Tom, Mike,

If I'm right HDPE means : High Density Poly Ethylene, and that's what Tom's kayaks' snap'n'skin stations are made of.

Polypropylene is used on NaughtyRed recent aluminium kayaks (in a greyish color that roughly matches aluminium).
I've not inquired yet into its availability in 1/2" panels for the home builder.

Can you tell me what MEK is? Is it part of a two-component glue as a solvent?

Eric

: Mike,

: I'll attempt to answer you questions below. If you have any more, please
: email them to me.

: I've never used Polyethylene, so I don't know anything about it. Eric
: mentioned it in his earlier post.

: I will probably use a little double sided tape on the keel only next time,
: to keep the skin lined up. The temporary shock cord will pull the skin tight
: and keep it in place at the gunwales. I used a combination of the two this
: time, and feel the shock cord holds the skin tighter during deck attachment.

: Use H-66 Vinyl cement. First, clean the surfaces to be glued with MEK,
: let dry completely, and apply 2-3 coats of H-66 thinned about 25%.
: Allow each glue coat to dry completely, ( apply heat if desired), overnight
: is preferred, and overlay the surfaces to be glued, and then "Heat
: Activate"
: the dried glue with a heat gun and use pressure to connect. Allowing the glue
: to be dry completely gives you freedom to get things lined up before final
: adhesion. You can however, let the last coat dry to the touch only before
: connecting the two parts.

: The same process is used on the Velcro to PVC connection, with the MEK / H-66
: having superior adhesion to that provided by the Velcro alone.

: The deck overlaps the hull at the gunwale 3/4" and is glued. You could
: also
: butt it, and use a strip of PVC glued in place. More work however.

: Don't know if there is a paint that will stick to PVC.

: single weigh dry?

: Mine include Lt blue, white, black, red, and yellow. But there are many
: more, such as dark blue, various browns, green, orange, etc.

: The single weighs 25 lbs dry.

: I can't answer your other questions as I haven't tried your ideas myself.

: Yes, I will send several pics to your email address

: Thanks for you comments,

: Tom