Ihave a old Bluewater Kevlar 49 canoe . The canoe sit outside for years in the sun before I got it .The gelcoat is gone but the kevlar and body is good . What prep work needs to be done to the kevlar prior to spraying and is there anything else that needs to be done after spraying.
Thanks .
Rob
Submitted by Rob Lourie on Sun, 09/14/2008 - 7:24am
Wet sand with 600 grit to rough up the entire area to be sprayed .
Then , after you spray and the new gel coat is totally cured , wet sand again with 600, 800, 1500, buff with a fine rubbing compound and then polish.
#1 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 7:29am
Clean the surface with soap and water, then solvent, of all impurites. Sand the gelcoat with 320 grit. Be super careful to not go through the old gelcoat into the kevlar.....kevlar fibers fray, get fuzzy and dont sand out well at all. Wipe down the sanded surface with solvent and spray gelcoat. (use surfacing agent with gelcoat) When the gelcoat is cured wetsand with 800, 1000, 1500, then polish. Depending on the quality of the spray job you may need to start with 600 or even 400. Good luck.
Sorry for the redundancy.....I was writing mine as Fuze wrote his. Just a note. In my experience, gelcoat doesnt "stick" well to 600, even 400.
#2 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 7:37am
I too am working on one of Karels old canoes. This thing is 26' long and over 50lbs. But it's the one that got me paddling. When it comes to sanding, how much of the original gelcoat do I take off? As far down to the original matting or less? Do I need a spraying booth to respray gelcoat?
#3 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 8:20am
Um espaço para a pulverização é sempre bom...
#4 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 10:53am
Hey Syrus
The main thing is just to create a "tooth" for a bite/bond. The washing with soap and water then the solvent will remove some, then the sanding will cut through the "dead" material. Rob Lourie stated that his canoe is kevlar. If yours is kevlar follow the same instructions. If its glass or carbon you can be a bit more agressive with your sanding. If you do burn through into the laminate prime those areas prior to gelcoat. You could spot spray the gelcoat onto the bare areas, sand them out and then spray the entire surface. Since you will be wet sanding you dont have to have a spray booth but it will help, just as really good spray equipment. The cleaner the surface the less wet sanding.
#5 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 11:25am
Hey goto, yo no speako spanish.
#6 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 7:12pm
Not-o Spanish-o, yo...
#7 Sun, 09/14/2008 - 7:55pm
It's portugese-o SyrusG-o
#8 Mon, 09/15/2008 - 7:02am
I knew paddling 33 miles of flat water in California would have an influence on Goto, but I didn't know this would happen.
I thought he was speaking in tongues after a come to Jesus momemt in the last 6 miles of hot, steamy, flat harbor.
#9 Mon, 09/15/2008 - 7:32am
That's exactly what happened Kona J. Of course, since then I have reverted back to paganism...
The Portuguese is just an after-effect of wearing a too-tight shirt, for such a long race.
#10 Mon, 09/15/2008 - 7:53am
I agree. We could go into business together-Developing shirts that have tight arms but large space for neck, for the endurance athlete who likes to breath, but has to/must be able to clearly see outline of bicep/movement of bicep/and be ready for any bicep flexing opportunity.
I am thinking of having the shirts with a white base and the bicep area a bright yellow/green/or red in order to highlight muscle more.
Also do you often pack bicep area with silicone implants? I sometimes use gel shots to make bicep look larger. It also allows more opportunities to touch my muscles during race as I pull out gel shots.
#11 Mon, 09/15/2008 - 8:20am