.

On Sat, 8 May 2004 12:45:41 +0100, "Bart" wrote:

I've got a Wenonah Vagabond solo canoe in Kevlar ultralight layup. I chose
it over the more durable Kevlar flexcore (with gelcoat) because of the
weight saving.

I don't mind the yellowy 'see through' look of the boat but do catch myself
thinking, this would look the business with an off-white hull too.

So I am wondering, could one split the weight difference between a 'naked'
Kevlar canoe and one with gelcoat on it, by using, say, automotive spray
paint?

Clearly it wouldn't have the durability and flexibility of gel coat but I
wouldn't even mind sanding and repainting the thing once a year or so, as
long as I have a very light boat that looks great and has a bit of UV
protection thrown in.

Has anyone painted their kevlar ultralight canoe before?

TIA Bart

I had a customer paint a skin-coat We-no-nah Encounter with good
automotive paint. He was happy with the results, however it did not
look good.

The surface of skin-coat boats is not smooth. They are porous from the
vaccum bagging process. Adding a shiny paint highlighted every little
pore.

You can order a gelcoated Kevlar Ultra-light boat from We-no-nah. It
will add about 4 lbs of weight to the Vagabond.

If you are going to paint the boat, and don't care about the pores,
then you won't have a problem. The paint should stick. If you scratch
it, it can tear off in wider scratches than gel, but you can repaint
those areas.

If you don't paint it, and choose to leave it out in the sun, you will
need to reflash the outer layer of Kevlar every few years, since the
resin on the outer layer will break down. Mix some vinylester resin
with Acetone, and either spray it on or paint it on with a brush. The
thinned resin will soak into the fibers, and the Acetone will flash/
evaporate before the Vinylester starts to cure, with the end result
being an almost new finish.

On 8-May-2004, "Bart" wrote:

So I am wondering, could one split the weight difference between a 'naked'
Kevlar canoe and one with gelcoat on it, by using, say, automotive spray
paint?

Better to use a two-part epoxy paint designed for boat hulls. You can get
this at any marine shop. Best if sprayed on.

Mike

There are a few possibilities.

Call wenonah, the should be able to tell you how to paint it. Failing that,
call Souris River, their colored boats are paint, not gelcoats.

I don't see whay you couldn't paint it, provided you use a good marine
coating rated for constant exposure. As someone else has noted: gloss will
show every imperfection on the surface. If you are very particular,
painting may not be the thing for you. You could use a filling primer (or a
resin fill coat, maybe) to smooth the surface, but that is more work, more
weight, and may also have to be marine rated (I guess that depends on how
good the top coat is). A gloss coating will have better water resistance
properties than a matte finish.

If you are worried about UV, the manufacturers should be able to give you
decent handle on the anticipated workinglife of a skincoat canoe. Many of
the BWCA outfitters use them, call some of the bigger ones (Red Rock, CBO,
Canoe Country to name three) they probably have an opinion on that--a lot of
them stack the canoes bottom up all year long when in storage.

My guess is that the kevlar will discolor and screen out a lot of the UV
from getting deeper into the layup; it should only darken up so much. (You
could get a sample of kevlar mat, cover 1/2 of it, then sit it out in the
sun for several weeks comparing the expose to the unexposed half.) So then,
what you may really be dealing with is the durability of the topcoat. For
that I refer you to the manufacturers.

Overall, why bother? How much is the boat in use? Store it inside or
covered at the off times and spend the time you save paddling and or
fishing, and enjoy the 2-4 lbs saving on those long portages--if that's your
thing!

PS

"Bart" wrote in message
...
I've got a Wenonah Vagabond solo canoe in Kevlar ultralight layup. I
chose
it over the more durable Kevlar flexcore (with gelcoat) because of the
weight saving.

I don't mind the yellowy 'see through' look of the boat but do catch
myself
thinking, this would look the business with an off-white hull too.

So I am wondering, could one split the weight difference between a 'naked'
Kevlar canoe and one with gelcoat on it, by using, say, automotive spray
paint?

Clearly it wouldn't have the durability and flexibility of gel coat but I
wouldn't even mind sanding and repainting the thing once a year or so, as
long as I have a very light boat that looks great and has a bit of UV
protection thrown in.

Has anyone painted their kevlar ultralight canoe before?

TIA Bart