Re: [Paddlewise] polishing

From: Shawn Baker <shawnkayak_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:12:11 -0700 (PDT)
jfarrelly5_at_comcast.net wrote:
>I thought it might be fun to try and polish up the surface of the
kayak >so it looks a bit newer.  Is there any safe way of removing just
the >fuzz without thinning the hull?  

Not that I'm recommending anyone try this (proceed at your own risk),
but I had pretty good success using 120 grit sandpaper to smooth off
all the fuzzies.  Even more risque, I wet-sanded with a 120 grit in my
Random Orbital Sander to keep the paper from clogging.  Hosed the boat
so it was wet, shut the hose off, and sanded.  I did have the sander
connected to a GFCI breaker...but the sander itself never got wet.

Then, the big fuzzies were gone, and the boat was smooth, but now
"micro-fuzzy".  I hit it with a propane torch, and it melted all the
baby fuzzies and made things pretty smooth.  A heat gun would be more
consistent.  Keep the torch or heat gun moving.  Don't apply heat to
any area for a very long time, or you could deform the boat.  You just
want to melt the surface fuzzies--ideally, the thickness of the plastic
won't even get warm.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  It did work, though.

Michael Daly mentioned a cabinet scraper.  I didn't have one at the
time, but I think that would work great!  Smoother, safer, probably
faster.

Shawn


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More
http://faith.yahoo.com
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Wed Oct 16 2002 - 14:41:32 PDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:00 PDT