: Has anyone tried using metal skid plates? I was down in Mexico and came
: across a place which had kayaks with aluminum skid plates (only on their
: older fiberglass boats). They seemed to think that since their Catamarans
: had them why not the kayaks.

The brass strips have been used for decades on canvas covered canoes. They are simply held on with short brass screws, and on canoes (and some kayaks) they cover the area where the fabric overlaps at the end. The pressure from the screws helps hold the cloth on, and helps seal the seam.

If you are adding them to wood boats you would not want to epoxy them on. Consider them to be "sacrificial" and make them rather easy to replace. Short screws will work, or you can add a fillet of glass fibers and epoxy to the inside of the boat, or put in a wood keelson, or inner stem piece, so you have something to hold longer screws.

Clark Craft has the brass strip in their free price list, which you can get through their website. (www.clarkcraft.com)

Most hardware stores by me stock flat aluminum strips in 3/4 x 1/8 and 6 or 8 feet long. This should work, too.

Why not just use an extra 1/4 x 3/4 wood strip as a sacrificial keel. Round over or chamfer the edges to get it to blend nto the lines of the hull a bit. You could hold it on with clamps and epoxy, or with screws. When it get really messed up it should sand off rather easily with a belt sander and a coarse sanding belt, leaving a nice flat area for mounting another one. There is no real need to cover this strip with epoxy or varnish or glass cloth. It is there to be beaten up, and then replaced. An oak strip should be more durable than cedar, as cedar is pretty soft, but ordinary pine, spruce or fir would work too, and they are easy to get and cheap.

If you are going for good looks, though, it is hard to beat an additional layer of glass cloth along the keel. You probably already have enough scrap fabric and resin to put this on.

I'd suggest you paddle your boat for a while and let it get scratched. Then, in a few months, find what areas are getting the most scratches ( this will be very obvious by then) and add patches of cloth where needed. The keel may have enough rocker that the bottom center of the boat gets scratched more than the bow or stern. Or, one side might get a lot of scratches from your launch technique (boat rubbing against a dock?) Or, you may be getting between rocks, and scratching along both sides of the keel, suggesting the need for a pair of skid plates, one on each side of the keel, and a few inches from center.

If the scratches aren't deep, just paint on another layer of epoxy to fill them at the end of the season, lightly sand, and varnish.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson