Philip, I've done both epoxy/fiberglass tape and gelcoat/fiberglass tape keel strips on gelcoated fiberglass kayaks. Although epoxy has better bonding properties, the gelcoat stuck on just fine, and both of them seemed to wear about the same. The big difference was that the gelcoat versions look a heck of a lot nicer. By the way, on the gelcoat versions I did, I didn't bother with any fillers. Just mask, wet out the fiberglass tape with gelcoat, unmask, let cure, remask, sand a bit, and apply a second layer of gelcoat to smooth things out. Just make sure that if you're not using finish gelcoat to brush some mold release over it after about one hour to let the surface cure fully and not be sticky. It's really a lot of fun! Duane Southern California kayakwriter_at_netscape.net wrote: I'm still thinking about this. Aside from the simplicity (always appealing to the lazy), the gel-coated-only strip as suggested in the online article seemed to have the virtue of being coloured all the way through, so scuffs wouldn't show up as much. On the other hand, you gotta think there are reasons they don't build entire kayaks outta merely gelcoat impregnated fibreglass. But perhaps epoxy's strength, critical in a complete boat, is less vital in a keel strip, where the issue is abrasion resistance. Any thoughts from the council? Philip >On 21 Dec 2004 at 22:30, Doug Lloyd wrote: > >> I think the epoxy/glass-tape/gelcoat methodology makes far >> more sense. "Michael Daly" wrote: >I'd almost agree. If the kayak isn't hull up in the sun a lot, I'd >skip the gel coat on the keel.Received on Thu Dec 23 2004 - 10:24:56 PST
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