Entropy…things trying to return to their simplest state, the universe trying to balance itself. From dust thou art, etc. Canoes, if paddled in any whitewater or moving water, or on a stream in low water, the canoe will leave a little bit of itself wherever it goes. Entropic processes, y’know. Things wanna fall apart.
I own a Wenonah Argosy , Royalex, ash gunwales. It has seen a lot of action on moving water plus Class I to III whitewater. She has been loved, but she has not been babied. After a few years of loving, she started to see some wear on the stems. Royalex is a great material, a core of ABS plastic laminated between vinyl skins. Think automobile bumpers. It’s tough stuff.
Tough or not, the stems at the waterline started to wear away, the ABS showing through the vinyl skin a little. At that point I decided to put on some skid plates.
Skids are Kevlar felt, soaked in epoxy and applied to the bow and stern. They harden into an amazingly durable barrier that can withstand major impact.
The only thing I don’t like about some skid plates is that they can be a little rough. I’ve been experimenting with ways to make the skids more integrated into the hull. I try to fair the edges of the skids; it keeps things quieter. I mixed some epoxy with graphite powder. Graphite is pretty slippery stuff, and epoxy, once it starts to catalyse, can be pushed around a little with a squeegee/Popsicle stick.
I couldn’t get the perfect smooth finish. I tried stretching plastic over the epoxy while it cured…limited success. There were still wrinkles. Bummer.
I sanded down the ridges that were left by the folds in the plastic wrap, and added a little epoxy to cover the mess up. I screwed up again by peeling the plastic back before the the epoxy was cured enough so it stuck to the plastic. It was a mess. I licked my finger and tried to smooth it. It worked…sort of. Without thinking I grabbed a bottle of UV Tech and sprayed down the semi-cured goo and started smoothing it with my palms. It worked. It worked worked. I continued to spray and burnish the surface. It was already thickening but it still moved around. I created a little fillet between the hull and the skid plate…and the surface was slick and smooth.
All I needed to do is wait until it catalysed and see what happened.
It worked.
Slippery. Smooth. And if I say so, pretty bad-ass.
Respectfully submitted,
Canoelover